Shocker: Ninety-one percent of emoji users "like to employ them to 'lighten the mood of a conversation.' ... The presence of a little smiley face helps soften our tenth request that someone take out the trash that’s been sitting by the front door for two days 😉." - Hyperallergic
"Agile in its strangeness from the beginning, Atlanta never lacked for awe. It reveled in it. What gave the series its juice was its willingness to experiment while staying true to the intonations of Black storytelling." - Wired
It's a soft power wave. "My resigned teenage self could never have imagined that one day, my non-Korean friends would be recapping the latest hit K-dramas before I’d heard of them, or that I’d be shopping for Gotchu hot sauce ... in Brooklyn." - The Guardian (UK)
Gayl Jones and Jamil Jan Kochai are the only established names on a list that includes two filmmakers and several books of short stories - and that leaves off some expected nominees like Yiyun Li, Lydia Millet, and Andrew Sean Greer. - Washington Post (AP)
Gina Yashere knows. "I came here thinking I’m a great comic, I’m going to earn a living immediately, just from the comedy — until I get on TV." Instead, it's been a hard hustle from day one. - Los Angeles Times
Phantom "was the Hamilton of its day. To put its staying power in perspective, ... Into the Woods opened during the same season as Phantom. That fairytale-themed musical is currently playing its second Broadway revival and will shut its doors before Phantom ends its first run." - Playbill
It's more than just dunking on people who think (white) mermaids are real. "These new visions of classic fantasy worlds and characters are simply a reflection of our new, more multicultural world. And that's probably what most scares fans who are used to white-centered fantasy." - NPR
"I’m sometimes asked about fiction I wrote 50 years ago and it’s cheering to know that for readers there is no time dimension. Books live in a form of the perpetual present." - The Guardian (UK)
A new film, based on a real-life pair of twins, aims to upend the narrative of identical twins as creepy, potential serial killers. - The New York Times
No beloved arts Princess, no Prince Consort, no Queen: Who will take over? "Although a 2020 study found no proof that charities benefit financially from a royal patron, kudos is hard to evaluate. 'It is a competitive moment,' said one former museum head." - The Observer (UK)
"Once maligned as lowbrow, the genre has gained popularity over the past two decades" - perhaps because of social media and our hyper-aware lives. - The Atlantic
Well, you might say, not a one is real. We don't have matter transporters, faster than light engines, or for that matter a Federation. But the whines aren't new: a 50-year history of Trek "recounts decades of skeptics dismissing various iterations as not 'real.'" - Slate
And so his English translator says now's the time for Perhat Turson's bleak novel finally to come out in English. "They deserve to have their voices and their work recognized," he says. - The New York Times
"While I don’t think of myself as someone who would have judged by appearances much before Bell’s palsy, it has given me a greater empathy for people who might have a mismatch between the outward and the inward," Ruhl says - and it's changed how she sees actors. - The Guardian (UK)
"Austrian director Ulrich Seidl has cancelled his visit to San Sebastian for the Sept. 18 world premiere of Sparta, amid allegations of impropriety and child exploitation made against the director." The film was not screened at the Toronto International Film Festival after the allegations emerged. - Variety
