"Uh, no. I've resisted various things, one of which is the writerly idea that you have to write something profound about your termination. I have no intention of doing that, nor any compulsion to write some mock-heroic thing." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
"There are others out there, too, crisscrossing the country, living on the lower slopes, and sometimes on the summits, of show business. We are the last wandering minstrels, racing town to town, big clubs and small, piano player to piano player. (I had nine this year.)" - The New York Times
A user screennamed @sibusheva posted a images of her skin before and after tanning, wrote that "fair skin in (ballroom) competitions is bad form", and asked for people's thoughts. That post has now been viewed more than 7 million times, and, well, thoughts have been offered. - The Daily Dot
Hulagu, who led the notorious sack of Baghdad in 1258, conquered Damascus and Persia, and founded the Ilkhanid Empire, built himself a fabled summer palace in what's now Çaldıran in eastern Turkey. While archaeologists stress that there's no solid confirmation, they think they may have located the site. - Live Science
"The final episode (of Neighbours) airs in Australia on Thursday and in Britain on Friday. It will be the swan song for a show that has lasted nearly 9,000 episodes over 38 seasons, and became appointment viewing every weekday for many Australians and Britons." - The New York Times
Ecologists worry that, if not deployed very carefully, the inventive (and expensive) set of barriers called MOSE (as in Moses parting the sea), built to protect the historic city from worsening tidal floods, could ruin the salt marshes on which the Venetian Lagoon's entire ecosystem depends. - National Geographic
"Incheon Airport is considering building a 300-square-meter exhibition space within the airport, after a recent study found that plans to establish a satellite museum of one of Europe's top-tier museums, such as the Centre Pompidou or the Louvre, were unfeasible." - The Korea Herald
The enormous footwear, attached to an enormous leg, appeared to be slung over the roof of the theater where Sondheim's musical opened. The inflatable appendage was "the beacon that called us all to the theater," and the producers of the new Broadway revival want it back. - The New York Times
The list is described as “challenging, stimulating, surprising, nourishing” by the chair of judges, contains the youngest and oldest authors ever to be nominated for the award. - The Guardian
The Los Angeles gallery scene is seeing an influx of established New York art galleries moving into town as of late — 11 so far are here or coming soon. - Los Angeles Times
Oldenburg had his avant-garde moment. One of the three saints of the first rise of Popism in the United States, alongside Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, he was, in a way, the odd man out among them. - The New Yorker
"It is remarkable to consider that television — the medium for which I am most well-known — did not even exist when I was born, in 1922." - The New York Times
For a year, Mr. Safdie was the public face of a building project over the rail corridor in the middle of Toronto’s downtown. This was a hotly controversial project, since it would construct private buildings in the same airspace where local politicians had promised an eight-hectare Rail Deck Park. - The Globe & Mail (Canada)
"Part of a new generation of dancers embracing fluidity of gender roles in salsa dancing, (Audrey Guerrero and Angie Egea) perform and teach classes in Austin, Texas. They are known in the dance community as Angie & Audrey, a.k.a. 'The Kueen & Queen of Non-Binary Afro-Latin Dance.'" - KQED (San Francisco)
