Stories

On dating apps, music taste has become one of the primary ways of signalling one’s suitability as a mate – and how, by reducing people to profiles of their likes and dislikes, this taste has been weaponised. - The Guardian

Strasberg began to think about what made some performances succeed and some fail, and concluded that it must have to do with whether or not the actor was feeling inspired. This presented its own dilemma. - The New Yorker

 The news that you could now, at least in theory, monetise digital art has spawned a speculative boom. - Irish Times

Why is it a problem for a so-called dominant culture to utilize the forms and features of another? The short answer is that it isn’t. Rather, human history is replete with inspired interaction among various ethnicities and the sharing of creative traditions. - American Institute for Economic Research

How much Shakespeare do audiences really want these days? What adjustments are required in the performance of his canon to accommodate those who do not buy the line that Shakespeare is the “greatest” playwright of all time? - Washington Post

“In opera, there’s so much attention given to the craftsmanship of the music, the set design, the direction of the singing and choreography, in order to allow human moments to become amplified on stage. But that also means we need to take care of the human beings who are embodying those moments.” - The Guardian

Here's how they practice, and how they deal with being away from their families during one of the biggest holidays of the year. - Houston Chronicle

"Horror cinema has long been in the business of mining terror from the everyday, of linking surface scares to primal subtexts ... there’s no denying that Sundance has played a particular role in fostering this latest strain of cinematic scare-making." - Los Angeles Times

Under Franco, the study of Spanish art languished - but Jonathan Brown, art historian, curator, professor, and mentor, brought luminous painters like Velázquez to mainstream attention. - The New York Times

To be fair, 2020 and 2021 were unexpectedly, thanks to the pandemic, very strong years for print. - Publishers Weekly

Will we be all right? People ask science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson versions of this question all of the time. Robinson thinks we might be, with a lot of work. - The New Yorker

Baby steps perhaps aren't enough to entice Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and subscribers back: "Spotify announced on Sunday that content advisories will be added to 'any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19.'" - Vulture

Go big or go home? "The rise of streaming video game services ... could sweep Hollywood players into the sector in a bigger way by motivating them to double down on their offerings or, alternatively, exit it for a lack of scale." - The Hollywood Reporter

The actor says, "I think it’s really interesting what happens to you if you grow up thinking there’s something wrong with you because you’re attracted to a certain thing. ... That takes a lot of time and understanding to get over." - The Guardian (UK)

Director Jonas Rasmussed "had been searching for years for a way to tell the story of an Afghan man’s journey as a refugee that the subject ... would be comfortable with. When Rasmussen attended a workshop with animators, the pieces fell into place." - Variety