A small study of college students found they now only focus on any one task for 65 seconds. A different study of office workers found they only focus on average for three minutes. This isn’t happening because we all individually became weak-willed. Your focus didn’t collapse. It was stolen. - The Guardian
The list includes a couple of huge movie stars whose work this year hasn't caught fire, a few lesser-known talents, a couple of very respected actors who ought to be more famous, and an English heartthrob performing an entire role in German. - The Guardian
From Muppets to major stars, Lawrence composed the music for hundreds of Sesame Street songs. He also served as music director for Free to Be... You and Me, the beloved children's music album conceived and produced by actress Marlo Thomas. - NPR
"Today, we as a church will begin the practice of collecting ‘royalties’ ... for the spirituals we sing and worship. Whenever we sing Negro spirituals. we will collect an offering that will support the development of Black musicians.” - WGBH
The roots of raqs sharqi go back centuries, but its practitioners are treated more like sex workers than artists. (Parents will happily hire a belly dancer for their son's wedding, but they won't let their daughter become one.) Amie Sultan is trying to change that. - The Guardian
The glass floor of the bridge is slippery, and locals have learned to be careful. Warning signs posted by the city didn't help. So now the walkway will be replaced... - The New York Times
He had a difficult personality, an unseemly personal life, and a late-life plunge in the quality of his work, writes editor Robert Gottlieb, but at his best — the 1920s novels that earned him a Nobel Prize — he captured what made the U.S. tick. - The New York Times
In the hope that improved aesthetics will lead to wider adoption, solar technology companies and their designers are creating panels with decorative patterns, various colors and shapes that can be installed on building façades, and even solar-energy-generating textiles. - Fast Company
She and her husband were driving home to Philadelphia from their honeymoon, stopped in New Orleans, heard traditional jazz, and basically never left. Their venue became a jazz mecca, and they helped turn the house band into stars who've toured the world. - AP
"Throughout the crisis, the industry has begun to construct a new narrative shaped to accommodate great artistic expression for everyone. As we rebuild our society and our economy, I'm convinced, more than ever, that participation in music is part of the solution for national recovery." - The Guardian
The Under the Radar Festival (theater), Prototype (opera), and Exponential Festival (multiple genres) — much-anticipated events in what was once a barren January calendar — have called off this year's live performances due to the staffing and logistical problems caused by the Omicron variant. - The New York Times
In prior years, the Göteborg Film Festival, in Sweden's second city, has put viewers in coffins and kept one lucky attendee alone in an island lighthouse. For 2022, at three gala evenings, a professional hypnotist will attempt to mesmerize the entire room before the screenings. - The Hollywood Reporter
The fast-food behemoth had originally obtained the city's permission to build the outlet on the site of a former garden center near the baths. Public outrage changed the city council's mind, and McDonald's (which already has 54 locations in Rome) has lost every appeal since. - Smithsonian Magazine
Although the notion that group solidarity leads inevitably to prejudice, animosity, and conflict is common, it is also incorrect and potentially dangerous. - The Atlantic
