“Time and again, fires have fast-tracked urban change. London after the Great Fire of 1666 rewrote its safety laws, widened streets and erected new public buildings, like the domed St. Paul’s Cathedral. Chicago after the Great Fire of 1871 ... invented the modern American metropolis.” - The New York Times
“I did worry I’d lose friends. But, well, there’s no revelations of mass drug taking or orgies or anything. Because I haven’t been to any, really.” - The New York Times
"In front of Sam’s tool crib, where workers got outfitted with gloves, goggles, hand tools, and helmets, I bumped into Rocio Carlos. ... She said that due to the fires, her classes at ArtCenter College of Design had all been moved online.” - Los Angeles Review of Books
He’s simply quite Christian now. “The supposed edginess of the Christian Actor stems from the idea that in godless Hollywood it’s somehow taboo to be religious, and that an openly Christian actor will face some kind of retaliation.” - Slate
Ali Smith, on her new book Gliff, and needing libraries: “The difference between information and knowledge is the difference between an ice covering across a really deep loch and the depth of that loch. That's the difference between knowing information and having knowledge. It is dimensional.” - NPR
Remember the Los Angeles fires? “Some weren’t sure the show would go on as planned. The Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammy Awards, announced last month that the ceremony would carry on and refocus to raise money for relief efforts.” - The New York Times
Well, more than one problem, really. And Ed Zitron would like to be the one explaining why it’s all such a mess - and how much more skeptical media coverage should be. - Slate
“Han was not prepared for her new status as national hero. ‘Too much attention is not very good for writers,” she says. … ‘You need anonymity, to be able to take a stroll in the street. You really need your calm inside.’” - The Guardian (UK)
As commercial theatre recovers from the holidays, experimental theatre is amped up. "January is this incredible crush of everyone doing everything all the time, and by the seat of everyone’s pants." - The New York Times
“In modern reality, most media are streamed, digitized, and easily vaporized; not so much owned as leased; pockmarked with ads and often tweaked (or falsified) via AI. In modern fiction, meanwhile, vintage media have emerged as tactile objects that symbolize integrity.” - The Atlantic
Case thinks that "if her upbringing had been stable, ‘I would have been a much better musician, because I’d have started earlier – I would have had people backing me up and some sort of safety to experiment.’” - The Guardian (UK)
“The surreal, Renaissance-influenced composition of broken bodies, ominous hooded figures and tools of cruelty was crumbling and faded. Whole sections of the piece were missing. The patio was being used to store chairs.” - The New York Times
One producer says, “Unfortunately, the talent isn’t really stimulated in the Netherlands in the right way, and there is a definite lack of ambition, focus and perseverance.” - Variety
"I never applied for any competitions before. … And I think when I saw this, I was like, ‘OK, if I’m going to try once in my life to apply for something, it should be this. Because there’s nothing bigger, more historic or incredible.” - The New York Times
