“The idea that blandly macho host would become one of the most influential figures in American life would have seemed as ridiculous as, well, Donald Trump getting elected president. Twice.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
You can praise (or blame) a saleswoman in Kansas City who "built a concession empire in the middle of the Great Depression.” - and changed popcorn’s status from banned in cinemas to practically synonymous. - NPR
Van Kampen, married to actor Mark Rylance, not only "was the first female musical director at both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre,” but she also composed original scores for Broadway musicals and British productions alike. - BBC
In a lot of awards-discussion movies from 2024, "The directors are using the moments to explore complex power dynamics between characters. These scenes are meant to engender discussion, not arousal.” - The New York Times
Because now, of course, artists and the arts really need money. And then there’s hope. “It’s an important moment to give people a sense that we’re rebuilding, that there’s something to show up for. … It’s crucial.” - Hyperallergic
“This will be the first time that News Group Newspapers has had to defend itself against allegations that its journalists and executives across the whole organisation were involved in or knew about unlawful newsgathering techniques.” - BBC
So began “a ludicrous journey to making one of the weirdest versions of one of the most performed pieces of literature: a staging of Shakespeare’s Hamlet entirely within the universe of Grand Theft Auto.” - The New York Times
“‘Marvel Snap’ players were shocked to wake up on Sunday and find themselves unable to access the speed-battle card game. They were greeted instead with a brief message about the game’s future when they opened the app.” - Washington Post
Those watching the movie should “expect to see a film that displays the city in a way it has never been seen before — a place where the official languages are Farsi and French ... and the local Tim Hortons serves up its hot beverages in a samovar.” - CBC
“Both activities involve storytelling. Both involve putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. And both depend on properly balancing evidence and emotion, comprehensiveness and concision, provocation, and restraint.” - Fast Company
And not just with The Brutalist, either. Recall: “There was a time, in the 1980s, when a writer in a national newspaper demanded that practitioners of brutalism be ‘taken out and shot.’”- The Observer (UK)
In Farewell to Manzanar, Houston “recounts the more than three years and about 10,000 other Japanese Americans endured at the camp until the war ended. Given its location, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, the weather could be fiercely hot or freezing cold.” - The New York Times
One fan’s contribution: “Whenever allegations come out about an artist whose work is important to me: I see the moment I learned of them as an inflection point. From that very instant, it's on me.” - NPR
“A game’s popularity often depends not on quality, Ingold said, but on the whims of the biggest Twitch streamers or the algorithm that drives Steam, the main distribution platform for computer games. Independent studios struggle to break through. Many close.” - The New York Times
