Stories

“The truth is that the vulgar poptimist ideal of letting people like what they like is also the preferred state of affairs for capitalism — cultural value collapses into market value, so that the amount of money something makes is the only necessary judgment of its worth.” - Jude Doyle

“Paris, the centre of French gastronomy, has never been in more need of a great restaurant critic. Today, the Parisian food media scene has become a never-ending circle of new restaurants hyped for a couple of weeks before the next ones come in.” - Vittles

"I guess what I’m saying is, you could watch the Emmys, or you could watch some of the other things that were on TV in the last year (and change).” - Reactor

“Despite music in general having long since assimilated the daring qualities of Gymnopédie No. 1, the original piece still catches our ears — in its subtle way — whenever it comes on.” - Open Culture

That’s right, Samwise Gamgee is now the president of SAG-AFTRA as the performers’ union heads into another contract year. - Los Angeles Times

Many of the TikToks “deliberately portray as a stereotypical bad boyfriend or spouse with wandering eyes. Some are more explicit, like one in which Hamilton appears to be taking a sexy selfie when interrupted by Eliza.” - The New York Times

“'In light of role as the chief conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, we are unable to provide sufficient clarity about his attitude to the genocidal regime in Tel Aviv,' organizers said in a statement.” - CBC

Paramount "sharply denounced a proposed boycott of Israeli film institutions by a group that calls itself Film Workers for Palestine and is supported by dozens of Hollywood luminaries.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

The Trust “said it wanted to increase the average eight-second viewing time for an artwork, as a way of reducing stress and developing emotional resilience.” Great in theory, possibly a huge challenge in practice in front of any popular painting or sculpture. - BBC

At least, according to a director of movies about the sex lives of Norwegians. “It could be regarded as utopian,” he says. - The New York Times

“The new-play results nationwide and in New York are very close to parity after all, while the all-play results, which include all the Shakespeares and Dickenses, are closer to the old 60/40 divide we were used to seeing about a decade ago.” - American Theatre

Sure, he said that, but what he meant was that he "just stopped doing that particular type of work so could do some other work.” - The Guardian (UK)

“Success can be a blessing and a curse in video games. Critical acclaim can mean big sales, which help to fund your next work. But praise also brings pressure to improve on what came before, and those expecrations only grow as the gap between releases widens.” - BBC

Or actually: “Books about books, or bookstores, or people who work in bookstores, or in publishing, or in libraries, or anything book-adjacent.” - LitHub

“King’s improvisational skills were formidable, even by the standards of a music built on improvisation. ... She would rearrange songs on the fly, and she often slipped from lyrics to scat singing. Her range was equally impressive.” - The New York Times