“What Reiner’s vastly differing films all share is the generous and empathetic heart of their director, a deep sense of humanity, and a relentless curiosity about and love of people, in all their imperfections and quirks.” - Los Angeles Review of Books
Bardot “shot to international fame in 1956 with And God Created Woman” and stayed famous as a “sex kitten” for two decades. Then she retired and became a far-right activist in France, her statements resulting “in a string of convictions for inciting racial hatred.” - The Guardian (UK)
“For some fiber artists, craft is inherently political. ‘Creating in a time of destruction and chaos, that is resistance in and of itself,’ said Downey. … But she thinks one of the other successes of craftivism is that “‘it centers joy’” - The Guardian (UK)
More than 150,000 were taken, and never returned, often turned into ammunition or taken to a Glockenfriedhof, or bell cemetery. The sliver of silver lining: “A postwar ‘bell quality race’ ... led to major advances in campanology.” - The New York Times
“The entire tapestry of this film is musicalized — from the emphatic breathing, chest thumping and floor stomping that make up the worshipers’ rituals, to the songs, inspired by Shaker traditionals and performed by star Amanda Seyfried and the cast.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
The spokesperson at the Kennedy Center told NPR, "Any artist cancelling their show at the Trump Kennedy Center over political differences isn't courageous or principled—they are selfish, intolerant, and have failed to meet the basic duty of a public artist.” - NPR
The tidal power station "would curve from Minehead to Watchet and use 125 underwater turbines to harness the power of the second-highest tidal range in the world” - and also become a race track for cyclists. - The Guardian (UK)
It’s called the two-block rule, as in, if you need to trash the show, wait until you’re two blocks away. “You wouldn’t go to someone’s house and trash their cooking, so why would you do that in a theatre?” - Washington Post (MSN)
“Something profound is lost when we reject the symbolic, that well-spring of human communication since an Australopithecus some three-million years ago found a pebble on the South African savannah and held onto it because the rock happened to look like a human face.” - LitHub
For instance, in Pluribus, “the music was designed to explore the tension between the pain of individuality and the comfort of surrender.” - Fast Company
“Streaming numbers have reflected the craze, with multiple tracks from featured Canadian artists ‘jumping tens of thousands of per cent in streams and thousands of new playlist adds in a matter of days’ — most notably for Feist and Wolf Parade.” - CBC
Worth a read just for the pans: “This listless and supercilious musical – ostensibly on the theme of heartwarming home town values – ... flatlines like a hedgehog run over by an 18-wheeler.” Ouch. - The Guardian (UK)
Pokrovsk’s displaced choir had to distill “the complex choral melody for just three singers this Christmas, down from the usual 30. Hearing the arrangement performed by three singers gives a sense of Ukraine at the moment after years of war: depleted, persistent, still beautiful.” - Washington Post (Yahoo)
The vessel belonged to King Khufu (aka Cheops), builder of the Great Pyramid — near which the boat was discovered in 1954 and excavated in 2014. The 137-foot-long structure, made of 1,540 wooden pieces, is being reassembled in the exhibition hall of the new Grand Egyptian Museum, which opened earlier this year. - AP
Love it or hate it, Hallmark movies are big business in B.C., where the company films the about 40 per cent of its content — Christmas and year-round programming. When Hallmark films in B.C., it hires almost exclusively local workers to make it happen. The province estimates about 100 local crew members are hired for each movie. - CBC