Lion dances for Lunar New Year are part of “an art that dates back to the Han Dynasty and is said to bring good fortune and ward off evil spirits, but it is hard to pull off.” - NPR
“One of the prevailing narratives of this year’s awards season leading up to the Oscars has been that of the return to the limelight of beloved veteran actors who the public thought had disappeared for good.” - El País
The deal, which supposedly ameliorates some of the damage from last year’s audiobook-music bundling plan by the streaming giant, “also marks the first direct license between Spotify and a major publisher in several years.” - Variety
“At stake is the future of a defining industry that helps make Los Angeles a vibrant creative capital, employing tens of thousands of workers in a wide variety of fields.” - The New York Times
Or maybe holds up even better, more than two decades later: Azar Nafisi’s memoir “isn’t just about reading and teaching literature under a repressive regime, but about how literature in and of itself could serve as an antidote to all that the regime stood for.” - The Atlantic
What the actual artist-hating hell, UK? “The government is considering an overhaul of law that would allow AI developers to use creators' content on the internet to help develop their models, unless the rights holders opt out.” - BBC
“Anne’s iconicity requires her story to achieve a difficult balancing act. It warns powerfully against all persecution, but must remain true to its character as a Jewish work — as the complicated story of its publication and reception helps us to see.” - The New York Times
What did Octavia Butler, who died nearly two decades ago, know “about the future that the Fonz now finds himself in after many, many happy days? That the second law of thermodynamics is real. - The Stranger (Seattle)
Did Nick Ut take the famous photo Napalm Girl? "Ten days before the premiere of the documentary The Stringer at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday night, the Associated Press published an extraordinary 23-page report of a six-month investigation rebutting the movie’s premise.” - Washington Post
A regular rotation of theatre articles and criticism from daily papers (whatever those are) isn’t coming back. So it’s up to theatre makers to keep writing, posting, blogging, making video about the process and the products - and critics need to deal with it. - The Stage (UK)
The artist in residence in Dublin says, “The fact that I wore a dress for all those years now boggles my mind. I was afraid for a long time to be queer in those spaces, because they were occupied by wealthy, upper-class white people.” - Irish Times
But there’s a plan to manage the deficit - and to raise more funds, despite historically low audiences for core “classical” concerts (unless Yo-Yo Ma is there). - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
