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Why Are We Attracted To Fear? (As Entertainment?)

Why do we do that—why do we crave small doses of terror? Why do we like “safe” fear? - The Believer

Why The Can Can Dancers In The Olympics Opening Ceremonies Couldn’t Couldn’t

"We were so dissapointed. It started to Rain just before the Can Can began. 10 seconds before you saw us. We were trying to towel down and dry the stage off with rags." - Buzzfeed

Is Culture An Industry? It Doesn’t Work As An Argument

The policy discourse framing culture as an industrial sector, which became a trend in the 1980s, has not proven effective - for the economy, society, or culture itself. - Culture Policy Room

Pole-Dancing’s Long, And Probably Futile, Struggle To Become An Olympic Sport

Despite the long and serious effort to codify it as an athletic discipline, complete with approved moves, scoring, and judging criteria, pole dancing has had trouble escaping the association with striptease and sex work. On the other hand, some practitioners object to the erasure of sex work from the sport. - Slate (Yahoo!)

Podcasts: Where The Big Money Is

There are still nearly 450,000 active shows that have published recent episodes, according to Podcast Industry Insights. But the top 25 podcasts reach nearly half of U.S. weekly listeners, according to Edison Research. The top talents have tours, merchandise and multiyear deals in the nine figures. Big advertisers want in. - The Wall Street Journal

A North Texas Deputy Spent Two Years Trying To Charge School Librarians With Obscenity

Scott London, a chief deputy constable in the rural DFW exurb of Granbury, secured subpoenas, filed public records requests, received names of students who’d checked out certain books and wrote draft criminal complaints against three school librarians for books London considered obscene — such as Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. - NBC News

This Year’s Booker Prize Longlist (Just What Critics Feared?)

In a development that might raise the hackles of those who criticized the now decade-old rule change that broadened eligibility for the prize, six are Americans. Tommy Orange, nominated for his novel “Wandering Stars,” is the first Native American writer to be named to the longlist. - Washington Post

Journalists At Five Of Australia’s Major Dailies Are On Strike For Higher Pay

"Editorial staff at Nine Entertainment, which owns The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age (Melbourne), The Australian Financial Review, the Brisbane Times and WAtoday, stopped working at 11am on Friday, hours before the opening ceremony of the 33rd Olympic Games." - Al Jazeera

Fake Images Are Getting Harder To Spot. Here’s How To Tell What’s Real

Try it the next time you get a weird feeling about a photo. Just be sure not to focus on the wrong things. To help, we’ve created this (slightly exaggerated) sample image to highlight some common signs of image manipulation. - Washington Post

Professor Fired For Showing Medieval Persian Image Of Muhammad Settles With University That Fired Her

"Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, has reached a settlement in its religious discrimination case with former art history professor Erika López Prater." The terms of the agreement are confidential. - Artnet

Russia’s Artists Say Putin Regime Is Killing Russian Culture

Musicians, actors and writers who oppose the war are being hounded into exile or driven underground — while artists remaining in Russia are compelled by the government to echo a new nationalist zeal in their work. - Washington Post

A High-End Jeweler Has Become A Major Worldwide Supporter Of Contemporary Dance

Van Cleef & Arpels has sponsored a months-long festival called Dance Reflections in London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, New York, and, this year, Kyoto. And it supports residencies, revivals, new productions and touring through a network of partnerships with theaters, festivals and dance companies in 16 countries so far. - The New York Times

BBC Cancels Next Year’s Cardiff Singer Of The World Competition

The broadcaster will replace the 2025 edition of the biennial event, which has a history of discovering major opera stars, with a gala concert featuring previous winners and competitors. The stated reason is that the usual venue, St. David's Hall, is under repairs, though there are other venues in Cardiff. - BBC

“Sleep No More” Owes $4.5 Million In Back Rent, Claims Landlord

Centaur Properties, owner of the McKittrick Hotel, where the immersive production has been playing since 2010, has been in a legal contretemps with PDNYC (the entity producing Sleep No More) for months. The latest development has Centaur demanding back rent and seeking dismissal of a PDNYC lawsuit. - The Real Deal

Internal Board Dispute Threatens Fledgling San Antonio Philharmonic

As the orchestra prepares, with new music director Jeffrey Kahane on the podium, to begin its third and most ambitious season, a struggle has broken out among the Board of Directors, with members apparently trying to replace each other for reasons as yet unclear. - San Antonio Report

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