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In Case You Want To Begin The Year With Pleasant Frissons Of Schadenfreude

Here are the most scathing book reviews of last year. Ouch. - LitHub

Playing Dorothy Parker Isn’t Hard For An Actor Who’s Sometimes Been The Only Woman At The Table

Julie Halston, who’s playing Parker in mid-January: "Theater is my church and in its noblest form, theater is a service. It is a place to learn, to connect with others, and to experience joy as a performer and an audience member.” - The New York Times

Washington State Movie Theatres Must Now Offer Open Caption Screenings

The new state law also requires cinemas “to clearly identify those screenings in their advertising.” Those who aren’t in the Deaf or hard of hearing communities but are used to captions as they stream (and use, er, second screens) will benefit as well. - Seattle Times

Some Actors Become Super Directors

Others, not so much. Just take a look at Kate Winslet’s debut. - Salon

Pamela Colman Smith, The Artist Behind The Bestselling Tarot Deck Of All Time

Perhaps unsuprisingly, The NYT didn’t give Colman Smith an obit when she died in the 20th century. But now: “An occult scholar ... commissioned her to illustrate the tarot deck he was creating in 1909; she was paid a small one-time fee for many months of work and research.” - The New York Times

Actor Miranda Otto On Mistakes And That Scene In Lord Of The Rings

And by “that” scene, we mean the stew scene, of course. - The Guardian (UK)

What Is John Mayer Planning To Do With Henson Studios?

Mayer and his business partner, filmmaker McG, have renamed it Chaplin Studios, and they’re not thinking small. “We’re doing our best to create kind of a Warhol’s Factory thing of like-minded artists bumping into each other to do their best work possible.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

Australian Teens And Their Parents Wonder If This Yearslong TV Project Will Ever Be Released

“Future Fixers was billed as a glossy, family-friendly reality series. ... The show was part Shark Tank, part Lego Masters, and explicitly designed to put girls in tech on prime‑time television.” Then the host’s past caught up with him. - Sydney Morning Herald (Archive Today)

What It’s Like For An Opera Singer To Retire From The Met

“Singers are tested by every performance, year after year. We are trained to make it look easy. It is never easy. We live through sacrifice, isolation and self-doubt. ... Constant travel (if you’re lucky), fatigue and stress take an emotional and physical toll.” - The New York Times

Jessie Buckley Says It Was A Bit Overwhelming To Be Playing Agnes In Hamnet

“I felt untethered. I didn't know where to go, you know, and then I realised that's incredibly human to be lost, and that is absolutely Agnes' story to be lost.” - BBC

Victoria Jones, Daughter Of Tommy Lee Jones, Has Died At 34

“Victoria acted as a child opposite her father in Men in Black II in 2002 and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada in 2005.” - Variety

Composer Stephen Schwartz Bows Out Of Hosting An Opera Gala At The Kennedy Center

Schwartz, who wrote English texts for Leonard Bernstein's Mass at the opening of the Kennedy Center in 1971, said, “Appearing there has now become an ideological statement. … As long as that remains the case, I will not appear there.” - The New York Times

Celebrities Dominated Broadway Stages in 2025

“Midtown marquees were packed with famous names from prestige cable (including more than one Succession sibling) and popular franchises. ... As theater continues to recover from the pandemic, luring audiences off the couch with faces they recognize from the screen has proved a lucrative strategy.” - Washington Post (Yahoo)

Two Notables Harshly Criticized Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment” — So He Painted Them Into It

Biagio da Cesena, the Papal Master of Ceremonies, and Venetian satirist Pietro Aretino hated the fact that Michelangelo was putting so many naked people on the Sistine Chapel’s wall, saying the painting belonged in a public bathhouse. Bad idea to publicly attack a high-profile artwork while the artist is still working on it. - Artnet

Sorry, But This Sounds Creepy: How AI Might Put You In The Movie You’re Watching

Producer Charlie Brooker proposes scanning the faces of cinemagoers as they enter the theater and then using AI to cast them “randomly” in the actual movie. - Deadline

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