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Who Will Be This Year’s Emmy Villain?

David Zaslav? Robert Downey Jr.? Or perhaps the entire British villainy Gestalt of The Crown? - Vulture

As CD Sales Soar, Everyone Older Than 35 Wonders Why They Gave Their Collections Away

“What a cool thing, I told myself, as I walked away unencumbered, to own no albums… yet somehow to own every album. What freedom! What choice! I don’t know how long it took for the regret to sink in.” - The Observer (UK)

Philip Glass Warned The Crimean Ballet Not To Use His Music

“In an open letter posted on his social media accounts, Glass says he has not given the ballet company permission to use his music, and he strongly urges them not to proceed with any such production.” - StereoGum

The Woman Who Builds The NYT’s Connections Doesn’t Know Why People Are So Intense About It

“Get invested enough in Connections, and its easy to feel like Liu holds a weird sway over your life, as a chosen one who’s been endowed with the power to make or destroy thousands of people’s days in one fell swoop.” - Slate

Why Can’t AI Do A Better Job Of Recommending Movies?

“It’s one of the most common low-stakes annoyances in modern life: you flop down on the couch, … to watch one of the dozens of incredible shows or movies you have access to” - and end up watching a rerun of a show you already know. Why? - The Verge

James C. Scott, An Iconoclastic Social Scientist Who Studied How Marginalized Groups Undermine Traditional Power, Has Died At 87

He was “a big-picture scholar,” readable to non-academics as well as other scholars, and “the theories about resistance to power that he extrapolated led to a new view of supposedly primitive peoples and to a new academic field, resistance studies.” - The New York Times

Bernini, The Sculptor Who Slashed His Mistress’s Face When He Was Done With Her

“Just months after lovingly carving Costanza’s face in marble, Bernini ordered it to be slashed with a knife by one of his servants.” - The Observer (UK)

The University Of Iowa Paves A Path For Restitution With Benin Bronzes

Representatives from the U of I's Stanley Museum of Art met with the ceremonial leader of the Edo people "and officials of the Benin Royal Court earlier this month to officially restitute two artworks that have been in its collection since 1986 and 2001.” - Hyperallergic

Edna O’Brien, Groundbreaking Irish Novelist, Has Died At 93

“Ms. O’Brien grew up in a newly independent and staunchly Catholic Ireland with firm ideas about the roles of women, who had no lawful access to abortion, contraception or divorce. In much of her work, Ms. O’Brien limned characters who yearned to break free.” - Washington Post (MSN)

Italian Officials Ask That Tourists Not Use Public Statues For Erotic Enjoyment

Grinding on a statue of Bacchus might sound fun (and, well, perhaps it was?), but the young woman who experienced that joy in Florence will be banned for life from the city - if the police find her. - Hyperallergic

Hollywood Teamsters And Other Craft Unions Come To Tentative Agreement With Studios

“As of late Saturday night, the Hollywood Basic Crafts and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have reached agreements on six different contracts. The settlements concluded several weeks of negotiations.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

So, Are We Living In The West Wing Or Veep?

TV show memes lit up Instagram, texts, and group chats when President Biden stepped down. “One thing someone on text thread said is that Aaron Sorkin could never have thought this one up. … This is beyond what we were capable of imagining.” - Washington Post

Counting Down To James Baldwin’s 100th Birthday

At Baldwin & Co in New Orleans, the founder believes "his independent bookstore sells more books by Baldwin than any other, anywhere. ‘They're our No. 1 seller,’ he said. ‘Every single week, we have recurring orders. Every single week, we are ordering large shipments of James Baldwin books.’” - LitHub

What It Was Like Making A Documentary Of The Taliban Re-Taking Afghanistan

“It’s hard not to wonder – as a viewer – why the Taliban’s top brass agreed to let Nash’at shoot a fly-on-the-wall documentary of the early days of the regime. … Mansour comments coldly about Nash’at: ‘If his intentions are bad, he will die soon.'” - The Observer (UK)

On Reality Love Shows, The Setting Is The Main Character

While tropical island resorts are sick of the all-too-common narrative, the camera folks love the golden hour in paradise. - The New York Times

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