“If the aesthetic interest in nuns is an enduring one, it’s also true that every few years, like fashion trends or viral flus, nuns have a particularly concentrated cultural moment. We’re living in one now.” - The New York Times
When Munro won the Nobel Prize in 2013, the Swedish Academy called her “a master of the contemporary short story.” The queen of subtly intense psychological stories about the ways rural poverty grinds down those trapped in it, and the price of freedom, died last week. - Open Culture
That is, the actors playing the costumed characters at California’s Disneyland have voted to join Actors’ Equity. The workers "often endure injury and discomfort due to the physical nature of their jobs,” including aggressive, intentional injuries popularized on social media. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
That’s the one in the grain silo. Why not? Like the Tate Modern’s building, the former power station, the silo wasn’t being used for its original purpose. - The Guardian (UK)
Stunt workers’ tough situation: “Their work is often flashy, which has contributed over time to the misconception of them as daredevils, making it hard for them to be taken seriously. And they’re often in the spotlight only when something goes wrong. They’re otherwise supposed to remain invisible." - The Atlantic
The UNC system and the School of the Arts will pay 65 alumni a total of about $12.5 million for abuses that lasted “during most of the school’s history.” - The News & Observer (Raleigh) (Yahoo)
“All of TikTok’s potential suitors would be facing an uphill battle to close a deal. The first challenge will be raising enough money. Only a small number of the world’s largest companies likely have enough cash on hand,” and then there’s the fact that ByteDance isn’t interested in selling. - Wired
From “ecstatic reminders” to paparazzi shots that became court cases, these photos altered the world’s conception of at least some of their subjects’ lives. - The Guardian (UK)
"The kind of people who deign to sit for portraits think of themselves, to quote a Shakespearean sonnet, as ‘lords and owners of their faces,’ and they tend be riled if they don’t see their self-image reflected back.” - The Observer (UK)
For one thing, “the U.K. is notoriously more favorable to libel plaintiffs than the U.S., where the First Amendment protects a broad range of insulting and offensive speech." - Variety
Alta started Shameless Hussy Press in her garage. “She was having trouble getting her own brash and sensuous free-form poetry published by the mainstream companies, as were her friends, and when she learned how simple offset printing was, she decided to do it herself.” - The New York Times
The thing is, “Stereophonic’s cast recording is not pretending to bring the album from the show’s universe into the real world. It delivers finished versions of the songs sparking intense power struggles on stage — which you learn throughout the course of the play are being relegated to album outtakes.” - Vulture
Netflix isn’t about flicks anymore. Nor are most of the other streaming services. Instead, they're all about shows - scripted, reality, and live. - Wired
