"A common trope in horror is that the character being haunted, possessed, or hunted is going through a personal agony — one that either helps them rise above the evil or destroys them altogether. … Grief cannot — should not — be sugar-coated. So we come to scary movies and books to relate." - Literary Hub
"What would be great is to collect all the myths that exist about me, because maybe they’re more interesting than my life!" Q: "Could it be that you yourself encourage these myths?" A: "Well let’s see …" (in English) - El PaÃs (Spain)
"Meet 'Alfaz-e-Mewat,' a community radio station that offers a mix of group therapy, education, women’s empowerment and entertainment. … In this region — which has some of the country’s lowest female literacy rates and where violence against women is the norm — the station is the voice of change." - The New York Times
"The rule would not set a limit on the fees, but rather would require broader disclosures, including the purpose of the fees and whether they are refundable. This action comes as President Biden has made cutting down on the so-called junk fees one of the priorities of his administration." - The Hollywood Reporter
"When the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park opens in Montgomery, Ala., in early 2024, on a bluff flanked by railroad tracks overlooking the Alabama River, visitors will be able to arrive by boat — retracing the footsteps of tens of thousands of Africans." - The New York Times
A COVID stabilization reserve fund set up by the orchestra's board has covered that budget hole, but with government pandemic aid over and attendance not all the way back, difficult times do lie ahead. Said the executive director, "We've known this was coming." - CBC
The social-media Web as we knew it, a place where we consumed the posts of our fellow-humans and posted in return, appears to be over. The precipitous decline of X is the bellwether for a new era of the Internet that simply feels less fun than it used to be. - The New Yorker
Under your nose, the Internet of real people has gradually shifted into a digital world of shadow puppets. They look like people, they act like people, but there are no people left. Well, there’s you and maybe a few others, but you can’t tell the difference, because the bots wear a million masks. - New Atlantis
Literary fiction might be dead. More precisely, what might have died is literary fiction as a meaningful category in publishing and bookselling. - The Nation
“An average audience-goer saw 40 or 50 shows or other cultural arts experiences over the course of a year, prior to 2020, going weekly to a play or museum or dance production each week. We sensed that change fundamentally." - Chicago Sun-Times
"Today culture remains capable of endless production, but it’s far less capable of change. Intellectual property has swallowed the cinema; the Hollywood studios that once proposed a slate of big, medium and small pictures have hedged their bets, and even independent directors have stuck with narrative and visual techniques born in the 1960s." - The New York Times
"He wakes up every day at 6 a.m., … checks his emails, and reads (several) newspapers before beginning his writing at 8 a.m. on the dot. He also jots down his daily schedule on a file card, crosses off each of his tasks when completed and then stores the card away." - CNN
A recent study "found that 27.8% of musicians have had no work in Europe since Brexit. Nearly half of respondents had seen their work in Europe decline, 40% had work cancelled and almost as many said they had to turn down work due to costs and logistics." - The New European
"On the one hand, there’s never been more of it — more specials, podcasts, comedy-generated discussions and debate and cultural flare-ups. … On the other hand, comedy, like everything else, is in bits. Online, it has shattered into memes and trolls and culture warlords and goats singing Bon Jovi." - MSN (The Atlantic)
