"Watching the crowds cry, or clap, or tap their feet, it’s impossible not to wonder how many of those train travellers – or the audience at home – are seeing something that looks like fun, something that they could have a go at." - The Guardian (UK)
Not a real surprise, and yet, "Cast your mind’s eye behind Spotify’s X voice and you will find only the void—a vast jumble of machine-learning metrics and carefully calculated curation that tells you what it thinks you want to hear." - Wired
It's a thorny question after years of occupations and wars. That, "combined with the systematic repression of the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture has made some Ukrainians ambivalent about fully embracing the many writers from Ukraine who are not ethnic Ukrainians." - The Millions
Frustrated with Newark's ongoing water crisis, Wille Cole and his communities take the city's resulting trash and try to create something better. "It’s not always easy to 'open up perception' and see familiar objects in a fresh way, Cole says." - The New York Times
"Among Indian audiences, there is a deep divide between those who applaud that the rest of the world is waking up to his brilliance and those who are horrified that a 'dubba' — or hollow film — is being lauded." - Variety
Basically, there are too many streaming services involved. "Warner Bros. Discovery claims that Paramount Global 'embarked on a multi-year scheme to unfairly take advantage of Warner/HBO.'" - Vulture
When editors said they couldn't find Black photographers during the George Floyd protests, journalist and photographer Polly Irungu transformed her social media and networking skills into a lifeline for hundreds of other Black photographers. - HuffPost
"Bosson received five Emmy Award nominations in as many years for her supporting role, as she portrayed a character who reinvents herself to help crime victims and takes on a cheeky confidence with signature sentence-starters such as 'Hey, buster.'" - Washington Post
This is a twist. "The Archer City store was the last remaining shopfront, and had become a pilgrimage of sorts for devotees of McMurtry’s Westerns." Gaines was spotted carrying boxes of books out of the store, the inventory of which has now gone all-online. - LitHub
Not great! "It has become quite aggressive online and our drag queen performer has also been personally harassed," says the Kings Playhouse interim director. The Prince Edward Island theatre says it has postponed, not cancelled, the event. - CBC
It's completely fine not to meet in real life - and look, virtual relationships of all kinds are "real." (Performance art spaces need to figure this out as well, especially so they don't alienate their immunocompromised audience and donors.) - Wired
A real surprise: "The festival’s top award is rarely given to a documentary, and in his acceptance speech, a clearly surprised asked the jury members if they were 'crazy'" - ironic, since his film is about a floating Parisian barge that treats mentally ill patients. - The New York Times
Perhaps the inspiration for renewal can benefit from, or even require, an awakening humiliation. LaGuardia’s reconstruction was, in some sense, a response to Biden’s insult, but also to the disgraceful state of the airport—which has now been transformed into a swanky theme park. - The Atlantic
The benefits of excessive licensing are unsubstantiated, theoretical, or minimal. But the drawbacks? Those are very real for workers and consumers alike. - The Atlantic
