"It’s not hard to understand why nostalgia is everywhere. ... It feels as though the world is spiralling towards fascism in the midst of an accelerating environmental apocalypse, and a yearning for a lost past that seems safer and better than our present is an understandable reaction." - The Guardian (UK)
In a note to members after the so-called meeting, "WGA leaders dampened expectations of a resolution to the strike and expressed skepticism over the AMPTP’s intentions." - Los Angeles Times
"The play 5 Years, which took about two years to produce and features unique hologram technology, was set to be staged in Nottingham and Sheffield. Founder of the company Beck Gadsby estimated she had lost £30,000, saying it was 'absolutely devastating.'" - BBC
Can the actors' unions negotiate protections against things that have already happened? "It’s not a question of technology. ... It’s a question of who has the power in the relationship." - The New York Times
"The protests centered on vogue as resistance. The dance style, born out of the ballroom scene in Harlem in the 1980s as a source of joy and expression, became a response to a stabbing feared to be an attack on queerness and Blackness." - Los Angeles Times
Netrebko, fired by the opera house for her support of Vladimir Putin, "accuses the Met of discriminating against her because she is Russian; of issuing 'defamatory' statements about her in the press; and of breaching contracts." - The New York Times
Traffic was blocked and 1,700 desks set up by the Arc de Triomphe, for "a public dictée. Anyone who's studied French knows the importance of the ritual. A teacher reads out a passage, usually from French literature, and students have to write it out" - battling the complications of French. - NPR
In those quiet, terrifying times, lo these long three years ago, Chabon did what any nerd might do: He built a replica of the science fiction and fantasy section of his long-gone childhood bookstore. - LitHub
"Hollywood’s sudden hostility to hostility is even playing out in cinemas now. One of the few traits shared by both Barbie and Oppenheimer is the refusal to provide their tortured title characters with a serious antagonist." - The Guardian (UK)
"No clear economic reason for art criticism that is not glorified public relations to exist, so it barely does. While art is an extreme case in this regard, it’s also a leading indicator: as defender and judge of quality, the critic is an endangered species in many industries these days." - The Point
In a genre that has always valued volume as much as it loves liberation, the elders still compete over the story’s beats, much as they once battled over musical ones. It is a very hip-hop thing: a history written by the loudest. And loudness is one Herc contribution that no one disputes. - The Wall Street Journal
Netflix habitually pays more for its productions up front, but because it did away with the syndication model and keeps its viewership data to itself, it has also limited the upside for writers. - The Atlantic
