What Led Josephine Baker To Become A Spy And A French War Hero?
It wasn't only loyalty to France for having accepted her and taken her to heart. She had some personal experience with Nazism. - Literary...
The BBC Made A Lot Of Money Last Year
Rather jaw-dropping, really. "The BBC has declared a record income of £5.33 billion ($6.4 billion) for the 2021/2022 period, up from £5.06 billion last year, and...
“Princess Mononoke” Is A Brilliant, Complicated, Gorgeous Film, And Was A Huge Hit In...
Perhaps, as some in Japan say, because America has such a black-and-white, good-versus-evil mindset. Perhaps because Hollywood thinks animation is for kids and therefore...
The Art Fund’s Museum Of The Year Completely Reconfigured Itself During The Pandemic
And the effort paid off: The Horniman's "values are woven through everything it now does, with a passionate team breathing life and meaning into...
A Paris Neighborhood Tries A Generally Un-Parisian Thing: Making Friends With All The Neighbors
In what the organizers call la République des Hyper Voisins (the Republic of Superneighbors), up to 2,000 people regularly gather for meals (including one...
Inside LA’s Center Theatre Group As It Methodically Searches Out A New Leader
It's a deliberate process. "We are not starved for folks being able to select shows and communicate with artists and keep those programs running....
Peter Brook Supported Theater Critics — And Set Them A High Standard
Lily Janiak: "Brook sympathizes with artists' complaints about critics — they're wrong; they're mean-spirited and 'disapproving' — but then he issues a warning: 'An...
Janeane Garofalo, True To The Gen-X Ethos, Never Sold Out
A trailblazer for years, "Garofalo didn’t just help shift the comedy scene away from clubs. Her style represented a sea change from the polished,...
Breakdancing Is A Freeform Art. How’s It Getting Organized As An Olympic Sport?
"While breakers around the world ramp up their training, the organization recognized by the IOC to conduct the program, the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF),...
The Alleged Mysterious Manuscript Thief May Manage To Avoid A U.S. Trial
Filippo Bernardini allegedly impersonated numerous authors, agents, and others in order to obtain unpublished manuscripts — for reasons nobody yet understands. Now his first...
Thieves Returned A Precious Medieval Chest Said To Contain Relics Of Christ To “The...
The ornate gold-and-lapis lazuli vessel, which houses vials said to contain blood that flowed from Jesus's body as he was crucified, was stolen on...
In Ukraine, The Phrase “Culture War” Is Not Metaphorical
"With Russia actively trying to erase Ukraine's national identity, this country's music, literature, movies and monuments are not recreations. They are battlefields. The true...
Angel Blue Withdraws From Verona Opera Festival Because Anna Netrebko Is Singing Aïda In...
The American soprano was going to make her Arena di Verona debut as Violetta in La Traviata — until a furor arose over Netrebko's...
Actor’s Equity Blacklists Broadway Producer Garth Drabinsky
"The actors and stage managers of (Paradise Square) asked for Drabinsky to be put on the 'Do Not Work' list due to 'outstanding payments...
Apparently, There’s A Rampant Violin Playing Scam In The United States
Scammers ruin everything, including violin skills: "At its most basic, it’s someone who is busking with a violin, apparently playing, while they’re actually faking...
Hollywood And Abortion Activism
Meetings, walkouts, subtle out of office notes - and representation: "Many in Hollywood have begun to think about how they portray characters receiving abortion and...
X-Rays Reveal A Hidden Van Gogh Self-Portrait
"Experts at the National Galleries of Scotland made the find when the canvas was X-rayed before an exhibition. The hidden self-portrait was covered by...
Meryl Streep’s One Weird Trick
You can never unsee this, so only click if you dare. - The New York Times
Real Objectivity Involves A Heck Of A Lot Of Subjectivity
That is, "being objective" means having the ability to identify with someone else's subjective experience. - Aeon
A New Law In The UK Would Harshly Target Those Who Physically Deface Monuments
The new law comes within a suite of rules intended to give the police more power over protesters. "Anyone caught damaging a memorial in...
Arizona Just Got The Biggest Chunk Of Arts Funding It’s Ever Had
From 2008 to 2012, the Arizona Commission on the Arts had a regular line, about $550,000, in the state budget; since then, the agency...
YouTube Live Has Been Rather Quietly Growing Until It’s Bigger Than Hulu
"Google nearly decided to call the internet TV service 'YouTube Air,' because an early version used an over-the-air TV antenna," and then internally it...
The Death Of The “Voice Of God”: Traditional Voiceover Narrators Are Disappearing From Documentaries
Starting in the 1990s, traditional documentaries started to be replaced by personality-driven nonfiction films whose directors (e.g., Michael Moore, Werner Herzog) were more than...
Graydon Carter’s Vanity Fair And The Inevitable Fade Of The American Glossy Magazine
"What happens when legacy magazines can no longer rely on their reputation to get readers, let alone party invites? Condé Nast's magazines, especially Carter's...
The Serious Right-Wing Threat To Queer Children’s Literature
"The assumption that 'a gay book' is necessarily a sexualized book, and therefore inappropriate for children, is baked into the language of 'Don’t Say...
