Does Playing Word Games Make Us Better?
At heart, they just expose our funny, brilliant, quirky humanness. We love riddles because they show how we’re “rationalization machines. We are great at...
How Maia Kobabe’s Graphic Novel Became The Most-Banned Book In American Schools
Suddenly, Kobabe was at the center of a nationwide battle over which books belong in schools — and who gets to make that decision....
The Global Phenomenon That Is Seattle’s Indie Music Radio Station KEXP
These days, KEXP has roughly 180,000 weekly listeners on the airwaves, 100,000 listeners online, and a YouTube channel with 2.69 million subscribers and nearly...
The Pandemic-Formed Musical Group That Arose Out Of An Adirondack Love For Folk Dance
No, truly. And, in classic pandemic times fashion, "after several months of working remotely, the band members met one another in the flesh and...
Historic Preservation Is Really Mucking Up Cities, And The People Who’d Like To Live...
The laws have done some good for buildings that truly do need to be preserved. However: "In cities with significant numbers of old buildings...
Why Artisans In Japan Sometimes Choose Hard Physical Work
One wood turner: "Well, you know, tradition is not just something in the past. It’s something that we’re making. ... I hope that I’m...
In Russia, Most Foreign Ballet Dancers Have Fled Because Of The War
One dancer who fled to Estonia and then to the United States says, "Russian ballet is definitely going to be totally isolated," and the...
Disney Still Isn’t Paying Its Writers
There's "a systematic program of theft from a whole cohort of writers, stemming from Disney's orgy of acquisitions. ... Disney took the position that...
Britain Could Have Ruined Its Remake Of The French Show Call My Agent
That it didn't, while also not making a direct copy, is due to writers who did the right thing - they asked agents what...
That Philip Guston Show Is Opening In Boston At Last, But Are We Ready?
The exhibition in Boston is "a referendum, of sorts, on just how far the MFA and its peer institutions have evolved when it comes...
Bill Murray Doesn’t Apologize For Misconduct On Set
He called it "a difference of opinion" and said production of Being Mortal, the "movie in which he was set to star was...
Building A Treasure Trove Of National Music
In the 1970s, CBC North (part of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) decided the best way to preserve music and build an archive was simply...
The Ukrainian Soprano Who Replaced Netrebko At The Met Wraps Herself In Her Flag
Liudmyla Monastyrska, who replaced Russian superstar Anna Netrebko at the Met in Turandot, wrapped herself in a Ukrainian flag for her curtain call. "'I...
Look, Books Are Great, But Let’s Not Overstate Things
"One of the things that always frightens me about DVD box sets is when it says how many minutes there are to watch. It’s...
Don’t Stress, Art Houses; This Movie’s Success Proves You Can Survive
Well into its run, the indie Everything Everywhere All at Once keeps gaining audience - and its platform rollout, something impossible during the height...
The Self-Described Queen Of The Night And Owner Of The First Disco Has Died...
Régine, a singer and actress "who once ran a nightclub empire from Paris to Los Angeles," opened her first club in the 1950s in...
A Ukranian Dance Troupe In The US Tries To Fight Disinformatio
The Voloshky Ukranian Dance Ensemble, "sees its role in combating Russian aggression as diplomacy through dance, teaching U.S. audiences about Ukrainian history and culture....
An Author Wanted To Show LGBT Kids That Life Wasn’t All Doom And Gloom
And so, of course, a Catholic school in England canceled his school appearance. - The Guardian (UK)
A Cool Tool To Find The Books Set In Every Place In America
The tool also "spits out a bunch of fun facts, like: Bisbee, AZ, is home to the highest percentage of mystery novels. Bloomington, IN,...
The Black Lesbian Playing The Queen Of England
"It’s a scenario that’s perfect for the gossip-fueled Bridgerton: Golda Rosheuvel, who plays Queen Charlotte on the Netflix series, was once told to keep...
The Venice Biennale Was Surrounded By, And Part Of, This Meaning-Free Surreal Moment
Take the NFTs, for example: "banal, tasteless and pointlessly surreal ... The ambiance was somewhere between that of a particularly bad high school art...
Ady Fidelin Was Man Ray’s Muse, And The First Black Model In Harper’s Bazaar
During WWII, Fidelin also preserved Man Ray's entire studio. "Without her preservation, Strauss said, 'we’d be missing a whole chunk of Dada and Surrealist...
Neil Gaiman Also Experiences The Suck Fairy
The beloved children's (and adult) author on all kinds of books, and the challenges of rereading the Enid Blyton books he loved as a...
Some Movie Sequels Feature Fantastic Characters
Some of them - Harley Quinn, my goodness - even get their own movies. But let's consider possibly the best sequel character ever: Yoda....
Grace And Frankie’s Reign Of Terror Is Coming To An End
Happy International Workers Day to Grace and Frankie's service workers! "At restaurants, at the DMV, at big-box hardware stores, and inside delivery trucks, the...
