Yearly Archives: 2021
Rare Footage Of The Early Years Of An Independent Ireland
The stories a grandfather on the Dingle Peninsula told his grandson of a visiting American, a scholar who took video with a hand-crank camera,...
Broadway’s Return Is Earning A D-Minus In Gender And Sexual Orientation
Honestly, Broadway, Mrs. Doubtfire? (But that musical, filled with outright transphobic tropes, isn't alone in its missteps.) - American Theatre
The Depths Of Art, And Lies
"Nonfiction writers make mistakes, too, of course. But not on the first page. As soon as I discovered my falsehood, I vowed to turn...
Is Spider-Man’s Tom Holland Ready To Go The Way of Garbo?
The actor, in the middle of yet another Marvel publicity tour, says he's about ready to quit acting and return to his first love,...
The Poems Of Locked Down Paris Poets
One poet sped home from a teaching gig in Lebanon; another was diagnosed with breast cancer as the pandemic burst forth. "In many ways,...
Catholic Protesters Shut Down This Singer’s Concerts In Paris, So She Held A Secret...
Why? "Protesters accused Anna von Hausswolff of playing the 'devil's music.' But the priest who cancelled her planned Paris show said that was wrong."...
Can Peleton Sue Over That Appearance In Sex And The City?
Maybe! No spoilers (in this summary; the article contains a lot of spoilers), but "Peloton could reasonably consider litigation, especially if HBO did not...
Peloton Stock Plunges After “Sex in the City” Episode Runs
Shares of Peloton, the fitness equipment company, fell 11.3% Thursday — tumbling to a 19-month low — after a key character in HBO Max’s “Sex...
France Okays Modernization Of The Interior Of Notre Dame
The plan is "to bring a more modern look to Notre-Dame before its planned reopening in 2024, including the installation of contemporary artworks and...
How The Conversations Between Books Has Been Lost
The culture that connected people of my generation was popular television and music. I noticed when I traveled that bookstores were as crammed with...
Lifestyle Over Learning? Today’s Colleges Compete At The Wrong Things
In a higher education system financed mostly by tuition dollars, the customer is king. Colleges and universities have become full-service lifestyle stations, competing for...
A Crisis Of Copyright For Canada’s Education Publishers
Not only is the Canadian copyright crisis now called “the Canadian flu” in international book publishing circles but—for those who love silver linings—it’s believed...
At Last: Met Museum Removes Sackler Name From Its Building
The decision, which came after more than a yearlong review by the museum, was reportedly mutual and made “in order to allow the Met to...
Dying American Shopping Malls Are Obviously Symbolic. But Of What?
"A dead mall, while eerie and odd, is strangely difficult to interpret. Tempting to see it as an Ozymandias-like portent of the collapse of...
Opera’s Three Laws Of Gravity (There’s No Escaping Them)
"In opera, the external is the internal." 2. "In opera, all speech is dream speech, whether it wants to be or not." 3. "Opera...
And Now Some Orchestra Business Numbers:
For the last 12 months (November 2020-October 2021), orchestra ticket revenue is down 67%. This is on par with results for the larger performing...
How A Master Of Indian Classical Dance Is Subtly Transforming Her Genre
Bijayini Satpathy spent 25 years performing and teaching at Nrityagram, the famous dancers' village near Bangalore, before deciding to become a touring solo artist....
Evidence Vikings Landed In North America Nearly 500 Years Before Columbus
Scientists have known for many years that Vikings — a name given to the Norse by the English they raided — built a village...
The Uyghur Cultural Traditions Being Wiped Out Under Beijing’s Crackdown
There's been plenty of coverage of the built heritage of the Uyghurs that has been razed in recent years, but intangibles — literature, traditional...
Could This Show Replace The Golden Globes?
The Critics Choice Awards has long been something of an also-ran. The 2020 show drew just 1.2 million viewers, about half the audience of...
National Museum Of Afghanistan Is Open Again — With Taliban Guards
Twenty years after a previous generation of Taliban took over the country and looted and smashed its way through the collection, the new government,...
Rape Charge Against Filmmaker Luc Besson Dismissed By French Court
After a 3½-year judicial investigation in Paris, and in accordance with the prosecutor's recommendation, the case brought against Besson by actress Sand van Roy...
Suddenly The Best Documentary Short Oscar Race Is Interesting, Thanks To Two Old Titans...
Time was, that was a low-stakes category for obscure indie directors. Ten years ago, HBO was the only major competitor. Now several legacy media...
Association Of American Publishers Sues To Stop States’ Library E-Book Laws
The trade group says that a Maryland law (along with a similar one pending in New York) requiring publishers who sell e-books to individual...
Rolando Villazón Had Thought His Voice Was Fried For Good — But He’s Singing...
Following a meteoric rise in the '00s, the Mexican tenor suffered more than one vocal crisis, changed repertoire, and finally gave up. But, he...