Yes, BookTok. But not only BookTok. The woman who self-published her first book while she was earning $9 an hour and whose books outsold the Bible in 2021 says, "It's not me ... The readers are controlling what is selling right now." - The New York Times
A Netflix exec: "We loved going to see great original family films. ... Sadly, now when you look at what a lot of the offerings are, they aren’t live-action family. It’s usually animated for family, and then it’s reboots, remakes, sequels, low-budget horror." - The New York Times
The range isn't the same, either for visuals or his music. "To this day, I still get letters from people going, 'There's 20 seconds of music missing in The Dark Knight,' and I'm going, 'No there is not any music missing. You're listening to it on your phone.'" - BBC
"Count Dracula — a recluse plagued by yearning, a macabre flair for theatrics and existential loneliness — turned out to be an unlikely patron saint for the uncertain times. ... Serialization made the 125-year-old novel more accessible and created a community of readers when many were looking for connection." - The New York Times
If there's a cinema anywhere near you that shows them, you're out of luck. Streamed broadcasts will only be available in countries (and areas of North America) where the cinemacasts are not. - AP
Musicologist Lily Hersh says that "people are still surprised that music can be used in negative ways: they think music is supposed to be sublime and uplifting ... but music can just as easily be destructive. That destructiveness is not something to cover up or shy away from." - Culture Study
"Exhibition giant and Regal owner Cineworld Group, which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S., predicted on Friday that cinema admissions in 2023 and 2024 would remain below levels recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic." - The Hollywood Reporter
Australia's state capitals had some strict lockdowns, with Melbourne the world's most severe. Performing arts groups are still reporting attendance remaining stubbornly below 2019 levels. (Except in Western Australia, which locked out the rest of the country instead of locking down. Tickets in Perth are selling like gangbusters.) - The Guardian
What's up with the no clapping between movements - and, in 2022, is it time to make a compromise between the rowdy 18th century and the decorous 19th in order to ensure the music's survival farther into the 21st? - MSN (Boston Globe)
A white woman making a film about four men who were in Saudi Arabia, undergoing deradicalization? Sundance has dumped it, but one Muslim American film critic says, "It does a disservice to throw away a film that a lot of people should see." - The New York Times
Stalin called Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensh "muddle instead of music, an ugly flood of confusing sound, ... a pandemonium of creaking, shrieking and crashes.” Ouch. But it feels more urgent than ever with Putin at Russia's helm. - The New York Times
Of course, it's a win after a long fight. "Amazon has done the right thing for once! In this case, the right thing is closing a loophole revealed by a TikTok about 'reading hacks.'" - LitHub
Price isn't the only barrier for a classical newcomer, but it's a big one, and the few American organizations that have tried pay-what-you-wish — most notably, the Chicago Sinfonietta and, this past summer, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra — say it works. But what about lost ticket revenue? - The New York Times
Sure, the service mostly died in 2019 - but it's being revived now, and a lot of hardcore users still have their MoviePass cards. "It was a badge that gave you permission to see the worst that Hollywood had to offer while creating a buffer," one says. - Wired
