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Twin Sisters, Book Editors At Competing Publishers

Such is occasionally the cost of doing business when you work in the same tight-knit industry as your identical twin. Turns out, Jean said, mix-ups are “really good for networking.” - The New York Times

Artist Pope.L Has Died At 67

"Across the past four decades, (his works) alluded to the condition of Black Americans without outright stating what they were trying to communicate. (His) sculptures, installations, performances, and conceptual artworks … were often provocative and sad — and, more often than not, funny, too, in ways that could be shocking." - ARTnews

The Tribune Names Its Chicagoans Of The Year In The Arts For 2023

Among the honorees are the founder-director of what's now the National Museum of Mexican Art, the Chicago Symphony's composer-in-residence, the 24-year-old jazz pianist who thrilled Herbie Hancock, and the stage managers of the Joffrey Ballet. - Chicago Tribune (MSN)

Tommy Smothers, 86

When “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” debuted on CBS in the fall of 1967 it was an immediate hit, to the surprise of many who had assumed the network’s expectations were so low it positioned their show opposite the top-rated “Bonanza.” - AP

Author Hanif Kureishi On Life One Year After The Accident That Rendered Him Quadriplegic

"Left without the use of his arms and legs, the award-winning writer of The Buddha of Suburbia and My Beautiful Laundrette has charted his experience in brutally-honest blog posts. He credits his sense of purpose to his relationship with his responsive readers." - BBC

Ruth Seymour, Who Remade SoCal’s KCRW Into One Of America’s Leading Public Radio Stations, Has Died At 88

When she started there in 1977, it was in a little bungalow in Santa Monica with the oldest radio transmitter west of the Mississippi. When she left in 2010 after 30 years as GM, "KCRW had become a cultural and intellectual trendsetter ... for public radio listeners across America." - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

Why Do Christmas Movies Assume That Being Single Sucks?

Christmas and holiday movies usually tend to centre around a key belief: that people need a romantic partner to live “happily ever after.” - The Conversation

Mezzo-Soprano Mildred Miller, One Of The Met’s Great Interpreters Of “Trouser Roles,” Is Dead At 98

One of the Met's stalwarts of the 1950s and '60s (especially as Cherubino and Octavian), she performed so many male mezzo parts that her young daughter once said, "My mommy is a boy." After retiring from the stage, she co-founded the company now known as Pittsburgh Festival Opera. - The New York Times

Countertenor And Convicted Sexual Assaulter David Daniels Expelled From AGMA

"This week (the union) released a letter of censure dated Nov. 20 in which Daniels was informed he was permanently barred from the guild. … The 57-year-old and his husband, Scott Walters, pleaded guilty to sexual assault of an adult, a second-degree felony, in Houston’s Harris County District Court on Aug. 4." - AP

French President Macron, Failing To Read The Room, Defends Gérard Depardieu

Macron said that the 74-year-old star — facing multiple rape accusations and having been caught on camera sexually harassing a translator and making lewd remarks about a 10-year-old — is "a great actor … (who) makes France proud" and should not be stripped of the Legion of Honor. Predictable outrage has ensued. - BBC

Humorist Dan Greenburg, Who Wrote “How To Be A Jewish Mother,” Is Dead At 87

"A best-selling author, essayist, playwright and screenwriter, (his) satirical prose examined Jewish angst, women and sex, and (he) later produced a series of humorous children’s books." - The New York Times

Man Is Mistaken For A Famous Author, Given An Award, Asked To Speak…

I was in Rimini as a thoroughly marginal person—however fine a speaker, however deserving of my medal, I would surely never have been invited to this conference in my own right, and in that sense had no right to be there—and the marginalized are prone to conspiracy theories. - The Point

“My Small Intestine Nearly Exploded”: Tracey Emin Recovering From Emergency Surgery

"The 60-year-old (artist) was recently in Australia ... and was on her way back to the UK via Thailand when she fell ill. 'Not cancer but horrible complications with my intestines brought on by an infection, scar tissue and made a million times worse by flying,' she wrote." - The Guardian

The Rapid Rise And Even Faster Fall Of Jonathan Majors

"It’s hard to mint a new movie star these days, (so) people in Hollywood were high on Jonathan Majors, … (and) this was supposed to be the year that would turn him into an A-lister." Instead, his career collapsed within minutes of his conviction for assaulting his now-ex-girlfriend. - The New York Times

Seems Like The New Yorker’s Takedown Of Hasan Minhaj Helped His Career Out

"More art than ever leans on the trust and authenticity of journalism, so it’s good for performers to think about the peculiar bargain they have struck with their audience and how to navigate it." - The New York Times

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