Storrie, who plays hockey star Ilya Rozanov in the hit miniseries, comes from West Texas and studied Russian only briefly in high school, yet his Russian accent in English and his fluent delivery of Russian-language dialogue are very impressive. Storrie’s language coach, Kate Yablunovsky, explains how she helped him do it. - Scientific American
From the jarring morning alarm to the podcast we listen to on the way to work; from the constant murmur of the office to the background music in the café; from the endless information on our smartphones to the television that’s on just to have “something” playing. - 3 Quarks Daily
Some have lost an arm, others their legs, yet others their eyesight or voice. They’ve spent a year rehearsing a parody of Virgil’s Aeneid. One company member describes the work as both “rehabilitation and socialization.” - Deutsche Welle
I’m a neuroscientist with four children, and I wondered whether children might be losing more than just the pleasure of listening to books read aloud. In particular, I wondered whether it affected their empathy and creativity. - The Conversation
Gaza showed how power brokers from the White House on down seem eager for pretexts to punish dissent in ways that create a chilling effect, and that the hottest rhetoric from activists can be exactly that pretext. - The Atlantic
Playwright Ray Lawler’s most famous work, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1955), was a turning point in Australian theatre history. In the 1970s, Lawler wrote two prequel plays – Kid Stakes and Other Times – to form The Doll Trilogy. Melbourne’s small-but-ambitious Red Stitch is staging them together for the first time since 1985. - ArtsHub (Australia)
The book section you really wanted to get your hands on was the Washington Post Book World. To put it bluntly, you read the Times Book Review because you had to, but you read Book World because you wanted to. - LitHub
Since my own fandom has grown, I’ve noticed, at least anecdotally, many more friends and acquaintances talking about their love for audiobooks, not just as a passing interest but as something verging on obsession. Is this a trend? - Washington Post
There is satisfaction in pressing a button or cranking a dial that no touchscreen will ever replicate. There is also certainty; if I reach for my car’s temperature control, I know it will be there, without taking my eyes off the road to click through six sub-menus. - The Guardian
“Shahrbanoo Sadat … wrote, directed and stars in the daring, genre-bending film No Good Men, about a budding love affair in a Kabul newsroom on the eve of the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 and the West’s chaotic withdrawal.” - The Guardian
It’s true that Chinese universities have made remarkable strides, and some of them host superb centers of research and education. However, they aren’t nearly as dominant as those rankings suggest. - The New York Times
The embarrassment comes in what can all too easily happen when classical music tries to get down with the kids with new formats. Visuals! Apps! Short excerpts instead of whole symphonies! All of which can patronisingly say: we’re just like the pop cultures you love: we’re groovy too! - The Guardian
Tina Rivers Ryan had stepped into the leadership role at Artforum after a tumultuous year. It had just fired David Velasco, at the time its editor in chief, after he had signed and published an open letter calling for Palestinian liberation. - The New York Times
Yes, of course the fact that the Motion Picture Academy has made a conscious effort to internationalize its membership is part of it. Yet the key factor (yes, for all categories) has been a change in the way nominations for Best International Film are made. - The Hollywood Reporter
