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When Disney Collides With Reality

The lash, backlash, and backlash to the backlash around Florida's repugnant "Don't Say Gay" bill is stressing the Mouse out. And "all of this comes at a perilous time for Disney, which is racing to remake itself as a streaming titan." - The New York Times

Merle Oberon’s Big Secret

In racist Hollywood, Oberon kept her Sinhalese and Maori heritage quiet. "Oberon's mother Charlotte Selby, who had darker skin, followed her as her maid." - BBC

Does Nostalgia Get In The Way Of Music Venue Innovation?

That innovation might not be what music lovers expect. "The picture for live music in Britain is beyond bleak, but it’s more complex than it can at first appear: it’s not just the fault of the usual culprits such as greedy landlords, property developers and moaning neighbours". - The Guardian (UK)

Broadway Decides To Drop Vaccine Checks, But Not Mask Mandates

The theatre owners "announced the decision as many governments and businesses nationwide have been loosening restrictions, but with cases rising in New York City and the virus forcing several Broadway shows to cancel performances in recent days." - The New York Times

So Globalism Is Dead You Say? Think Again

International data flows surged as the pandemic sent in-person interactions online. The annual growth rate of international internet traffic roughly doubled in 2020. But that was just a one-time spike. - Harvard Business Review

Amazon CEO Teases Big Things Ahead For Amazon Video

“We have more invention in front of us in the next 15 years than the last 15 — and our team is passionately committed to providing customers with the most expansive collection of compelling content anywhere in the world.” - Deadline

How The Restitution Of Africa’s Art Stalled

More than half a million such objects—by some accounts, more than ninety per cent of all cultural artifacts known to originate in Africa—are held in Europe, where they have long seemed destined to remain. - The New Yorker

Digital Avatars – The Future Of Music Tours?

May 2022 sees the latest technological advances in musical immortality when Abba return to the live stage after a 40-year absence. But this time they return as humanoids – the digital hologram “twins” of the original global phenomenon. - The Conversation

On Being An Art Critic In A Weird Time For Journalism

There doesn’t seem to be a widespread, clear understanding of the distinction between journalism and criticism in the New York art scene. - Hyperallergic

Somehow, We Decided There’s No Truth. But We Need To Return To The Idea

If truth is a problem now for everyone, if the idea seems empty or useless in ‘the era of social media’, ‘science denialism’, ‘conspiracy theories’ and suchlike, maybe that just means that ‘everyone’ has caught up to where philosophy was in 1922. - Aeon

The Murderous Bunny Rabbits Of Medieval European Manuscripts

"Far from being sweet and adorable, rabbits in the margins and illuminated letters of these texts ... are frequently shown wielding swords, axes, and bows and arrows as they fight against — and sometimes kill — those who often hunted them." - Mental Floss

The International Dance Community Has Mobilized To Help Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has hit the tightknit ballet world hard, and dancers have responded with an unprecedented storm of activism. - Washington Post

Independent Media Under The Taliban: Things Aren’t As Grim As You Might Think

Saad Mohseni, founder and CEO of Afghanistan's first independent radio and TV networks: "On one side, we're dealing with a culture ministry that's constructive and realistic, and on the other, an intelligence agency and a ministry of vice and virtue that are not." - Bloomberg Quint

How The Internet Is Recording Ukrainian History

Archivists and librarians around the world have been working to catalogue thousands of websites that hold pieces of Ukraine’s past and present, ranging from policy papers and census data stores to poetry museums to a Soviet-era club that teaches children how to operate railways. - Washington Post

Brooklyn Public Library Fights Back Against The Wave Of School Book Bannings

Under a program called Books UnBanned, anyone in the US aged 13 to 21 may request a free eCard from the BPL, gaining access to hundreds of thousands of ebooks and audiobooks. The library has even selected a list of the most banned books to make readily available. - Book Riot

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