"The first event I went to was at the L.A. Times headquarters. I was so blown away. They had journalists there, and honestly, it was like Writers Disneyland. And the Festival of Books? I went for the first time when I was 8 … and it was like one of the best days.” - Los Angeles Times
"Russia's invasion of Ukraine has upended ballet, as prominent artists shun Russia's storied dance companies; theaters in the West cancel performances by the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky; and dance in Russia, which had opened up to the world ..., seems to be turning inward again." - The New York Times
Until the middle of the century, its most visible work was crafted by outsiders from the East or Europe, bewildered by what they perceived as the otherness of Southern California, its sun and light, its palm trees. That all began to shift in the 1960s with the emergence of the Watts Writers Workshop. - Los Angeles Times
This week, the Russian dissident leader's Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project released an extensive report on the conductor's wealth and its sources. Here's an English-language summary of the findings — including, the report alleges, "large-scale fraudulent misappropriation of charitable funds." - Van
Yes, it was that many of the migratory birds taking up residence at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center the past two summers, damaging the trees on the grounds and badly soiling the building. So, before the purple martins return this year, the orchestra is removing all its trees. - Main Street Nashville
His specialty was history-based television dramas such as Attica, Inside the Third Reich, Peter the Great, The Deliberate Stranger (about serial killer Ted Bundy), and the landmarks Roots and Holocaust. - The New York Times
"We uncovered all these riches just 10-15cm under the floor slabs," said the leader of the dig. "Suddenly we had several hundred pieces from small fragments to large blocks including sculpted hands, feet, faces, architectural decorations and plants. Some of the pieces were still coloured." - The Guardian
"(An) investigation was launched after the 84-year-old actor had been accused of sexual harassment, including making inappropriate comments to a female co-star on set during work." - Deadline
Rafson becomes Producing Artistic Director of the influential Off-Broadway troupe as of June 21, succeeding John Doyle, known for his stripped-down productions of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, Company, and Assassins in which the actors play instruments as well as speaking and singing. - Playbill
So's the entire publishing industry. "(The chain's) unique role in the book ecosystem, where it helps readers discover new titles and publishers stay invested in physical stores, makes it an essential anchor in a world upended by online sales and a much larger player: Amazon." - The New York Times
Mundanity and profundity—these were key to the 21st-century boom in what critics call “prestige TV,” during which the onetime “vast wasteland” (as Federal Communications Commission Chair Newton N. Minow called it in 1961) began earning regular comparisons to great cinema and literature. - The Atlantic
Weeks, days, hours, minutes—especially minutes—are just more mechanisms for keeping humans in thrall ultimately based on astronomy, astrology’s lesser sibling. In the globalized information environment we currently enjoy, we should and must construct better timescales. - Wired
We should hesitate to call someone a liar because we are not privy to other people’s motives or states of mind. That a statement is untrue can usually be established beyond reasonable doubt; that the person who said it knew it was untrue is harder to establish. - Prospect
This practise has been brought to light, in part thanks to a TikTok trend whereby some readers have been posting videos about doing just that, even sharing tips on how to do so. Amazon allows readers to return ebooks up to 14 days after purchase, even if the whole book has been read. - Melville House
He wrote last year on the website UnHerd that he had been “elected a non-person by the Left many years ago,” and added: “It’s uncomfortable, and it’s costly and sad to see the happy fields in which I played all those decades — Broadway, book publishing, TV and film — fold up and Hail Caesar, but there it is.” - The...
