Almost nobody knows him back home in England, but in China — thanks to a chance meeting while waiting to renew his visa — Kevin Lee (or Kaiwen Li in Chinese) has become a familiar face in several popular action franchises. - BBC
“I can’t tell you how stressed out these fines made our customers,” said Tienya Smith, a librarian who runs the branch in Long Island City, Queens. “Not having these fees erases all of that.” - The New York Times
If his name was less well known to the museumgoing public than those of Met directors like Thomas Hoving or Philippe de Montebello, two towering figures under whom Mr. Hawkins served, he was their near-equal when it came to the ultra-rarified networks that undergird the museum. - The New York Times
It's now an elaborate, rarefied classical art form, but kabuki got its start in the red-light district across the river from Kyoto in 1603, and several of the genre's important conventions were introduced as ways to curb all the vice tied up with kabuki in its early years. - Apollo
“From the start of the invasion of Ukraine by the armies of Vladimir Putin, I’ve felt deep dread and a certainty that this will be a bloody and horrific conflict,” writes Baryshnikov, in the submission titled, “The Ukrainians are fighting for all of us.” - San Francisco Examiner
Compiled by a French noblewoman circa 1256 and copied across Europe over the next two centuries, the Régime du corps ("body regimen") survives in 70-odd manuscripts that "offer a window into many aspects of everyday medieval life – from sleeping, bathing and preparing food to bloodletting, leeching and purging." - The Conversation
"Many of them seem tired of the demands of online celebrity and seem to be moving on from pushing for ever more shocking videos. And while it's made them a lot of money, it seems many of YouTube's biggest stars are facing reckonings about whether it's been worth it." - BuzzFeed
Meta, Mark Zuckerberg's umbrella corporation for Facebook and the companies it's bought, has been paying conservative consulting group Targeted Victory to place letters to the editor and op-ed essays portraying TikTok as a danger to American children and teens. - The Guardian
"Stations rose to the occasion to provide refuge from a world that felt scary and uncertain. That has translated into ratings records" — WDAV in Charlotte actually reached no. 1 in its market — "strong fundraising and a reminder of the value of classical stations to local arts organizations." - Current
Sarah Kaufman talks to performers who've been expatriates for decades but sometimes work in Russia (such as conductor Vladimir Jurowski) and one (theater director Dmitry Krymov) who happened to be traveling to a gig in Philadelphia when the war started and won't be going back. - The Washington Post
"More than a dozen artifacts linked to infamous antiquities trafficker Subhash Kapoor were seized from an (unnamed) Ivy League school's art gallery on Wednesday by Homeland Security. Twelve of the 13 artifacts were allegedly looted from India, and one item originated from Burma." - ARTnews
Even as the annexation of Crimea faded from the media, Signerbusters kept showing up to concerts, draped in Ukrainian flags, equipped with signs and spirit. Sometimes there were just two or three of them present. Still, for eight years, Signerbusters say they have never missed a show. - Washington Post
Neither the art world nor the world of noncommercial dance is much more hospitable to an improvising street dancer, at least not one with Storyboard’s out-of-the-ordinary qualities. - The New York Times
Over the past decade, women only make up 12.7% of songwriters. The study also counted producers of select years, and found that women made up a paltry 2.8%. - NPR
