Selling books is complex, and author Malinda Lo, winner of the National Book Award for young people, says the label is just marketing. "I like very complicated people who make bad decisions because, you know what? Those are the ones who make the best characters." - Slate
Dakota Johnson is now a producer. She says, "It’s not about control. It’s about contribution. It’s about collaboration. ... It’s about really reaching for an idea and sticking to it and maintaining the integrity of whatever story is trying to be told." - Los Angeles Times
Stuart Eizenstat, who helped write the Washington Principles, is in an odd position. "The optics of his surfacing for the first time in a restitution case, not on the side of claimants, but of defendants, have surprised some experts in the field." - The New York Times
Or perhaps ever. Rebecca Watson: "I really don’t believe there’s a correlation ... but people try to map the piece onto the novel and interpret it as confessional. This novel was never an act of catharsis. It was a joyful act of creation." - The Guardian (UK)
Recently, Broadway shows haven't needed to cancel because of COVID cases in cast or crew, but there are a lot of empty seats - and three shows are closing in hopes of reopening in the spring. - NPR
Ana Iris Simón has been "stunned not only by the success of her book, but also by how an ultranationalist and conservative audience ... embraced Feria as an ode to Spain’s traditional family values" - which, she says, it is not. - The New York Times
Of course: "Field cast participants — aspiring dancers, actors, singers and musicians recruited from local drill teams as well as theatrical, community and athletic groups — are expected to be grateful for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." But wait; it's 2022. - Los Angeles Times
The fashion legend was "most of all his own project, Pygmalion as well as his subject, maybe with a little bit of Icarus thrown in. He embodied the transformative power of fashion, not only the domain of socialites and hobby shoppers, but an avenue for invention." - The Cut
The writer of House of the Spirits says, "Didn’t I tell you that we live under a patriarchy? ... But women have been tearing bits and pieces out of the situation little by little. And they will succeed, but I will not be alive to see it." - El País (English)
But why? DirecTV, for one, is tight-lipped. And "the pay TV providers who dropped OAN and Newsmax make the case that it’s not politics that drove their decisions, but the upended economics of their business." (Lawsuits also might be making a difference.) - Los Angeles Times
The concerts for isolated people have ended up a lifeline for the musicians too. "Sometimes the concerts can be really unusual in that you start it in the middle of the street, and you don't know if anybody is listening, and then comes the surprise." - BBC
Or, at least, that worked for Costa prize winner Caleb Azumah Nelson, who had been working at an Apple Store before an agent bit on his writing. - The Guardian (UK)
The not-too-distant future, at that. "Film festivals have always struggled with accessibility issues that can be mitigated by allowing people to attend from home. So perhaps hybrid festivals are the future even in the best of times." - Wired
That's because her scenes got cut - and, after renting the movie partly based on her being in the trailer, some fans are so far from amused that they're suing. - Variety
