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The Queer Problem At The Heart Of The Power Of The Dog

The book changed stereotypes when it came out in 1967, but Jane Campion's movie - bruited for at least one Oscar - has some issues. "What is, after all, so surprising about a queer cowboy? We live in a time after 'Old Town Road,' after Brokeback Mountain." - The Atlantic

This Hitchhiking Author Didn’t Get In A Car That Offered Her A Ride

That 1973 decision might have saved Sally J. Morgan's life - and provided material for a book that just won Britain's Portico Prize prize. - BBC

What Actual Inmates Thought Of Lynn Nottage’s Play About Recently Incarcerated Workers

Some detainees at Rikers Island watched a livestream of Clyde's. "Theater artists often speak of their aspirations for social relevance, especially in work focused squarely on contemporary issues. That aim has long been close to Nottage’s heart." - Washington Post

The Architect Of The Googleplex Now Thinks Such Designs Are Dangerous

Why? Clive Wilkinson now says that "blurring the line between work and non-work keeps employees tethered to the office, benefiting the employer most of all. That, he argues, may seem to keep workers happy but can quickly spark burnout." - NPR

The Pandemic Might Have Changed Indie Films Forever

As Sundance's virtual festival gets underway, the question hanging in the air is whether any indie film can succeed in traditional theatres. Older audiences are wary of the virus; thus, "the chances of success at the multiplex are now slimmer than ever." - Los Angeles Times

Booker Prizewinner Says Look To Older Women For Richer Fiction

Bernadine Evaristo: "I’m always amused when my young students create frail, old characters hunched over walking sticks, only for them to tell me that they’re in their forties. I would have been the same." - LitHub

A South Korean Museum Is Auctioning Off The Country’s Heritage

The reason isn't clear, but "in 2014, the Kansong fell into debt and has remained closed ever since. The museum has pushed its reopening dates several times, most recently announcing that it will open later in 2022." - Hyperallergic

Almodovar Wants People To Remember Spain’s Past

Early on, "when Almodóvar started making films, he promised himself one thing: his movies would give the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco the ultimate two-fingered salute. ... They would simply act as if he had never existed." Now, he's changed his mind. - The Guardian (UK)

Twenty-Two Composers And Performers To Watch in 2022

"The trope of the cloistered composer is a tried and true archetype — the solitary soul flanked by stacks of scores in the dark study of a secluded home, squinting at notation while sitting at a keyboard dusted with spent erasers." But things are a bit different now. - Washington Post

Netflix Won Big During The Early Pandemic, But Now It’s 2022

The streaming giant is facing big competition - and price hikes. - BBC

How The FBI’s Art Theft Team Works

Despite the United States’ status as an art market leader with a 42% share of the global pie today, the FBI Art Crime Team wasn’t founded until 2004. The small program crystallized in response to the looting of some 15,000 antiquities from the National Museum of Baghdad in April 2003. - Hyperallergic

Theatre Lies: The Liberating Feeling Of Making S***t Up

The most fun part about writing is that every writer I know is a fucking liar. Some think this is radical political work. Some think that to write is to channel the ancestors and the woo-woos to put voice to page. But all of these are just tactics. - American Theatre

Introducing “The Society For The Preservation Of Western Music” Let The Piling On Begin

The letter alludes that the new publication is in response to “…the virulent spread of identity-based concert programming.” It goes on to state they are looking to “actively promote canonical masterworks of the Western Classical tradition from antiquity to the present day.” - Ludwig Van

Why Amanda Gorman Almost Didn’t Read Her Inaugural Poem

"I’m a firm believer that often terror is trying to tell us of a force far greater than despair. In this way, I look at fear not as cowardice but as a call forward, a summons to fight for what we hold dear." - The New York Times

Above All, Literature Teaches Empathy

Writers and artists are not primarily trying to reform the world; their mission is to imagine it, to deliver it. Yes, there can be a profound ethical payload in such work, but it is rarely prescriptive or amenable to legislation. - LitHub

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