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Stories

Just Like Its Protagonist, The Story Of Pinocchio Keeps Changing

Joan Acocella reminds us how utterly different the character and narrative in the original novel by Carlo Collodi are from Walt Disney's 1940 movie. The story has been remade and adapted dozens of times since; Hollywood has two more on the way and a third in the works. - The New Yorker

Intentional Profanity: How To Use Bad Words Mindfully And Derive Maximum Benefit

Swearing can abuse people or amuse them, inspire doubt or trust (or both) in others, and measurably relieve stress or pain — if you do it properly.  "When it comes to your well-being," writes Arthur C. Brooks, "I offer three rules to keep in mind while honing your cursing technique." - The Atlantic

Optimistic Pigs, Tool-Making Birds, Ball-Playing Bees: (Re-)Considering Animal Minds

"The challenge, then, becomes finding a way of thinking about animal minds that doesn't simply view them as like the human mind with the dials turned down: less intelligent, less conscious, more or less distant from the pinnacle of mentation we represent." - The Guardian

A Gay “Fantasticks”?  Yes, And Adapted By The Original Writer

When Flint Repertory Theatre artistic director Michael Lluberes contacted Tom Jones, the musical's playwright/lyricist, requesting approval to do the show with two young men as the central couple, Jones decided to go through the entire 60-year-old script and make adjustments.  Many people think it works even better this way. - American Theatre

Composer Timo Andres Salutes His Teacher, The Late Ingram Marshall

"With an unlikely fusion of loose, stream-of-consciousness forms and old-school contrapuntal technique, he constructed monoliths of sound, then obscured them. ... I felt I'd found a mentor who related to music the way I wanted to: with curiosity, open-mindedness and little regard for historical period or genre." - The New York Times

The Sydney Morning Herald Apologizes And (Kinda Sorta) Admits That It Tried To Out Rebel Wilson

After a wave of outrage over the original story erupted not only on social media but among the newspaper's staff, the column in question was removed and replaced with the columnist's apology. The Herald's editor has expressed contrition as well. - The Guardian

In The Wake Of Mass Shootings, Showrunners Pledge To Depict Guns Differently

"A group of 200 top writers, producers and directors have signed an open letter backed by the Brady gun violence organization that includes a pledge to incorporate gun safety best practices into their shows and to scrutinize the use of firearms in storytelling." - Variety

Gannett Will Eliminate Daily Editorial Pages At All Of Its Regional Newspapers

"Beginning in the spring and accelerating this month, the 250-title chain is cutting back opinion pages to a few days a week while refocusing what opinion is still published to community dialogue." (Regional editors have the option of reprinting editorials from USA Today.) - Poynter

Lightyear Is The Latest Movie Banned In Saudi Arabia And Other Countries

The censorious countries can't stand that Lightyear contains a nanosecond of a same-sex kiss, of course. - The Hollywood Reporter

Activists Have Had It With The Buyers Of Looted Antiquities

The problems of informal payments and freeports mean that "Western collectors are buying without fear of much reprisal, despite the already present provisions in international law that prohibit pillaging and include it as a war crime."  - NPR

A Dancer Who Fled Moscow Tried To Counter Russian Propaganda

Half of Laura Fernandez's family is Ukrainian, so when the then-Stanislavsky Theatre first soloist heard her Russian peers describe "the destruction of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol as a 'liberation,'" she knew she had to go. - The Guardian (UK)

A British Documentarian Says Social Media Gives Traditionally Marginalized People A Voice

Asif Kapadia also says that he wishes he'd discussed mental health more while making the Amy Winehouse documentary Amy. - The Observer (UK)

Is Life Random Or Not?

Some physicists bat it around, with the help of art: "We meet up, sometimes over a drink, to exchange ideas and share our latest musings in cosmology or molecular biology. We have often stayed up late talking while listening to our favourite jazz or flamenco musicians." - New Scientist

Why Is The Art World In Love With Basketball Right Now?

Fans of the sport and the arts might ask, "Why not?" but also, you know, why? "'It’s like the best sport ever,' said Jonas Wood, who has become one of the world’s most sought-after painters while making basketball a recurring theme in his work." - The New York Times

Almost Half Of US Museums Focus On A Small Percentage Of Contemporary Artists

And, real shocker, those numbers don't favor women - except, unexpectedly, in Miami. - Hyperallergic

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