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Harper Lee’s Executor Will Not Get To Take The “To Kill A Mockingbird” Film Rights Back From The People Lee Sold Them To

Those people being the heirs of star Gregory Peck and the producer and director of the 1962 film version. Executor Tonja Carter (as she's done in other cases) argued that the aged Lee was basically tricked into signing the earlier contract. The court disagreed. - The New York Times

UK Seizes Three NFTs And Arrests Three People On Tax Evasion Charges

"Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, the IRS equivalent in the United Kingdom, announced earlier this week that it had seized three NFTs and about $6,800 worth of crypto from three individuals who are currently embroiled in a $1.9 million tax fraud case." (Hm. How would one seize an NFT?) - ARTnews

Research: Stress Might Have Gotten A Bum Rap

A growing body of research suggests that it is our beliefs about our feelings, as much as the feelings themselves, that determine their effects on the brain and body. Negative views of stress and anxiety often exacerbate our problems. - The Guardian

Record Store Day Was Supposed To Help Small Stores. It’s Backfiring

This year, RSD offers 411 new releases, a fact that should leave those in the physical music business seething. Thanks to Brexit and the pandemic, we simply can’t make enough records. There is an international shortage of the various components required. - The Guardian

Canadian Minister Of Culture Says Streaming Companies Need To Step Up Support Of Canadian Culture

In a debate Wednesday in the House of Commons about a bill to regulate online streaming, Rodriguez said updating the broadcasting law is long overdue and needs to cover commercial content on social media and streaming platforms. - CBC

Ever Wanted To Live Inside DisneyLand? Here’s Your Chance…

Disney Imagineers will help design these sub-developments, and this first effort “will welcome homeowners of all ages and will include at least one section expressly for 55+ residents” and a “voluntary club membership” with exclusive Disney programming. - New York Magazine

How Is It That Dance Takes Over The Body And The Mind?

History and culture offer a treasure trove of attempts to interpret dance’s unique power over our bodies and minds. - LitHub

How The Typewriter Imposed Changes On Chinese

Chinese scholars and activists developed new means of analysing and ordering the written language to equip it for, among other things, literacy campaigns, library classification systems, typewriting and computing. - Literary Review

The Prado Digs Out And Displays Two Goya Sketches For The First Time In 121 Years

"Pursuing a more 'panoramic approach' to the painter’s oeuvre, the Madrid institution has placed Las Majas in a new gallery alongside two little-seen sketches of Saint Bernardino of Siena preaching to an Aragonese king, as well as a reclining Venus by Titan." - ARTnews

What The Post-Plague Years In Medieval Europe Can Teach Us About Post-COVID

As we move toward a new, post-pandemic era, the tensions in the labor market of the 14th century may have something to teach us about turmoil to come. - The New York Times

Paul Theroux Is (Re-)Figuring Out His Relationship With V.S. Naipaul

"More than fifty years of writing about Naipaul! Yet only in the last few years, the dust having settled"— Naipaul died in 2018, and, writes Theroux, was a far less difficult person in his final years — " I have seen how complex our relationship was." - London Review of Books

Bookstore Sales Up 28 Percent In 2021

The rebound was not quite enough to bring 2021 bookstore sales back to 2019 levels, falling 1% below 2019 sales of $9.13 billion. - Publishers Weekly

The Simple Reason A Bunch Of Comedians Are Suing Pandora

"Let's say (Robin Williams is) singing the words 'reality, what a concept' — in that case … a royalty would have been generated and (Pandora) would be paying the license. But because he said the words 'reality, what a concept' … they didn't deal with it." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

Facebook… Er, Meta… Is Revamping Its Art Program

Open Arts was initially founded as a residency program at Facebook. Artists were commissioned to create work along with employees on site at the company’s headquarters, giving Facebook workers insight into the artistic process. - Artnet

Could Swahili Become The Lingua Franca Of The Entire African Continent?

"With more than 200 million speakers, Swahili, which originated in East Africa, is one of the world's 10 most widely spoken languages and, as Priya Sippy writes, there is a renewed push for it to become the continent's lingua franca." - BBC

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