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The Shocking Costs, And Deep Censorship, Of Trying To Read Books While In Prison

First, physical books get banned for transparently hysterical "reasons." Then e-readers might be provided for free - with content that is outrageously expensive. But incarcerated people, say advocates, desperately need, and want, the tools that will keep their minds engaged. - Publishers Weekly

The Past Can Sometimes Be The Past

That is, if you do enough digging - and enough reckoning, as Maud Newton, author of the memoir Ancestor Trouble, well knows. - The Rumpus

A Producer Whose Broadway Empire Imploded Seeks A Successful Return

Producer Garth Drabinsky not only lost his company but was jailed in Canada for fraud. He's not involved in the new show financially, but "suspicion of Drabinsky runs high in the Broadway community." Can Paradise Square possibly work? - The New York Times

Letting Public Art Degrade Is A Mental Health Issue

Seriously, communities need to maintain public art - at least public art that's not intended to fall apart. - Hyperallergic

TikTok Investigates (Or Its Users Do, And It Isn’t Pretty)

In just the past half year, TikTok mobs have dived headlong into engagement-baiting investigations of recent murders, online “pedophile rings,” and the legitimacy of popular creators’ neurological or psychiatric conditions. - The Atlantic

Are You Stuck In “Goblin Mode”?

“Goblin mode” is taking the current pandemic-ridden world by storm. This state of being is defined by behaviours that feel reminiscent of deep lockdown days – never getting out of bed, never changing into real clothes, grazing from tins or packets instead of cooking... - The Conversation

How To Stop DoomScrolling

“Doomscrolling is essentially an avoidance technique used to cope with anxiety, so wherever you are vulnerable to anxiety, doomscrolling can become an unhealthy coping mechanism.” - Wired

Scientist Proposes That Information Might Be The “Fifth State Of Matter”

The mass-energy-information equivalence principle Melvin Vopson proposed in his 2019 AIP Advances paper assumes that a digital information bit—used for digital data storage today—is not just physical, but has a “finite and quantifiable mass while it stores information.” - Popular Mechanics

Why Australia Needs A Ministry Of Culture

There is abundant evidence to show the government’s financial support for the arts and culture has been significantly reduced over many years. Today the arts don’t even rate a mention in the title of the government department responsible for them. - ArtsHub

Time For Hollywood To Rethink Its China Strategy?

In 2021, just 20 revenue-sharing U.S. titles were released in Chinese cinemas, compared with 31 U.S. tentpole releases before the pandemic, in 2019. - The Hollywood Reporter

Charo Is Not A Ditzy Cuchi-Cuchi Woman, She Only Plays One. She Is A Very Serious Guitarist.

She studied with Andrés Segovia and is a virtuoso in classical and flamenco styles. "At her shows, after she sings and gyrates to a set of disco numbers,” writes Amanda Hess, "she slips backstage, emerges in the tuxedo, picks up the guitar and blows everybody's mind." - The New York Times

Conservative Media Groups Says It Will Spend $100 Million On Kids Programming (To Counter Disney)

“Americans are tired of giving their money to woke corporations who hate them,” said Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing in a statement. - Axios

Meet The Guy Who Plays The Western Villains In Chinese Movies

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

NY Public Libraries Ended Late Fees. Old Books Began Rolling In

“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

Ashton Hawkins, 84, The Man Who Made The Met Work

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

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