It was a scary path. "Archaeologists placed the 'conglomeration' of squashed pages, leather and turf in a walk-in cold store in the museum at 4C. But there was no manual in the world to guide Gillis on how to go about the task." - The Guardian (UK)
Christopher Knight: "Lots of smart people write smart things about art but nobody was a better writer than Dave. ... Hickey, a brilliant and cantankerous wit, wrote for the ear. His work needed reading, not scanning, and rewarded effort with pleasure." - Los Angeles Times
The novelist, who says it doesn't get any easier no matter how many you've written, has a few tips like, well, write what you know; stop drinking so much; and use his "patented technique called WNW." - LitHub
Toek Tik was "an unschooled man from a thatch-roofed hut who recently began disclosing to authorities how he oversaw hundreds of confederates as they swept through temple ruins, pillaging sculptures and other treasures." - The New York Times
The winner at Cannes, Julia Ducournau is excited "about the current boom in female horror; she particularly rates British films by Rose Glass (Saint Maud) and Alice Lowe (Prevenge)." Women, she says, have a special relationship with horror. - The Observer (UK)
According to the Canadian pianist Liu, the answer after an extra COVID year was spontaneity. "That was the challenge, actually: to not get bored of yourself after playing these pieces and practising them for thousands of hours." - CBC
"'Often there's that idea that you're just going to dig your garden and go to Zumba or visit a National Trust property,' songwriter and guitarist Ruth Miller said. 'We want to be in a punk band. We don't want to just watch daytime TV.'" - BBC
In recent weeks, documentaries about R. Kelly, Britney Spears, Malcolm X's killers, and Julius Jones appear to have had real-world effects. Why now? Theory: Unscripted content is cheaper; there's more of it; and social media exists. - Washington Post
The museum has an Afrofuturist room; therefore, civilization as "we" know it is ending. "Conservatives want to conserve. ... But if you value history, shouldn’t you value all histories?" - Hyperallergic
She told Spotify to quit with the shuffle on albums - and "on Saturday, the streaming giant confirmed that it had agreed to the British superstar’s request to automatically play the music in the order an artist has curated." - Washington Post
One armorer: "You can’t keep hiring people who aren’t qualified just to get your movie made because you have a time constriction. ... Getting rid of the guns is not going to get rid of the problem." - Los Angeles Times
At American High, "the school has not had actual students in the halls for years, but it is once again home to high school drama of the sort generally captured in R-rated teenage comedies." - The New York Times
Of course the past two years have meant near-constant revisions of goals, budgets, and the definition of success - but in Portland, the Friends of Chamber Music's Pat Zagelow had decades of flexible crisis response to call on. - Oregon ArtsWatch
In New York, the arts' elitism "stands in stark contrast to the middle decades of the 20th century, when the city was a haven for cash-strapped artists and New Yorkers across the income spectrum could make and enjoy a wide range of art." - New York Daily News
