Stories

Professionally, Steven Klein created logos and slogans for hotels and restaurants. But he belonged to no agency. Instead, as an independent consultant, he was a walking encyclopedia — and booster — of pop culture from the 1970s. The New York Times

Within the state and between the state and those it governs, personal relationships are much less significant than they used to be after a centuries long effort to redescribe them as ‘corruption’. But they are merely down; not out. - 3 Quarks Daily

Patrons attending A Christmas Carol were seated and ready for the 7:30 p.m. showtime when a woman began screaming in the crowd. According to social media posts from witnesses, the woman ranted for upwards of 30 minutes. - Bring Me The News

At year’s end, Tony will step down as The Times’s chief classical music critic. It is a position he has held since 2000, giving him the longest tenure in the role since Olin Downes. - The New York Times

And the puppets; don't forget the puppets. Instead of a quiet recital hall, "Schubert’s songs grew from entertaining evenings of spontaneous, alcohol-fuelled interaction, with dressing up, games and stories." - The Guardian (UK)

Nikole Hannah-Jones on what she's learned: "Power doesn’t flash what it’s going to do. ... It doesn’t signal what it’s going to do. It moves silently behind the scenes and makes impact and then once everything is figured out announces itself." - Los Angeles Times

To be fair to Pornhub, the Birth of Venus is definitely a "classic nude." But the larger issue is about how museums make money - and during COVID, "as in-person activity slumped, sales of licensed goods rocketed." Is it too much exposure? - The Guardian (UK)

Maracle died at 71, after having "chronicled the effect of Canadian settlement on the land’s Indigenous people and the persistence of discrimination, only to find herself in recent years championed by the very cultural and political establishment she had spent her career attacking." - The New York Times

Claddagh Records, founded in the '50s to preserve Irish musical heritage, fell on hard times in the 2000s. But now a deal with Universal Music Ireland has changed its trajectory. - Irish Times

Or so says a novelist who took a poetry class that helped her move forward after a stale period of writer's block. - LitHub

You might think that's obvious, but it's not necessarily so to those in the capital city. Even during COVID, "London draws all the oxygen, not to mention the cash; once again, it’s as if nothing could possibly be happening anywhere else." - The Guardian (UK)

National Book Award finalist and MacArthur "genius" grant winner Hanif Abdurraqib keeps to himself most of the time, far from the madding crowds. "I’m not trying to be aloof," he says. "My superpower is that I mind my own business." - The New York Times

One librarian explains, "There's an interesting sort of equity piece to DVDs. ... They're popular with people who can't necessarily afford the paid subscription services or don't necessarily have the equipment at home or the internet connection to be able to stream." - CBC

Oh: "Cliché comes from the printing process when a metal plate was used to physically transfer ink to paper. The term echoes the imitative sound of the plate coming off the page and was a way to represent an image again and again in nearly identical form." - Salon

There's the popularity of K-dramas, for one, but also, "originally intended to help those with hearing problems, subtitles have become an essential aid for following a show for many people - especially if other distractions and devices are competing for their attention." - BBC