Loopers are the equivalent of extras: they're voice actors who provide realistic background chatter for just about any setting or subject. And no, you can't become one: says one insider, "No one gives up their spots. You have to kill someone to get in." - The Hollywood Reporter
On Instagram, the tag #darkacademia now has over 1 million posts, and Grazia has named the aesthetic as autumn 2021’s biggest trend. The TikTok generation has keenly embraced the tweedy cosiness of scholarly life. - The Conversation
Edward Watson was a very promising student, but the gangly ginger never fit the handsome-Prince mold. As he retires after 27 years with the company, 16 of them as principal, his astounding flexibility and dramatic intensity have created a new model for male ballet stars. - Dance Magazine
Each year, an online architecture magazine offers a list of 80-odd edifices from which readers can vote for the ten ugliest buildings in China. What's the purpose? "To provoke thinking about the beauty of and ugliness of architecture and promote architects' social responsibility." - The Guardian
As investment from China flows into Ethiopia, social media and entertainment are voicing worries about inexpensive made-in-China versions of Ethiopian handicrafts, mocking Chinese eating habits, and stoking anger that the country's donkeys are being stolen and shipped to China to make a traditional medicine. - Global Voices
The issue: the venues must require audiences to wear masks and be vaccinated, but similar buildings, or even the same one, are exempt from those rules when used for church services. The mandate "applies differently to venues depending on who is speaking and what they are saying." - Gothamist
"Supply chain problems have touched almost every aspect of book production, storage, and delivery, mostly as a result of Covid-related bottlenecks. Printer capacity issues plagued the publishing industry last year, too, though 2021 is expected to be worse." - Yahoo! (Quartz)
Those solid, 850-year-old walls were damaged much more by the catastrophic 2019 fire than authorities realized at first. (They really could have collapsed.) Now that they're stabilized, rebuilding can begin — and could possibly be finished in time for the 2024 Olympics. - Artnet
It's the end of Tristan und Isolde at the Capitole de Toulouse. Isolde is singing the Liebestod and Tristan is playing dead upstage when he senses something very large very close: a 467-pound stage boulder that was supposed to stop 30 inches away … - The New York Times
When you pre-save a song, it may look like the service you use, like Spotify, is the one requesting information about your account. But it’s not. It will tell you which service, label, or company is making the request, and who’ll get your data when you accept. - Wired
Kennedy said the “culturally prejudiced” decision amounted to “musical segregation”, with the station he now calls “Jurassic FM” preferring him to play Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in Wednesday’s show. - The Guardian
Sebastian Smee: "Wrapping a triumphal arch is a way of creating something beautiful that also says: Enough with your delusions of grandeur. Away with your nationalist rhetoric, your dreams of world conquest. Away with all lies." - Washington Post
Thomas Mann was not wrong to worry over democracy’s tendency to enlist art for its own ends, and he was not wrong to call for artists themselves to resist it. - The New York Times
Harassment, abuse and violence take place at all levels of the industry – from grassroots DIY scenarios to corporate setups. Even those scenes that claim to be egalitarian – such as punk – have problems with abuse. - The Conversation
