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Apple Wants To Upend Podcasts The Way It Did Music Downloads

The company - which was one of the first to jump on the podcasting train, providing podcast sourcing through iTunes in 2005 - is now figuring out how to get podcast creators paid, which could be a game-changer for podcasters. - Fast Company

Theatre Has Long Been Fatphobic, And Actors Are Speaking Out

An errant sentence in a New York Times article (since reworded) led to a lot of participation from actors via social media. They're fed up with the sizeism and lack of body diversity on Broadway - and everywhere else in theatre. "The infamous ideology of a 'Broadway body' — a term that assumes a stage performer’s castability is specifically...

Writers Know All Too Well The Other American Epidemic

And it was one exacerbated by the virus - loneliness. - The New York Times

During Covid, Geology Students Still Did Fieldwork – Via Video Game

Two geology professors built a 3D replica of Sardinia, and it worked so well (including providing a vital connection for lonely, isolated students to socialize) that one of the profs then "spent three weeks in the Scottish Highlands, driving around and taking loads of drone shots, which he used to recreate the landscape around the village of Kinlochleven, another...

The History Of The Hollywood Foreign Press Association And Black Movie Critics

It's not great, as we all know. Here's the detailed story of Samantha Ofole-Prince, who was invited in 2013 to become a member, sponsored by several other members - and then had her application tanked, apparently because some other members (all white at the time) were worried about "territorial competition." Now, Ofole-Prince says, "They’ve had decades to address the...

Novelist Brit Bennett Is Considering What To Think About Next

Her newest book is a deliberate picture of how America wasn't ever really great at all for quite a few people. And what's she considering now? She thinks we're all in recovery from the former president. "This is a person who colonised our brains for years. I don’t think there was a day in the last four years when...

Bob Koester, Of Delmark Records And Chicago’s Jazz Record Mart, 88

Koester funded his recording company by selling jazz and blues records at his store. He "was a pivotal figure in Chicago and beyond, releasing early efforts by Sun Ra, Anthony Braxton, Jimmy Dawkins, Magic Sam and numerous other jazz and blues musicians. He captured the sound of Chicago’s vibrant blues scene of the 1960s," among many other achievements. -...

Masks And Other PPE Won’t Leave Movie Sets Anytime Soon

The one thing movie crew members - at least the vaccinated ones - can give up is face shields. One guild member says, "As the studios have negotiated the way forward with the unions and there are still insurance risk factors for studios and production companies, it’s not really up to us as individuals — if we want to...

Barry Jenkins’ Underground Railroad Is Different From Other Slavery Stories

Some of the show, though it does depict the violence of enslavement and other forms of anti-Black oppression, draws on an almost spiritual connection to the land through which the refugees are running (and taking the train). - The Atlantic

It’s Actually Good For Ellen – And Us – That Her Show Is Ending

Though she handled the end of the talk show far worse than anyone thought she could, even given the circumstances, she had to get free of that grind. "DeGenenres’ career before Ellen was unique. As a stand-up and then a sitcom star, she elevated LGBTQ rights in this country — courageously, tenaciously and at great personal cost. The sitcom...

We Need Unconventional Art Now More Than Ever

After 15 months of COVID-19 restrictions, deaths, infections, fear, and all kinds of life challenges, we must have more public art. "It does a simple but essential thing: reminds everyday people that they are not alone in this bizzarro moment, and miraculously and fortunately, they are still alive and kicking." - Hyperallergic

The 90-Day Theatrical Window For Movies Is Fully Dead

Thanks, Disney: "After months of teetering precariously on the precipice, the final blow came on Thursday following Disney’s announcement that Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and the Ryan Reynolds’ action comedy Free Guy would screen in theaters for 45 days before landing on home entertainment." Good luck, movie theatres! - Variety

How Spotify’s Podcast Dance Around Music Copyright Constraints

Basically, it owns both: Some shows use "a hybrid format, which Spotify calls 'shows with music' or 'music and talk, that allows creators to incorporate full songs from the service’s vast catalog into their podcasts free of charge. (Spotify takes a 30 percent cut of ads set up through the service.) The format gives podcasters easy access to music that would...

The Brontes Probably Died Young Because Of Their Water

It came from a graveyard. Or maybe some public privies. In any case, the water was very, very bad. - LitHub

Behind The Scenes At The Reopening Of The Hollywood Bowl

 "If reopening the Bowl is like riding a bike," the L.A. Phil president and CEO says, "the organization has swapped out a Tour de France Cannondale for a unicycle." - Los Angeles Times

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