Stories

“Everyone experienced the attacks on 9/11 as this really, really intense television event, and bringing a piece of steel from the World Trade Center ... allowed people to lay hands on these artifacts and to really feel this kind of deep expression of complex and lingering grief.” - NPR

At least that was the experience of Maisie Williams - Arya Stark, to all of the many, many, many Game of Thrones watchers out there. - The Guardian (UK)

Well, OK, not consistency, but repetition. - The New York Times

Landlines are making a slightly abashed return. “The phone itself is a sleek black with gold trim, and the cord connecting the receiver is all coiled up—just like the ones I grew up with back in the ’90s.” - Maclean's

The age-old question returns. “Surely Renoir would at least have benefitted from being slightly less prolific.” - Artnet

Of course, “while the museum and the Walton family espouse natural connections between art, community and general well-being (see also recent major investments in healthcare), the urge to collect continues apace.” - KC Studio

“If it were not so tragic for Mexican art, the story would make an excellent detective novel. All the characters and ingredients are there.” - Le Monde English

It’s "a nearly three-hour barn burner, racing from event to event with whirlwind kinetic energy. … Nolan’s reluctance to take a pause should, actually, give us pause. After all, Homer’s poem doesn’t just involve a lot of waiting. It is a postwar tale about waiting.” - Boston Globe

"Among the French, the mood is anxious. The tapestry’s early life is shrouded in mystery, but it seems to have led a fameless existence in Bayeux for hundreds of years.” - The New Yorker

The aim of this actor’s comedic videos, “he says, was to land on ‘something bigger and onto a new challenge’ - such as theatre acting.” - BBC

“Even if you’re writing about stereotypically bad sex, your language should be fresh and surprising.” - LitHub

Publishers and authors are wrangling, and third parties are getting into it, and in general, this isn’t great. - The New York Times

“It’s no longer strange to think that AI might be everywhere, edging out all forms of human interaction: bots talking to bots, all the way down.” This is … not great. - The Atlantic

The games, reflecting the political goals of the president, resemble gaming classics. Tetris is unhappy with "Build the Wall," a little too close to Tetris itself. Then there’s one like Snake, where gamers “patrol the Rio Grande and capture figures representing migrants.” - Salon

Don’t make a “verse,” like “The Monsterverse.” Just make a movie. They don’t all have to tie in together! - The Atlantic