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
Grossman "was unusual even by the standards of the Chelsea, the storied haven for quirky artists." Her apartment "had become so crowded with her accumulated artwork — largely abstract, highly conceptual drawings, sculptures and photographs — that ... she slept in her hallway on a lawn chair." - The New York Times
That two-year stint on The Crown wasn't the easiest for the multiple award-winning Colman, but "it wasn’t the actual Queen she found the hardest act to follow – it was Claire Foy, who had played the same character at a younger age in the earlier series."- The Guardian (UK)
Fans celebrate - and some wonder about the many non-famous, non-white, disabled folks who are also in conservatorships: "Spears’ case is expected to be used as fuel for conservatorship reform." - Los Angeles Times
"Mayer was a proud nerd ... shared those passions with readers and listeners through her reviews of sci-fi, fantasy, romance, thrillers and comics, her trusty on-the-scene reporting at Comic-Con, and her contributions to the Book Concierge." - NPR
We leave it to you to speculate on which direction St. Peter will send him for that, but his work did spark enormous changes in American arts and intellectual life — not least through the riotous 1975 colloquium "Schizo-Culture" he organized at Columbia. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
“Our principal hypothesis is that the motive for the double crime was to find the international certification of authenticity of the violins so they could be sold.” - Daily Beast
"Since one cannot know a radically better world is not possible, are we not betraying everyone by insisting on continuing to justify and reproduce the mess we have today?” - New York Magazine
Richard Klein seemed well set as a math and science teacher and amateur performer in the Bay Area. Then, at 45, he up and moved to Mumbai, determined to make it in Indian showbiz. Now he's one of Bollywood's go-to white-guy character actors. - The New York Times
"I was looking forward to talking to students at the Cambridge Union this Friday, but I hear that someone there has been blacklisted for doing an impersonation of Hitler I regret that I did the same on a Monty Python show, so I am blacklisting myself before someone else does." - The Telegraph (UK)
After a successful but unhappy career as a child star, he left and returned to acting several times: in the late '50s and 60s, winning two prizes at Cannes; in '70s B-pictures; under '80s and '90s auteurs Demme, Altman, Lynch, etc.; and finally in science fiction TV. - The Guardian
He was more than Mia's father and Ronan's grandfather. He ran away to become a sailor, he wrote a Tahitian-English-French dictionary; he pretended to be an Annapolis grad and a physician; he really did fight in Latin American rebellions. And he made 50 movies. - The Guardian
“My wing is feeling a little sore, but it’ll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy. Erica Hill even said I’ve been getting vaccines since I was a little bird!” Cruz responded: “Government propaganda … for your 5-year-old!” - The Guardian
How do you go from being mocked for playing the love interest of a vampire to being the first American actress to win a César, not to mention getting into the Oscars discussion this year? "She is a master of misdirection, deflection, and pregnant glances." - Slate
Green "planned to paint the meals until capital punishment was abolished, or until she had made 1,000 plates, whichever came first. In September, she painted her 1,000th plate." - The New York Times
