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Annals Of Great Editors: The New Yorker’s Katherine White

Perhaps one reason why she was a superb editor is because her personality so completely concorded with the wider cultural understanding of editing as belonging off-stage. And yet that view is entirely incorrect. - LitHub

Despite Injury And Long Recovery, Ian McKellen Does Not Intend To Retire

"I shall just keep at it as long as the legs and the lungs and the mind keep working," says the 85-year-old actor. As for his film role as Gandalf, "I'm not letting anyone else put on the pointy hat and beard if I can help it." - BBC

Simon Verity, 79, Master Stone Mason Who Led Work At New York’s St. John The Divine

"As a sculptor he contributed to cathedrals both old and young, from survivors of the Middle Ages such as Exeter and Wells to the unfinished 19th-century behemoth of St John the Divine in New York. ... He also resurrected the art of grotto-making, dormant since the 18th century." - The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)

Cellist Antônio Meneses, Former Member Of Beaux Arts Trio, Has Died At 66

A highly respected soloist and chamber musician admired for the elegance and precision of his playing, Meneses died four weeks after revealing that he had been diagnosed with the aggressive brain cancer glioblastoma multiforme. - Gramophone

The Inhabitants Of Le Bloc, Once The Biggest Squat In Paris

"They had begun making their lives there around a date in December 2012 coinciding with the 5,125-year cycle of an ancient calendar, widely reported as a 'Mayan apocalypse.' ... Le Bloc had begun at the world’s end, they would say. The squat picked up where the world had left off." - The Paris Review

Ofra Bikel, Whose Documentaries Helped Exonerate The Wrongly Convicted, Is Dead At 94

"(Her) work for PBS’s 'Frontline' investigative series exposed frailties in the U.S. criminal justice system — the coercive use of plea bargains, the failure to consider DNA evidence, the reliance on informants to prosecute drug cases — and helped free 13 people who had been wrongly charged or convicted." - The Washington Post (MSN)

Dennis Quaid And His Perpetual Comeback

After two career collapses (one due to cocaine, one to a nervous breakdown), he has "carved out a space in Hollywood of his own, a sort of sui generis everyman who might not fit as a rom-com or action star but could instead do just about anything else." - The Washington Post (MSN)

Leonard Riggio, Who Made Barnes & Noble Into A Bookstore Powerhouse, Is Dead At 83

He started in 1971 by buying the Barnes & Noble name and flagship Manhattan store, acquired hundreds more outlets (including the B. Dalton chain), then, in the 1990s, launched the "superstores" B&N became known for. Indie booksellers despised him — until he joined forces with them against Amazon. - AP

Composer Alexander Goehr Has Died At 92

"If Goehr’s own music has come to seem less significant than his importance as a teacher of some of the leading British composers of subsequent generations, then his role in creating what became a genuinely new force in British music after the second world war cannot be overestimated." - The Guardian

The Warehouse Worker Philosopher (With A Podcast)

He never did get that high-school degree—let alone attend a doctoral program in philosophy. His layman’s approach to serious thinking has left him untainted by the self-regard that so often attaches to expertise. - The Atlantic

Tampa Bay Times Book Critic Signs Off

"As book critic I’ve read, on average, three books per week, about 150 per year, which adds up to about 2,500 books over 17 years. My home decorating theme is bookshelves, accented by piles of books." - Tampa Bay Times

Acclaimed Jazz Guitarist Russell Malone Has Died, On Tour In Japan, At 60

Malone, who played with Harry Connick Jr. and Diana Krall, "was highly regarded for his versatility: He was able to support a variety of singers and instrumentalists in a range of styles, but he also had his own well-defined sound as a bandleader and soloist.” - The New York Times

What Emmy-Nominated Actor Anna Sawai Gained From Being In Season One Of Shogun

Sawai says that while filming, “I didn’t understand the intensity of what I was mentally going through, and how much it had affected me, but it speaks volumes now. I want to approach all my projects the way I approach Mariko.” Alert: Spoilers in the article. - The New York Times

Hettie Jones, Supporter And Publisher Of The Beats, Has Died

Jones  was “a poet and author who with her husband, LeRoi Jones, ... made her household a hub for Beat writers and other artists — but who was often described as a footnote in the rise of her famous spouse as ‘the white wife’ he disavowed.” - The New York Times

Did Brian Eno Really Use Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain” As The Urinal It Was Originally Manufactured To Be?

He's certainly happy to claim that he did, having told the tale several times with plenty of backstory and detail. And he has quite an answer when asked if he did any damage to the piece. That said, there seems to be no independent evidence that Eno actually went through with it. - Artnet

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