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He Was A Child Laborer, Then A Homeless Migrant. Now He’s A Prizewinning Filmmaker Who Could Get An Oscar.

P.S. Vinothraj worked in a flower market at age nine and a sweatshop at 14. At 19 he ran to the big city (Chennai) and slept on the streets. Now his first feature is a festival hit and India's official submission to the Oscars. - The Guardian

The Musicians, Dancers Killed In The Wisconsin Holiday Parade

Three of those killed were members of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, a group of women whose pompom routines have been a staple of local holiday parades since the 1980s. - The New York Times

How A Lifetime Of Cross-Dressing Helped Aurore Dupin Dudevant Become George Sand

When she was a child, her officer father dressed her up as a mini-me in full uniform. As a young woman, she moved freely about Paris, observing everything, by dressing as a boy. (She claimed the idea was her mother's.) Taking a male pseudonym? Easy. - Aeon

Remembering Dave Hickey, The Renegade Critic

Like so many Texan artists before and after him, he had a tortured relationship with his home state and its mythology. He kept trying to get away from the cowboy thing. It kept sucking him back in. - Texas Monthly

Eddie Redmayne: Playing “Danish Girl” Trans Character Was A Mistake

“No, I wouldn’t take it on now. I made that film with the best intentions, but I think it was a mistake,” Redmayne told The Sunday Times. - Variety

Writer Robert Bly, 94

He "galvanized protests against the Vietnam War and started a controversial men’s movement with a best seller that called for a restoration of primal male audacity." - The New York Times

An Appreciation Of Dave Hickey, Prolific Art Critic

Christopher Knight: "Lots of smart people write smart things about art but nobody was a better writer than Dave. ... Hickey, a brilliant and cantankerous wit, wrote for the ear. His work needed reading, not scanning, and rewarded effort with pleasure." - Los Angeles Times

Bonnie Sherk Had A Performance-Based Take On Landscape Art

The artist, dead at 76, did this near an on-ramp: "A young woman was sitting on a bale of hay, surrounded by potted palm trees and 4,000 square feet of green turf, patting a Guernsey calf that was tied to a railing." - The New York Times

The Woman Who Was Half Of The Mystery-Writing Duo ‘Charles Todd’ Has Died

Caroline Todd (a pen name for Caroline Watjen) and her son Charles (er, David) wrote more than 40 mysteries set in rural England after WWI. "They were one of the better mystery writers," says historical mystery writer Rhys Bowen. - The New York Times

Patrick Reyntiens, Who Worked Miracles With Stained Glass In Britain’s Bombed-Out Cathedrals, Dead At 95

While he did a great deal of high-quality work, his most admired projects were in two modern monuments which replaced medieval landmarks destroyed in World War II: Coventry Cathedral (the baptistry) and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (the lantern tower.) - The Guardian

Song-writer Dave Frishberg, 88

His songwriting wit was for grown-ups, yet he reached his widest audience with sharpshooting ditties for kids as a regular musical contributor to ABC-TV’s long-running Saturday morning animated show “Schoolhouse Rock!” - The New York Times

“I Knew That My Actions Were Wrong And Illegal”: Art Dealer Inigo Philbrick Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud

He had previously pled not guilty to several charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft; in an apparent plea deal, he confessed to one count of wire fraud, for which he faces up to 20 years in prison and must pay $86 million in restitution. - ARTnews

Jimmie Durham, Native American Artist And Activist (Or Was He?), Dead At 81

"(He was) celebrated for incorporating traditional Native American imagery and materials into lively, unconventional sculptures before his claim of Cherokee ancestry was widely challenged, setting off an intense art-world debate over his authenticity." - The New York Times

Playwright Ed Bullins, Leader Of Black Arts Movement, Dead At 86

"Over a 55-year career in which he produced nearly 100 plays, Mr. Bullins sought to reflect the Black urban experience unmitigated by the expectations of traditional theater" and staged in Black theaters in such places as Harlem and Oakland. - The New York Times

How Marcella Hazan Became An Italian Food Guru

At the height of her career, she became so popular that Bloomingdale’s created a boutique in its storefront on Fifty-ninth Street called Marcella Hazan’s Italian Kitchen, stocking it with her homemade pasta Bolognese and extra-virgin olive oil from Tuscany. - The New Yorker

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