As it happens, there’s a Hindu ritual called paalabhishekam in which worshipers pour milk over the statue of a deity. Overenthusiastic fans in the state of Tamil Nadu have started applying the practice to their favorite films’ posters, hoping that will help the movies become hits. Only they’re not buying the milk; they’re stealing it — and driving the state’s dairy farmers and dealers broke in the process. — BBC
Diana Athill, One Of 20th Century’s Great Literary Editors, Dead At 101
As co-founder of André Deutsch’s publishing house and editor there for five decades, Athill was the shepherd — “nanny” was her preferred term — for books by Philip Roth, Margaret Atwood, John Updike, Jean Rhys, V.S. Naipaul and many others. Late in life, she won acclaim as an author herself, for a series of memoirs, among them the Costa Prize-winning Somewhere Towards the End. — The Guardian
How German Theatre Has Embraced Refugees
In 2015, when Angela Merkel announced that Germany would accept the refugees streaming in from the Mideast, she said “Wir schaffen das” (“We can do this”). “What is less well-known,” writes Julia Grime, “is that German theatre, arguably a more directly socio-political beast than most UK theatre, welcomed the million-plus refugees with open-armed, practical help, connecting them with local communities and playing a key role in easing their acceptance into German society.” — Arts Professional