E.L. James says writing used to be her hobby. Then, well, then Fifty Shades of Grey happened. “Overseeing a wildly successful multimedia franchise left little time for James’s one-time hobby, writing. On top of that, James, who is 56, faced impossible expectations set by her blockbuster debut, as ravenous fans kept clamoring for more sequels.” – The New York Times
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What Britons (Of All Races) Talk About When They Talk About Black People
Jeffrey Boakye: “The Cool Black Myth helps the white mainstream to understand and handle black identity. There’s something enigmatic about blackness that, coupled with the illicit appeal of black culture, makes black people seem cool by default, without even really trying.” – The Guardian (UK)
Two Decades Of A Publisher, And Now Bookstore, Of One’s Own
London is book-focused enough that, mirroring almost exactly the rise of Amazon, Persephone, a publisher (and recently a bookstore too) that focuses on forgotten early and mid-20th-century books by women, has been thriving. “The idea at the beginning was that if you like one of our books, you’ll like them all. … That has worked almost entirely. It’s quite rare for someone to dislike any of the books. I hate to use the word brand, but we are something of a brand.” – The New York Times
The Greatest Art Forger Of All Time Might Have Been Killed By The Mafia
When Eric Hebborn was found with a fractured skull near his home in Rome in 1996, his death was a mystery. But now, filmmakers making an 8-part miniseries about his life (and the more than 1,000 forgeries he claimed to have passed off as real) say they have evidence that not only was he working for the mafia for years, but they may have had him murdered as well. – The Guardian (UK)
These Survivors Are Using Dance As A Method Of Healing From Abuse
Sure, dance is great in and of itself, and it needs to further reason to exist or for people to love it. But some rape survivors see it as one method of healing. “I can dance, and I can dance freely,” one said. (video) – BBC
Bibi Andersson, Actor And Inspiration To Bergman, Has Died At 83
Andersson starred in 13 mid-20th-century Bergman films. “Her emotionally complex role in Persona (1966), the film that made her acting reputation, was one of the great stereotype reversals in film history.” – The New York Times
Here Are The Details Of How That Black Hole Picture Came To Be
It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t fast, and it involved – shock – physical material. “The dreamy photograph represents a tremendous technological achievement, assembled using eight radio telescopes in four continents—two each in Hawaii and Chile, and one each in Arizona, Mexico, Spain, and Antarctica—all synced together to scan the skies for several days in a row.” – The Atlantic
Hollywood Claims To Be Getting More Inclusive – But That Change Hasn’t Gotten To The Director’s Chair
Hollywood, you should be ashamed. “Even after years of being called to task for sidelining female filmmakers, studios as a whole continue to rely overwhelmingly on men to lead productions. Why the disconnect?” This will shock everyone: Money. – The New York Times
Is Brexit Truly Shakespearean, Or Do We All Just Not Understand Shakespeare?
The problem is that “the plays can very easily function as a kind of confirmation bias, where we find exactly what we are looking for. The allure of such topical readings is ultimately narcissistic: Shakespeare is our contemporary, our own world is the most interesting of all, and the plays mirror our own times and our own views. This is an interpretive trap.” – The Guardian (UK)
Can The World Save This 1914 Movie Theatre In Spain’s Most High-Rent District?
The Palace of Fine Arts in San Sabastián has been threatened by a real estate developer for five years – and as a final move, UNESCO’s International Council on Monuments and Sites has placed an international warning on the site. “Iñaki Gurrutxaga (PNV), chief of the mayor’s office and responsible for urban planning, points out that ‘the owner has no obligation to maintain it,’ but that the City Council opposes converting it into apartments. ‘The best solution is to give it a use. But cultural use is not the only one: it does not have to be a cinema.'” – El País (Spain)