Just a year ago, talent agency Endeavor helped throw a huge, splashy party to celebrate Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. “The soiree, with guests including the Disney chief executive Robert A. Iger, the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the former N.B.A. star Kobe Bryant, took place as Saudi Arabia’s government investment fund was completing an agreement to invest $400 million in Mr. Emanuel’s firm.” Then, in October, journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered. – The New York Times
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How Should Europe Come To Terms With Its Bloody, Violent 20th Century?
A multi-year project can’t figure out how Europe can reconcile all of the mass graves, no matter how many memorials and museums are built. And things are scary: “After all the truth commissions, all the resolutions of the UN, the international tribunals, we are returning to new forms of fascism, to new, very primal antagonisms.” – El País
Why Is Alex Trebek – Host Of A Game Show, For Goodness Sakes – So Special?
Let one of his most famous contestants explain. Ken Jennings, owner of the longest win streak on Jeopardy, writes, “When the cameras stop rolling, Alex is a looser, even goofy presence. He takes studio audience questions at every break, sometimes slipping into funny accents or even bits of soft-shoe.” Maybe keep those cameras rolling next time, Jeopardy? – The New York Times
Author Elizabeth McCracken On Candlepin Bowling, And On Being An Ambitious Woman
McCracken, author of the new novel The Bowlaways (and quite a few other novels and short stories), explains her character Bertha: “I was thinking about the ways in which women give up things in order to exist in the world. And you have to have delusions of grandeur in order to be grand, but women are not expected to be grand.” – The Guardian (UK)
At The End Of Its Run, An Oral History Of Twentieth Century Fox
As Fox’s film and television operations (not including Fox News and Sports, or the lot itself) prepare to go to Disney, “The Los Angeles Times spoke to dozens of actors, executives and other Fox veterans to reminisce about the studio’s 106-year legacy, its family atmosphere, its moguls, its filmmakers and the magic they made.” – Los Angeles Times
Why Would Writers Give Two Book Characters The Same Name?
Why, to amplify meaning, of course. Or because you’re writing about Tudor England. In Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy, for instance, “all the leading male characters apart from Henry VIII are named Thomas (it was the second-most-popular name in Tudor England). There is Thomas Cromwell, the ruthless hero. Thomas Wolsey, the Catholic cardinal. Thomas More, the Catholic zealot. Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury. And Thomas Boleyn, the depraved father of Anne Boleyn.” – The Atlantic
What Pianist Donald Shirley Was Really Like
Music writer David Hadju says that though the musician bore some resemblance to Mahershala Ali’s Oscar-winning portrait of him in the movie Green Book, there was a lot more to the man – including this exchange: “I asked him how he would feel about being portrayed on screen. ‘Damn foolishness,’ he said. ‘I want nothing to do with it!’ – The New York Times
The BBC Isn’t Into Netflix’s Claims About ‘The Crown’
In what seems a twist worthy of season 65 of the Netflix show The Crown, the BBC has started mocking the numbers, or rather lack of numbers, Netflix shares about one of its most expensive shows. The Beeb’s director general acknowledged that Netflix had a huge budget compared to the BBC, and also urged the BBC to get ready for people never to watch live TV. – The Guardian (UK)
Senator Elizabeth Warren Wants To Break Up Big Tech Companies, Including Apple
Wow. Senator Warren is dropping antitrust ideas as fast as, well, Facebook and Google and Amazon and Apple gobble up our time and privacy. After her Medium post didn’t mention Apple, Warren said she meant Apple as well, and she explained: “What was applied to railroad companies more than a hundred years ago, we need to now look at those tech platforms the same way.” – The Verge
Americans Love Donating Things To Museums, And Now Museums Need To Clean Out Their Basements
Curators have to ask themselves, “Has this ever, does this now, and will this ever spark joy?” (Ha ha, kidding. What they have to ask is more like, “What letter grade would I give this Marc Chagall painting?”) – The New York Times