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White Guys Still Dominate Hollywood Releases

Using artificial intelligence, researchers at USC analyzed about 1,000 popular film scripts. Aside from the fact that men talk a lot, they found “that the language used by female characters tended to be more positive, emotional and related to family values, while the language used by male characters was more closely linked to achievement. African-American characters were more likely to use swear words, and Latino characters were more apt to use words related to sexuality. Older characters, meanwhile, were more likely to discuss religion.”

That’s Right, BBC, We Need More Cultural Critics, Not Fewer

As the Beeb U-turns and decides not to cut Radio 4’s Saturday Review, we still need reviews – though things have changed drastically. “In the 19th century lengthy reviews flourished to such a degree that Thomas Carlyle predicted ‘by and by it will be found that all literature has become one boundless self-devouring review.’ It didn’t quite happen but many of the modernists – Pound, Eliot, Woolf, Lawrence – are as celebrated for their critical essays as for their poems or novels.”

George Dreyfus, Violinist With The Philadelphia Orchestra For Almost 50 Years, Has Died At 97

He joined the orchestra in 1953. “Mr. Dreyfus was ‘at the center of the players’ labor activism during contentious years of disputes’ in the 1960s, his son said, which resulted in a long strike and, eventually, a 52-week contract. By the time of his retirement, he’d played under Stokowski, Ormandy, Muti, and his ‘personal favorite,’ Wolfgang Sawallisch.”

The Hardworking British Actor Who’s Become More And More Of A Household Name

The star of three movies this year, Hawkins grew up with writer/illustrator parents who have published literally hundreds of children’s books, some of which were inspired by her childhood life. Now the British actor who follows her own desires – and ignores Hollywood when it wants to put her in thrillers with Bruce Willis – is having another “breakout” year.

Mexico City’s Oldest Standing Dance Hall Isn’t Ready To Hang Up Its Dancing Shoes

Salon Los Angeles has seen Frida Kahlo dance with Leon Trotsky, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro with dance hall regulars and revolutionaries, and a lot more. And so, “Miguel Nieto, whose grandfather opened Salon Los Angeles 80 years ago this week, refuses to quit, even as his gray-haired regulars dwindle, even as developers dream about turning the nightclub into condominiums like the concrete apartment tower going up across the street.”