Category: people

Russell Tovey: “For so long, as a young actor, I had this anxiety about making sure I could get straight roles, and now I know that’s not necessary. The gay roles are the best for me. Being gay has made my career.”

As we enter into the era of Trumped-down literacy, when “the life of the mind” seems almost like a quaint idea, it’s somehow thrilling to imagine a world where great intellects clashed, taking language seriously, meaning what they said, and being able to back their assertions with genuine knowledge.

There was a perfect storm: Saltz’s TV notoriety coincided with the advent of social media and the explosion of the art market onto a global stage stoked by the boogeymen of big bucks, glamour and lack of attractive alternatives in the financial markets.

The writer, who battled alcoholism in his 20s but emerged one of the most elegant writers in the language, announced last month that he had cancer – and used his final column to rail at the British National Health System.

The singer, who was barely into double digits when she started singing gospel music with her family, has thoughts about what’s happening now: “I watch the news sometimes and I think I’m back in the ’60s. It’s all happening all over again. This kid Chance The Rapper, he’s very good at explaining what’s happening in the world today.”

Madonna has some thoughts about that: “In recent years, she has become something of a warrior against age discrimination, publicly rebelling, with few subtleties, against the notion that age should slow her down.”

Well, normal for his place and time. What’s more, his buddy Max Brod, notorious womanizer, had them, too, if we can believe his journal.

A mid-century modernist who loved puzzles and puns, Schwartz wrote one piece called By George that spliced together snippets by Georges Gershwin and Handel and another called Elevator Music that had the audience riding in the titular conveyance while musicians played portions of the score on various floors.

The current Polish government had asked the court to allow the extradition of the director (who is a dual citizen of Poland and France) to the U.S. over his notorious statutory rape charge from the 1970s.