Social media essentially gives a megaphone to the extremes, so it’s very hard to know what most people really think. “And when you look at the people who are loudest on Twitter and elsewhere, it’s quite clear that this pandemic is turning into just another culture-war issue, where people on the left see what they want to see and people on the right see what they want to see.” – The Atlantic
Tag: 05.24.20
Philip Larkin’s Love(r’s) Letters
“A cache of 2,400 letters between the poet and his long-time lover and muse, Monica Jones, … reveal[s] the full extent of her fury, fears and frustrations over a painful four-decade-long partnership with the man who wrote some of the most cherished verse in the English language.” – The Observer (UK)
Cirque du Soleil Founder Wants To Buy It Back To Save It
In 2015, Guy Laliberté sold the Cirque du Soleil to American private equity investment firm TPG Capital, Chinese investment company Fosun and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec for a reported US$1.5 billion. In late March, the Montreal-based circus laid off 95 per cent of its staff, close to 4,700 employees, after all of its shows around the world were shuttered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. – Montreal Gazette
Africa’s First Million-Selling Singer, Mory Kanté, Dead At 70
“[He] came from a family of griots, the dynastic West African musicians whose songs carry news and chronicle history. Steeped in those traditions, he electrified the kora, the traditional griot’s harp, and he fused African music with styles and instruments from Western pop. … [His] 1987 single “Yé Ké Yé Ké” was a hit, first in Africa and then across Europe. It became the first African single to sell more than a million copies and has been licensed frequently for commercials and film soundtracks.” – The New York Times
What It’s Like To Go To An Indoor Movie Theatre Right Now
First of all, yikes. However, many of us miss the moviegoing experience, and so a few movie theatres in Texas are trying to “create an early blueprint for all the other theatres that are still trying to figure out how to reopen safely.” – Vice
Netflix Has A New, Shockingly Smart Automatic Cancellation Plan
It’s only shocking because it’s against everything about automatic payments and online sign-ups. “The general imperative of any subscription service is to wring a monthly payment out of you from now until the apocalypse. That’s the whole game. It’s why there are entire services and advice columns devoted to helping you cancel. The business model gets an assist from human nature.” – Wired
Live Performance For 2020 Is Over And Gone
No, theatre and dance and opera and concerts won’t be returning in the autumn. “‘I am 100 percent confident that it is not happening,’ said Nancy Umanoff, Mark Morris’s executive director. For many dance companies, that means giving up on lucrative holiday season performances of The Nutcracker, a crucial best seller that, for example, brings in 45 percent of New York City Ballet’s annual ticket sales.” Here’s what may happen for dance, and all of the other performing arts as well. – The New York Times