She was the great-aunt of P.L. Travers, the writer who created Poppins, and Travers wrote about her in a 1941 short story, originally intended as a private Christmas gift, which will published this holiday season.
Tag: 06.23.14
Inside The USSR’s Secret Hoard Of Erotica
“It was the kinkiest secret in the Soviet Union: Across from the Kremlin, the country’s main library held a pornographic treasure trove. Founded by the Bolsheviks as a repository for aristocrats’ erotica, the collection eventually grew to house 12,000 items from around the world, ranging from 18th-century Japanese engravings to Nixon-era romance novels.”
George Saunders On How Chicago Made Him Funny
“I think I got the idea that the high-serious and the funny were not separate. The idea that something could be gross and heartfelt at the same time. Some of the funniest things in South Chicago were also the most deeply true – these sort of over-the-line, rude utterances that were right on the money and undeniable. Their truth had rendered them inappropriate; … they responded to the urgency of the moment.”
This Man Is Not The Walt Disney Of Japan
“There is one famous animator who rebukes modern technology in favor of hand-drawn, 2-D conventions. His grumpiness knows no bounds … From his hard-line environmentalism and anti-Fabian leanings to comparing, in July of 2010, the act of using an iPad to public masturbation, he has painted himself as a Luddite with rigorous creative standards that have resulted, ironically, in his becoming an entertainment icon.”
UK Music Charts To Begin Counting Streaming
“Sales are increasingly an archaic way to measure both the consumption and the popularity of music. If a modern chart is to reflect both of those properly, then streaming must be a part of it.”
Making Cable TV More Aware Of What We Like To Watch
When people say, “There’s nothing on TV,” it isn’t because there’s nothing on TV. It’s because there’s so much on TV that they can’t find the stuff they really want to watch.
A Debate About Reading On EBooks Versus Paper
“There is some evidence that reading on screen can result in less comprehension and even affect sleep patterns. But the research here is complex and inconclusive and, in any case, it is actually doing something far more interesting than telling us which medium is superior. It’s making us think more about what it means to read.”
Philadelphia Arts Struggle With Major Changes In Its Arts Funding Support
“Philadelphia’s art funding has been through a tumultuous period the last few years, with major foundations like Annenberg moving to Los Angeles, the Pew Charitable Trusts – which funds the Center for Arts and Heritage – moving to Washington D.C., and the William Penn Foundation putting a lot of its money behind audience development.”
Promoting New Plays By Women Playwrights – So What Kind Of Advocacy Is This?
“We thought the point of 50-50 in 2020 for women playwrights was to force the industry into a tacit affirmative action plan. (50-50 in 2020 meant 50 percent of new plays produced would be by women by the year 2020.) We thought it was born of that boiling ’00s moment in which Emily Glassberg Sands made public her research on gender inequality on new-play production, fitting neatly with the larger national conversation about gender parity in American life, especially in business.”
Giant Head Takes Up Residence In Chicago’s Millennium Park
“White as an iceberg and nearly as blank, she presides over the park entrance at Michigan and Madison with a commanding view to the west.”