Kindness With A Capital K: Why Ellen Is So Vulnerable To Her Current Scandal, And Why She Had To Be That Way

Spencer Kornhaber: “So-called diva antics never canceled the careers of, say, Christian Bale or Aretha Franklin. Yet DeGeneres may well be held to a different standard than other entertainers — because her product is her own persona, because she has centered that persona around niceness, and because the same cultural forces that led her to create that persona still exist today. To look back over her career now is to wonder whether the secret, bitter ingredient in her success has been revealed. Softness has long been her shield — and this scandal, on some level, shows what it was protecting against.” – The Atlantic

‘Unhinged’ Made $4 Million Its Opening Weekend, And That’s Seen As A Major Success

With cinemas in many of the big U.S. metros still closed and many potential customers still unconvinced that multiplexes are safe from the coronavirus (despite the efforts of the National Association of Theatre Owners), Hollywood sees the box-office results for the new Russell Crowe road-rage thriller, the first major U.S. release since March, as good news. Says the CEO of the movie’s distributor, “We’re breathing a sigh of enormous relief.” – Los Angeles Times

Why Cities Look More And More Alike

The anthropologist Marc Augé gave the name non-place to the escalating homogeneity of urban spaces. In non-places, history, identity, and human relation are not on offer. Non-places used to be relegated to the fringes of cities in retail parks or airports, or contained inside shopping malls. But they have spread. Everywhere looks like everywhere else and, as a result, anywhere feels like nowhere in particular. – The Atlantic

Stand-Up Comedians Aren’t Finding The Whole Situation Very Funny Right Now

Should stand-up comedians play drive-in gigs, participate in Zooming, try to start YouTube channels or wait, somehow, for live audiences to return? It’s a bit of a mess for them, and sitting down to tell stories on camera … well. “It’s not really stand up per se. Don’t get me wrong, it’s really good and people have recorded really funny stuff. [But] It’s not quite live comedy. It’s filling a gap until we can get back on stage.” – BBC

The Grim Silence Of The Present Makes For An Eerie Vacation

The NYT‘s classical music critic isn’t truly enjoying his time off because there hasn’t been very much time on. “The shutdowns have been devastating for American classical music, given its dependence on patronage — which has been eroding of late — and the lack of meaningful government support, which still props up institutions in Europe. It’s depressing to read all the social media posts by accomplished freelance artists who have been without work for months and can have a bleak view of the future.” – The New York Times