The Illusion Of Choice On Netflix (And Why It’s Bad For Movie-Lovers)

“The service has 47 million subscribers in the United States, and its movie library is affected not only by the limitations of particular licensing deals, which means that the number of titles is constantly contracting and expanding, but also by what subscribers actually watch. To use the contemporary buzzword “curated,” Netflix would argue that it does indeed take a curatorial approach to movies, but one that’s appropriate to a consumer product rather than a museum. It does not see its mission as a conservational one. And the hard truth about the future of streaming services is that even those with the loftiest stated ambitions will be obliged to balance those ambitions against market demand.”

Leonard Cohen’s Last Interview (With David Remnick): “I’m Ready To Die”

“He was already suffering from a number of health problems. “At a certain point, if you still have your marbles and are not faced with serious financial challenges, you have a chance to put your house in order. It’s a cliché, but it’s underestimated as an analgesic on all levels. Putting your house in order, if you can do it, is one of the most comforting activities, and the benefits of it are incalculable.”

Internet Movie Database (IMDb) Sues State Of California Over Law Preventing It From Listing Actors Ages

The suit says: “This law unfairly targets IMDb.com (which appears to be the only public site impacted by the law) and forces IMDb to suppress factual information from public view,” said the 15-page complaint (read it here) filed in U.S. District Court. “Moreover, the factual information being suppressed from IMDb is available from many other sources, not least including Wikipedia, Google, Microsoft (Bing), and Apple (Siri).”

The One TV Show That Really Gets The Aftereffects Of Sexual Assault Right

The ‘shock-and-arouse’ approach of Game of Thrones, the ripped-from-the-headlines feel and consciousness-raising of Law & Order: SVU, the superhero wish-fulfillment of Jessica Jones – “real-life survivors might struggle to find their experiences reflected accurately [in those series] … So it’s ironic that perhaps the best drama to explore the trauma of sexual assault is a show that, unlike SVU or Game of Thrones, very few people watch: SundanceTV’s Rectify.”

Literary Analysis Teaches Us To Take The Feelings Out In Favor Of The Brain. That’s A Mistake

“One of the terrible secrets about attending graduate school in literature is that it can ruin your ability to read for pleasure; pick up a book, and a nasty voice whispers that you should be reading something serious – or reading something seriously. So in the classroom, I learned to put away my body. Outside of the academy, however, specifically through fanfiction, I was learning to read with it.”

The ‘Greatest Literary Prize You’ve Never Heard Of’? The ‘American Nobel’? Possibly

“Over its 45 year history, 32 of the winners, jurors, and finalists have gone on to win the Nobel Prize” – among them Gabriel García Marquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Tomas Tranströmer, Czesław Miłosz, Doris Lessing, and Svetlana Alexievich. Editor and literary publisher Chad Post pays a visit to Norman, Oklahoma to check out the Neustadt Prize and this year’s winner, Dubravka Ugrešić.