CultureDesk

CultureDesk, 6 months ago to blackmastodon

Moko Jumbies are stilt walkers that wear colorful clothing and appear at festivals and celebrations throughout the Caribbean. Thrillist's Vanita Salisbury visited St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, to learn about this 200-year-old tradition and the people that are keeping it alive.

https://flip.it/JeLB8e

#Travel #TravelTuesday #Caribbean #MokoJumbies #BlackMastodon @blackmastodon

CultureDesk, 6 months ago to bookstodon

Book sales are slumping and if you're not a celebrity author, your publisher won't do much to promote your work. For The Walrus, Tajjia Isen writes about how "the finicky labour of trying to bottle hype is largely offloaded onto writers," and how all this affects the kind of titles publishers acquire, and the books readers end up buying.

https://flip.it/Ii-0eU

#Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon #writingcommunity #Publishing #AmWriting

CultureDesk, 6 months ago to bookstodon

A debut author has lost her book deal after she admitted to "review bombing" competitors on Goodreads, largely targeting women of color. In a letter posted to X, Cait Corrain blamed her behavior on mental-health struggles and addiction. Here's more from the Mary Sue.

https://flip.it/AQ9gCG

#Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon #Writing

CultureDesk, 6 months ago to random

Denny Laine, the co-founder of the Moody Blues and Wings, has died at age 79. Here's a tribute to him from @RollingStone, including videos of him performing with Sir Paul McCartney and singing "Live and Let Die."

https://flip.it/x2ShjO

#MoodyBlues #Wings #Music #InMemoriam #DennyLaine

CultureDesk, 6 months ago to bookstodon

Looking for new additions to your TBR pile or gift list? LitHub's Natalie Zutter is recommending seven sci-fi and fantasy books that are published this month, including Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ's debut novel, "Dazzling," which is about two girls coming of age at a Nigerian boarding school, and Geoff Ryman's "Him," which muses on what would have happened if Jesus Christ was born a girl.

https://flip.it/qoR4lV

#Books @bookstodon #Bookstodon #Culture #Reading #SciFi #Fantasy

CultureDesk, 6 months ago to blackmastodon

Explore the world of blues poetry this weekend, via the vocal talents of Aja Monet, who's this week's performer in the Tiny Desk studio. She performs five pieces that NPR producer Nikki Birch says offer "gentle gut punches to the soul and psyche," accompanied by piano, sax and bass. "Lean in closer and absorb every word," says Birch. "She's got bars."

https://flip.it/jiJMud

#Music #Poetry #Jazz #AjaMonet #BlackMastodon @blackmastodon

CultureDesk, 6 months ago to bookstodon

John Le Carré's groundbreaking novel, "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold," is 60 this year. For Crimes Reads, novelists Paul Vidich and Joseph Kanon discuss the legacy of this masterpiece, which transformed spy fiction from the polish of James Bond to the grim reality of the Cold War, introduced the idea of the "mole," and even influenced real-life espionage.

https://flip.it/Mn8wKl

#Books #Bookstodon #JohnLeCarre @bookstodon

CultureDesk, 6 months ago to bookstodon

Could horror be exactly the right kind of fiction for the holidays? "Whether the festive season makes you happy or miserable, you can read about people who are (hopefully) in more immediate and serious trouble than you," argues author Erika Johansen. She selects 10 slow-build tales, from "The Terror," by Dan Simmons, which will get you through a long plane ride, to "The Witching Hour," the only Anne Rice she's ever liked.

https://flip.it/1UAlFj
#Books #Horror #Bookstodon @bookstodon #Holidays

CultureDesk, 6 months ago to bookstodon

Staff make the call when it comes to deciding what's age-appropriate at their libraries. In Idaho, an organization called Parents Against Bad Books claims parents should have a say, while in Washington State, a proposal would require libraries to use a system like the one used by the movie industry, and in Florida, there's a formal challenge process under the "Don't Say Gay" law. NPR breaks down the situation.

https://flip.it/z-60GL

#Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon #Libraries

CultureDesk, 6 months ago to bookstodon

Irish writer Paul Lynch won the 2023 Booker prize for his dystopian novel, "Prophet Song." Two of his compatriots were on the shortlist and another two made the long list. For @TheConversationUS Orlaith Darling, a Ph.D. candidate at Trinity College Dublin, examines the "golden age" of Irish writing.

https://flip.it/rFKRZ9

#Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon #Ireland #COYBIG #BookerPrize

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to bookstodon

Sophie Kemp grew up in Schenectady, New York, where Kurt Vonnegut, her favorite writer as a teen, lived for a time after WWII. She writes for the Paris Review about visiting Vonnegut's "charmingly shabby" house on a road trip with her father, who bought her "Slaughterhouse-Five" and sparked her love of the author.

https://flip.it/WrZZfS

#Culture #Books #ScienceFiction #KurtVonnegut @bookstodon

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to blackmastodon

The second season of "High on the Hog," which charts how the momentous changes of the 20th century informed Black Americans' relationship with food, lands on Netflix tomorrow. Civil Eats spoke to co-hosts Stephen Satterfield and Dr. Jessica B. Harris about what the series covers, from food's role in the Great Migration to the Black Panther Party's free breakfast program for children.

https://flip.it/sfRITY

#Television #Culture #Food #History #BlackMastodon @blackmastodon

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to random

SAG-AFTRA's agreement with the AMPTP doesn't just deal with AI and compensation. A Hair & Makeup subsection states that principal performers should have appropriate hair and makeup products as well as qualified personnel. This appears to address the experiences Black actors have on set with hairstylists and artists who are unused to working with textured hair or darker skin tones. Allure has more.

https://flip.it/DoyoTA

#Movies #SAGAFTRA #HollywoodStrikes #BlackMastodon #Beauty

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to blackmastodon

In 1917, 110 of the Buffalo Soldiers, the all-Black U.S. Army regiment, were convicted of crimes such as murder and mutiny after clashes with white civilians and police officers. 19 of the soldiers were executed. On Monday, officials announced they were overturning all those convictions on the basis that the soldiers were wrongly treated because of their race. The AP has all the details.

https://flip.it/InEVT3

#History #BlackHistory #USA #BlackMastodon @blackmastodon

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to bookstodon

The winners of the U.S.'s National Book Awards were announced last night. The fiction prize went to "Blackout" by Justin Torres, "The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History" by Ned Blackhawk took home the award for nonfiction, and "from unincorporated territory [åmot]" by Craig Santos Perez was the poetry pick. Here are Vox's thoughts on all the finalists.

https://flip.it/4F45CB

#Books #Poetry #NationalBookAward #Bookstodon @bookstodon

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to histodons

Earlier this week, a 24-cent stamp sold at auction for $2 million. Smithsonian Magazine has the story of how the "Inverted Jenny" was made, why it's so rare, and the incredible places some of the stamps have visited, from the Postal Museum in Washington to the inside of a vacuum cleaner.

https://flip.it/2s4G7m

#History #Culture #Philately #Stamps #Histodons @histodons

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to blackmastodon

The first of three special episodes of "Doctor Who" will land on the BBC and Disney+ on Nov. 25. GQ talked to Ncuti Gatwa, who will take over as the Doctor at the end of the run, about how he feels. “I’m a good actor [but] this is a 60-year-long British institution and I’m a Black man, so I never thought that I’d be chosen to front something that is basically the heart of the BBC,” he says.

https://flip.it/7Sdc3X

#Television #DoctorWho #NcutiGatwa #BlackMastodon @blackmastodon

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to bookstodon

In crime fiction, poisoners need easy access to their targets, which means they're often family members or trusted friends — and that makes for fascinating, twisty stories. For Crime Reads, author Valona Jones looks authors' use of arsenic (nicknamed "heir powder"), salt, plant poisons and more.

https://flip.it/RR5sli

#Books #Bookstodon #CrimeFiction
@bookstodon

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to histodons

Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks in Ohio is a marvel of Indigenous science and astronomy — its geometric mounds and enclosures helped Native Americans organize cycles of planting and hunting. For centuries, it has been exceptionally badly treated by settlers, used for military barracks, a fairground, and a golf course. This @TheConversationUS story details its history and efforts to to protect it.

https://flip.it/TQOwJm

#Indigenous #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth #History @histodons

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to bookstodon

Barbra Streisand's memoir, "My Name Is Barbra," is out now. She spoke to the BBC about growing up in poverty, getting her start in a Manhattan gay bar, and phoning Apple CEO Tim Cook to complain that the iPhone couldn't pronounce her name. "I guess that's one perk of fame."

https://flip.it/aO-jwK

#Music #Celebrity #Culture #BarbraStreisand #Books @bookstodon

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to bookstodon

"Living the Beatles Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans" is a biography of the Beatles' roadie, assistant and friend, who was shot dead in 1976. Here's Salon's extract from the book by Kenneth Womack, which is out on Nov. 14. In it, Womack explains how Yoko Ono and Leena Kutti, a 43-year-old Estonian immigrant whom Ono would never meet, saved Evans' manuscript — on which the biography is based — from destruction.

https://flip.it/LsJEJA

#TheBeatles #Music #Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to blackmastodon

Calas — sugar-dusted rice fritters — were traditionally sold by women of color in New Orleans. “It was an economic vehicle, allowing them to provide for their families, and sometimes to even help buy their way out of slavery,” Brandon Pellerin told one group visiting his calas cart in Treme. Nola.com spoke to him about why he's bringing this somewhat forgotten dish back to the streets.

https://flip.it/iuJQBc

#Travel #Food #NewOrleans #Blackmastodon @blackmastodon

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to bookstodon

The U.K. copyright for George Orwell's work expired in 2021. Now, "Beasts of England," by Adam Biles (a sequel to "Animal Farm") and "Julia" by Sandra Newman (a retelling of "1984" from the perspective of Julia) have been published. For the BBC, author Dorian Lynskey looks at these and some of the other ways Orwell's works are being built upon, and why there hasn't been a total free-for-all.

https://flip.it/Uj02Wt

#Books #GeorgeOrwell #Bookstodon @bookstodon

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to blackmastodon

10-time Grammy winner Chaka Khan enters the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame today. For the Gentlewoman, she spoke to Ann Friedman about her 50-year career, time with the Black Panthers, onstage aesthetic ("feathers and leathers") and thoughts on awards. "This is not for me to win a cookie at the end. You know what I’m saying?”

https://flip.it/WQxIHF

#Music #BlackMastodon @blackmastodon #ChakaKhan #Entertainment

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to bookstodon

When the Western world talks about World War II, it mostly means the European conflict. "Present-day American public debates remain largely ill-informed about Asian politics and history," author Gary J. Bass says. For LitHub, he created a reading list of well-researched, fair-minded books that center the Asian experience, including "Hiroshima Notes" by Kenzaburo Oe and "Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II" by Rana Mitter.

https://flip.it/XBR1Xg

#History #Asia #Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to histodons

Jonas Salk, the virologist who developed one of the first polio vaccines, famously said it would not be right for anyone to patent it, asking: "Could you patent the sun?" Salon took a look at his life and work, and spoke to his son, Dr. Peter Salk of the University of Pittsburgh's School of Public Health, about the lessons we can learn from him.

https://flip.it/-nqcNn

#Science #Medicine #History #PublicHealth @histodons

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to bookstodon

"All the Light We Cannot See," an adaptation of the 2014 novel, arrives on Netflix tomorrow. It stars Aria Mia Loberti as Marie-Laure, a blind amateur radio presenter in occupied France during World War II, and @MarkRuffalo. Air Mail talked to Loberti about pressing pause on her Ph.D. to pursue a film career, and what she hopes her success might mean for other blind actors.

https://flip.it/lc7uvg

#Movies #Books #Bookstodon #Accessibility @bookstodon

CultureDesk, 7 months ago to bookstodon

Dawn Powell wrote novels, diaries and plays, was nominated for a National Book Award, and was feted by Hemingway. Then in 1965, she died her body was lost, and eventually, all her writing went out of print. NPR has the story of who she was, what happened to her, and how her friends and family have tried to unbury her work.

https://flip.it/Sue-R_

#Books #WomensHistory #Bookstodon @bookstodon #History

CultureDesk, 8 months ago to bookstodon

Ever dreamed of spending a vacation surrounded by books? Gladstone's Library may be your dream destination. It's the U.K.'s only residential library and has 26 bedrooms, 150,000 books, and several book-lined reading rooms with desks and armchairs where you can read, study and write (in the past decade, more than 300 books have been worked on there). Emily Monaco wrote about staying there for BBC Travel.

https://flip.it/63EfGo

#Travel #TravelTuesday #Bookstodon #Libraries @bookstodon

CultureDesk, 8 months ago to bookstodon

Paul Crenshaw says there was a pervasive sense of fear for kids growing up in 1980s America, born of stranger danger, the murder of "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh's son Adam, and the Satanic panic. He explores these ideas in this essay for Salon; he has also written a new book of essays, "Melt with Me: Coming of Age and Other '80s Perils."

https://flip.it/WS7tLU

#Culture #1980s #America #GenX #Bookstodon @bookstodon

CultureDesk, 8 months ago to bookstodon

For 25 years, Christine Coulson wrote description labels for The Metropolitan Museum of Art — basic details, plus 75 words about each work. Her novel, "One Woman Show," is inspired by these experiences. For LitHub, she writes about the stories she shared, what makes a good label, and why she rarely reads them. "Museums are for looking, and your individual response to a work of art holds all the magic," she says.

https://flip.it/2XXsLW

#Art #Culture #Museums #Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon

CultureDesk, 8 months ago to bookstodon

Exclamation points are viewed with scorn by the literati — perceived, says author Florence Hazrat, as "the textual version of junk food. The selfie of grammar." She writes for The Millions about how for hundreds of years, writers have enjoyed the power of a well-placed !, and gives examples of how authors like Hemingway and Rushdie have used them to brilliant effect.

https://flip.it/oUfuWk

#Language #Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon #Literature

CultureDesk, 9 months ago to random

Pseudocide, or faking your own death, is a common trope in literature and film. Crime writer Manning Wolfe writes about why it continues to be resonant, from "Romeo and Juliet" and "Death on the Nile" to "Sleeping with the Enemy" and "Gone Girl."

https://flip.it/Sd8xPo

#Books #Bookstodon #TV #Movies

CultureDesk, 9 months ago to random

"The Tonight Show" has been a toxic workplace for years because of Jimmy Fallon's erratic behavior and an ever-changing leadership team that don't know how to say no to the host, @RollingStone reports. Krystie Lee Yandoli spoke to 16 current and former staffers about life behind the scenes.

https://flip.it/qH24LP

#Television #JimmyFallon #TonightShow

CultureDesk, 11 months ago to random

Bookshops are awash with time-travel novels. Writer Nancy McCabe examines why there might be heightened interest in temporal displacement, parallel timelines and all that wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff, and suggests a few new reads. Got a favorite time-travel book? Comment below!

https://flip.it/TCamf-

#Books #Bookstodon #TimeTravel #Lifestyle