Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Ad Injection:topSix years into his Presidential term, Barack Obama has finally joined Twitter. According to a White House blog post, Obama’s new account, @POTUS, “will serve as a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people, with tweets coming exclusively from him. President Obama is committed to making his Administration the most open…
The Cannes Film Festival is reportedly not allowing women into screenings if they’re wearing flat shoes. I’m not sure I could’ve come up with a better metaphor for sexism in the film industry if I was really, really trying. If you wrote this into a novel about sexism in the film industry, it would seem…
Last week, the sitcom-watching portion of Asian America finally got the news they’d been waiting for with bated breath: Fresh Off the Boat survived. In fact, a lot of great shows survived, including shows whose survival was seen as a kind of referendum on TV diversity: Blackish, Jane the Virgin, andEmpire, as well as the whole Shonda Rhimes juggernaut (Scandal, How…
Gawker has uncovered new details today concerning the at-times brutal three-year custody dispute between Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly and ex-wife, Maureen McPhilmy. In one instance, court documents say, O’Reilly violently attacked McPhilmy and dragged her down a staircase by the neck. According to a “source familiar with the facts of the case,” O’Reilly’s 16-year-old…
For thousands of years, religious people have gathered together in houses of worship to sing songs, celebrate sacred rituals, and lift up prayers to God(s) on high. And on July 1, a new religious group in Indiana intends to do just that — but with a lot more emphasis on the “high” part. A little…
WHEN our family moved from the West Village to the Upper East Side in 2004, seeking proximity to Central Park, my in-laws and a good public school, I thought it unlikely that the neighborhood would hold any big surprises. For many years I had immersed myself — through interviews, reviews of the anthropological literature and…
Credit: Vittorio Zu Salma Hayek is my new heroine. This morning at the Kering Talks (Kering is a sponsor of the festival and Hayek’s husband François-Henri Pinault is the CEO) this woman dropped epic truth bombs for about an hour. Her co-speaker Matthias Schoenaerts didn’t get to say much but his performances are speaking for him; I saw…
A few months ago we got an email from a tipster who said he was awaiting a phone call from Louis C.K., who will host the final episode of Saturday Night Live’s 40th season this weekend. The subject of their phone call was sexual misconduct allegations made by the tipster’s friend against the comedian. Our…
The Rape of Proserpina, 1636-1638. Artist: Rubens, Pieter Paul (1577-1640) (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images) “Not far from the walls of Enna, there is a deep pool,” begins Ovid’s version of the rape of Persephone. “While [Persephone] was playing in this glade, and gathering violets or radiant lilies, while with girlish fondness she filled the…
Disney‘s latest princess movie sounds worryingly tone deaf, provoking accusations of racism long before it’s due to go into production. Following this backlash on Twitter, the film’s screenwriter claims the movie has been misrepresent by the media.According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Princess of North Sudan is a “unique princess tale inspired by the true account…