CultureDesk

CultureDesk, 21 days ago to books

How do writers become famous? It's clear that talent is not enough. Cass R. Sunstein looks at the factors and trends that lead to literary recognition, from Oprah's Book Club to premature death. This extract from his book, "How to Become Famous: Lost Einsteins, Forgotten Superstars, and How the Beatles Came to Be," appears on LitHub.

https://flip.it/jjERwR

#Books #Writing #Authors #Literature @bookstodon

CultureDesk, 22 days ago (edited 21 days ago) to television

Marvel is rebranding its TV shows to show fans that they don't necessarily have to watch everything in order to understand what's going on. “The hope is that, like the comics, you can just pop in anywhere and have a satisfying experience. We’re trying to dispel the idea that you need to do any kind of setup work to watch anything else,” says Brad Winderbaum, Marvel's head of streaming, TV and animation. Here's more detail from Variety. What's your take on the MCU these days?

https://flip.it/Z4NfEb

#Television #Marvel #MCU #Streaming #TV #Entertainment #TuneIn

CultureDesk, 22 days ago to ContentCreation

In 2019, a content creator and model named Belle Delphine went viral for selling jars of her bathwater. The stunt earned her $90K in profits, but PayPal then closed her account so she never saw a dime of the money until she wrote about it on X earlier this month. Here's more from @theverge.

https://flip.it/9N_xNy

#ContentCreation #PayPal #ViralContent #Internet #PopCulture

CultureDesk, 22 days ago to restaurants

Every year, for a short period, you could get endless shrimp at Red Lobster. Then last summer it made the deal a permanent fixture on its menu: All-you-can-eat shrimp for $20. The change, motivated by a new shareholder that specialized in canned seafood and opposed by management, cost the company $11 million. On Sunday, it filed for bankruptcy. Here's more from CNN about the ill-fated promotion and how it contributed to the demise of the casual dining chain.

https://flip.it/vLnq93

#Restaurants #USA #RedLobster #Bankruptcy

CultureDesk, 22 days ago to Entertainment

Graceland is up for sale — or is it? A foreclosure sale of Elvis Presley's compound in Memphis, Tennessee, has been advertised for this Thursday, but Riley Keough, Presley's actress granddaughter, filed a claim to say that the suit on the creditor's paperwork for a $3.8 million loan is fraudulent. Here's more from NBC.

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/music/elvis-presley-granddaughter-fights-creditor-auction-graceland-rcna153191

#Entertainment #PopCulture #ElvisPresley #Music #Graceland

CultureDesk, 23 days ago to conservative

Earlier today, OpenAI announced that it would no longer be using a its "Sky" voice for its new chatbot. They didn’t say why, but the voice sounded a lot like Scarlett Johansson’s, despite the fact that the Hollywood star had declined to offer her voice to the company. Read more from NBC News, including how Johansson reacted: https://flip.it/IQYBUQ
#Culture #Entertainment #AI #Hollywood #ScarlettJohansson

CultureDesk, 23 days ago to conservative

Memorial Day is a week away in the U.S., and for many Americans it's the unofficial beginning of summer — and the start of grilling season. Food And Wine has put together this list of 27 recipes to kick off the season with some flavor (whoever thought of red velvet cake ice cream sandwiches is a genius). From ultimate loaded chili-topped hot dogs to grilled vegetable flatbread with smoked almond muhammara, here’s your inspiration. https://flip.it/x3AR.Y
#Culture #Food #Grilling #Barbecue #Picnic #Beverages

CultureDesk, 23 days ago to conservative

From Indie Wire: “You haven’t lived until you see a movie musical where the words mammoplasty, vaginoplasty, rhinoplasty play out in song.” This happens in “Emilia Pérez,” Jacques Audiard’s wild Mexican musical starring Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, and Édgar Ramírez. Indie Wire has more on the film about transness whose bold swings make up for a lack of psychological complexity. https://flip.it/ZBWn-x
#Culture #Entertainment #Movies #Musicals #LGBTQ

CultureDesk, 23 days ago to conservative

English speakers have the distinct benefit of using the world’s most common language when traveling. So you’re good, right? In fact, learning the obvious and necessary words and sayings of the country to which you’re traveling can make your trip easier, impress a few locals and enrich your experience. From greetings to asking for help, Fodors breaks it down. https://flip.it/fw6LLQ
#Culture #Travel #Traveling #Language

CultureDesk, 24 days ago to conservative

“There’s nothing more masculine than a strong man supporting a strong woman,” Eddie Vedder told a sold-out crowd during Pearl Jam’s Saturday night show in Las Vegas. Vedder was responding to the divisive speech given by NFL player Harrison Butker at Benedict College last weekend in which the placekicker said, among other things, “to be unapologetic in your masculinity.” Heavy.com has more, including the NSFW video of Vedder underscoring what he called “the irony” of Butker’s speech. https://flip.it/mvgJqd
#Culture #Entertainment #Music #PearlJam #EddieVedder

CultureDesk, 24 days ago to conservative

George Lee gave up meat for 100 days after his grandfather died, per his native Taiwan, traditional Buddhist mourning ritual. It was then that Lee “started to feel something that anchored my interest in vegetarian cooking.” Today, Lee is a vegan chef, and Atlas Obscura talks to him about “A-Gong’s Table,” his new cookbook that explores the potential of plant-based foods. https://flip.it/GldfRg
#Culture #Food #Foodstodon #Cooking #Thailand

CultureDesk, 25 days ago to conservative

If you watched movies and TV in the 1980s, you knew Dabney Coleman for his comic roles in “9 to 5,” “Tootsie,” and “Buffalo Bill.” Coleman died Thursday at 92, his daughter Quincy Coleman told The Hollywood Reporter. “My father crafted his time here on Earth with a curious mind, a generous heart and a soul on fire with passion, desire and humor that tickled the funny bone of humanity,” she said in a statement. From Lily Tomlin to Ben Stiller, fellow actors are also paying tribute to the award-winning actor. THR has more: https://flip.it/huRaxh
#Culture #Entertainment #TV #Movies

CultureDesk, 25 days ago to conservative

“The Surfer” is a movie about male anxiety, male power, male midlife crisis, male rituals of pain and dominance. Who better to play the title character than Nicolas Cage? Read Variety’s review, which calls the film “the kind of trippy slapdash comic nightmare where the only way to watch it is to sit back and 'go with it.' ” https://flip.it/Mnruzf
#Culture #Entertainment #Movies #NicolasCage

CultureDesk, 26 days ago to music

Tiny Desk, eat your heart out. NPR is showcasing this group of kids from Cork, Ireland, and their infectious bop, "The Spark." The youngsters are part of a rap initiative called Rhyme Island and created the song for Cruinniú na nÓg (Gathering of Youth), a day of creativity for under-18s in Ireland.

https://flip.it/fi9Y2i

#Music #NewMusic #Ireland #Cork #TGIF

CultureDesk, 26 days ago to music

André 3000 is one of the greatest rappers of our time. He spoke to Hanif Abdurraqib from The Bitter Southerner magazine about freedom, fame, flutes, and if André will make another rap album. "I can only give what I’m feeling," he says.

https://flip.it/y1Ydbw

#Music #Rap #Andre3000 #Culture #PopCulture #Flute

CultureDesk, 26 days ago to random

The U.S. House has passed the TICKET Act, which requires ticket sellers to disclose the total cost of attending an event, with an itemized list of the base price and fees. The bipartisan bill now awaits a Senate vote. Here's more from Pitchfork.

https://flip.it/-rgbM7

#LiveMusic #Ticketmaster #Concerts #USLaw

For more stories like this, follow @pitchfork's Latest News Magazine, @latest.

CultureDesk, 26 days ago (edited 23 days ago) to movies

"Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" is out and according to the A.V. Club's Tara Bennett (not usually a fan of prequels), it's good. Here's her review of the movie, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth. We want to know: Which of these George Miller movies is your favorite?

https://flip.it/_zwza6

#Movies #Cinema #Film #GeorgeMiller #Entertainment #MadMax #Furiosa

CultureDesk, 26 days ago to conservative

Magic: The Gathering has come a long way since it debuted at Gen Con in 1993. Last year, it became a billion-dollar brand. The genius behind it, mathematician Richard Garfield, left Wizards of the Coast, Magic's publisher, shortly after it was sold to Hasbro in 1999 and has subsequently expressed an apparent disillusionment with what the game has become. Defector's Nick Zarzycki interviewed him about this, his perception of the existential threats to Magic, and why he left the company. [Story may be paywalled]

https://flip.it/n4q4Z4

#Culture #Gaming #MagicTheGathering #TabletopGames #RichardGarfield #CardGames

CultureDesk, 26 days ago to NFL

The backlash over NFL player Harrison Butker's commencement address continues. NPR looks at the reaction to the Kansas City Chiefs kicker's speech, in which he said one of the most important titles a woman can hold is "homemaker," and railed against abortion rights, Pride Month, COVID-19 lockdowns, "dangerous gender ideologies" and the "cultural emasculation of men."

https://flip.it/PC9vsq

#Graduation #Commencement #HarrisonButker #NFL #Culture #WomensRights