Readings for a Chilly Sunday

 Things read, not posted before, hoping that you might find them of interest.

Novelist Jesmyn Ward: ‘Losing my partner almost made me stop writing’ (If you have not read Ward, I suggest you do so. This interview may explain why I make this recommendation.)

Ukrainian parliament votes to ban Orthodox Church over alleged links with Russia (I worry what the Russians are doing to Orthodoxy)

The Ukrainian parliament gave initial approval on Thursday to a law that would ban the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church after Kyiv accused it of collaborating with Russia following last year’s invasion.

The UOC – which is distinct from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) – says it no longer aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church and denies the charges levelled at it by Kyiv and said the draft law would be unconstitutional.

Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of parliament, said on the Telegram messaging app that deputies had voted to support the bill in its first reading. It has to be backed in a second reading and approved by the president to go in to force.

It’s all Shakespeare, but who really wrote the words? by Matt Hutchinson reviews Elizabeth Winkler's Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies; which was of interest due to my Marlowe researches.

.... Blending interviews with those on both sides of the question with a concise history of the debate, Winkler’s book is engaging and stimulating from its first chapter.

***

Is Winkler biased towards the non-Stratfordian viewpoint? That is up to the reader to decide. Yet her lucid and often humorous style, in which she successfully maintains a steady stream of interesting historical facts without tipping into a lecture, makes this an engaging read.

 Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka on a Lifetime of Art and Activism Aysegül Sert Talks to the Nigerian Writer in Paris

Stonehenge Before the Druids (Long, Long, Before The Druids)

Twilight Slayance: Kristen Stewart’s queer ghost-hunting show is a scream

Living for the Dead’s eight breezy episodes put a daffy twist on hocus-pocus tropes. Each instalment sees the quintet show up at some haunted place – a Las Vegas gentlemen’s club, or a dilapidated mansion in the boonies – where clearly something isn’t right. Someone feels a hand on their back, or a chill, or they’re suddenly nauseous. It’s hunties to the rescue, armed with gadgets and gizmos that detect electromagnetic radiation and allow the dead to communicate. Tarot cards are read, seashells are scried, seances are slayed, and a stuffed animal trussed up with Christmas lights called a Boo Bear is consulted.

It’s fun to hear Stewart, as the series narrator, relax her cool-girl veneer and show a more lighthearted side. In recent years, she’s shown up in campy action reboots, romcom, and a Rita Ora video, and is one of the few A-listers that actually seems like a good hang. In Living for the Dead, she gamely leans into the kind of campy wisecracks you might overhear at a West Hollywood brunch, with arch moments of verbal dom-topping. “You’ll be needing a widdle diaper change,” she sneers in a set-up to one scare.

‘The Music Critic’ with John Malkovich is coming to the Chicago Theatre. He insists the show is not his way of getting revenge.  (which led me to Jack Unterweger)

Annika’ Season 2 review: Nicola Walker is back as the wry head of Glasgow’s marine homicide unit (I watch this, I like it)

‘A Face in the Crowd’ Forecast Our Future – If We’d Only Been Paying Attention Keith Roysdon on the strange prescience of Elia Kazan's 1957 film starring Andy Griffith. (Also, proves Andy could act; great movie that you will never have heard of)

What Is the Legacy of Walter Hill? (One of my favorite directors & Roysdon picks on my favorite Hill movie)

The Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights of the 2023-24 Season

‘Horrific’: 189 bodies found and removed from Colorado ‘green’ funeral home (thankfully, my father was not around to hear about this).

The Seven Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made by Exploring Mars

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