Tag Archives: Los Angeles Times

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Television, Times They Are A-Changing

Hollywood was built on the work of underappreciated writers. Just ask Chandler, Faulkner and Fitzgerald

August 9, 2023 DrWeb

By Stacy Perman, Staff Writer May 8, 2023 5 AM PT

*(Jim Cooke / Los Angeles Times; photo via Getty Images)*

In 1945, barely two years into Raymond Chandler’s career as a screenwriter, the man whose hard-boiled fiction did much to make film noir into an art form had already wearied of the town and its treatment of writers.“Hollywood is a showman’s paradise. But showmen make nothing; they exploit what someone else has made,” he wrote in an acerbic essay published in the Atlantic.

In barbed zinger after zinger, the man who gave us private investigator Philip Marlowe described Hollywood as a cauldron of “egos,” “credit stealing” and “self-promotion” where scribes were ruthlessly neglected, marginalized and stripped of respect; toiling at the mercy of producers, some of whom, he wrote, had “the artistic integrity of slot machines and the manners of a floorwalker with delusions of grandeur.”

Editor’s Note: Read more, see link below for original item…

Source: Hollywood was built on unappreciated and undervalued writers – Los Angeles Times

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Politics, Web & Technology

Book bans soar in U.S. schools, largely in Republican-led states – Los Angeles Times

April 30, 2023 DrWeb

By Alexandra E. Petri, Staff Writer, April 22, 2023 5 AM PT

Maia Kobabe, author of “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” poses for a portrait with the book, which was one of the most banned titles in U.S. schools last year.
(Josh Edelson / For The Times)

Fearing criminal penalties, public schools throughout Missouri removed hundreds of books from their libraries after state lawmakers last year made it illegal to provide students with “sexually explicit” material — a law that carried punishment of up to a year in prison.

The issue is playing out in public school districts and campus libraries across the United States, 1st Amendment advocates warn: Book bans, gassed up by state legislation pushed by conservative officials and groups, are stacking up at an alarming rate.

Editor’s Note: Read more, see link below for original item…

Source: Book bans soar in U.S. schools, largely in Republican-led states – Los Angeles Times

Food & Drink, Games, Pleasures, Science & Health

33 ways to practice the art of self-care – Lifestyle | Los Angeles Times

January 14, 2022 DrWeb

By Marielle Wakim, Jan. 13, 2022 7 AM PT

When you hear the phrase self-care, chances are you fall into one of two camps: You either want to retch violently or you want to raise a glass of wine in tribute (one that you’re somehow managing to drink while lying face-down on a massage table).

Arguably, both responses are valid. The practice of self-care has strayed from its radical roots — more on those in a second — and evolved into a posh solution for myriad modern-day ailments, including but certainly not limited to long workdays, tense family gatherings, political conversations, and circling the parking garage at the Grove two days before Christmas.

But in its more nascent form, self-care, which surfaced as a term in the 1950s, was far less luxurious.

Before it became synonymous with the larger wellness movement, self-care was something doctors and health professionals encouraged among elderly and mentally ill populations; everyday practices, like personal grooming, were ways to reclaim a sense of autonomy.

In the years following, academics began exploring the ways self-care might combat the stress experienced by workers in high-octane fields (think healthcare or firefighting).

The idea was simple: Taking care of oneself — whether that meant addressing a physical need like eating, or a psychological need like engaging in therapy — would more adequately allow someone to take care of others. You hear it on airplanes all the time. Put on your own oxygen mask first before helping those around you.

Source: 33 ways to practice the art of self-care – Los Angeles Times

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Pleasures, Science & Health, Times They Are A-Changing, Web & Technology

Podcast: How the L.A. Public Library made libraries cool – Los Angeles Times

August 29, 2021 DrWeb

Posted Aug. 27, 2021 5 AM PT

Children’s librarian Sara Rebman sorts books in the Los Angeles Central Library.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Welcome, new listeners!

Here’s one of our favorite episodes from this year, with a brand-new segment at the end.

It’s been quite the year for the Los Angeles Public Library — and the COVID-19 pandemic is only part of the story.

Inauguration Day cast a national spotlight on Amanda Gorman, who got her start reading poetry via the L.A. Public Library’s youth program.

And teen punk group the Linda Lindas gained worldwide fame after a concert at the Cypress Park branch of one of America’s largest public library systems.