* If you're anywhere near Winston-Salem, please note that Tonya Pinkins, whose chops are so considerable that I don't entirely know where to start with her amazingness, so just Google her, is in cabaret thereabouts, as part of the biennial National Black Theatre Festival. This is a thing that makes me want to go to North Carolina. [Winston-Salem Journal]
* It is awesome that the Feds have revised the way they calculate the GDP to include "artistic originals" — in other words, the value of the art and entertainment newly created for us to experience. But can we please not call it The Taylor Swift Effect? [Yahoo Finance]
* In less alarming biz-of-show news, Oscar has a new boss — Cheryl Boone Isaacs, a reputedly savvy marketer who's run publicity for Paramount and other outfits, was elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She's the organization's third female boss, and the first African-American to run the ship. [Entertainment Weekly]
* I was hoping our guy Gene Demby had written about the Jay-Z/Harry Belafonte business, so I was glad to find this. [Code Switch]
* Sub-Saharan politics aren't generally our bailiwick here, but I've got a personal fascination with Zimbabwe, and today's elections could be a real turning point. Plus, the astonishingly durable Robert Mugabe has inspired plenty of protest art, so I claim thin-edge-wedge privilege. And this is a good read anyway. [The New York Times]
* Writers and directors, STILL AT ODDS. [Huffington Post, via Twitter and Vulture and Think Progress and a public symposium, so basically a big game of Telephone]
* Nerds will be nerds, even when they're getting tear-gassed. [The Guardian]
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