
How Art to Comes to Life: The Myth of Pygmalion
Unlike the 'Midas touch,' 'Pandora's box,' or the 'Oedipus complex,' it's not one of those myth-related names that rolls off the tongue or that we readily know. But there have been many references to it in past and contemporary Western culture. George Bernard Shaw made a great play out of the story (though subverting the ending) in 1913; and this became the basis for the musical adaptation, 'My Fair Lady'; and this, in its turn, became a sort of model for 'Pretty Woman' in 1990.
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Buzz Feed
2 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
15 Of The Best, Most Wholesome Posts Online This Week
Happy weekend, everybody! In the spirit of the weekend, I decided it would be fun to round up some of the most wholesome posts I found this week, in order to spread some positive vibes. Enjoy! The limitless whimsy of which this person is capable: This sentiment: This man who is adopting his first cat 🥺: This experience: This interaction that made me smile: This person's dad's knitting: This person's mom and her apricot tree: This cat: This, because lifelong intellectualism can be a goal for everyone: Sittin' on the porch: This person's love of figs: This person who can read Greek discovering that Homer in Greek is apparently amazing (I love when people find joy in nerding out): The way kids talk: This very niche childhood experience, because it made me laugh: This very serious cat guarding his human from this fearsome dragon: I hope you loved these as much as I did! Feel free to tell me what you think down below. And if you enjoyed these posts, be sure to go ahead and follow their creators; I think we're all in need of a little more wholesome content. ❤️


NBC News
7 hours ago
- NBC News
Cash's decline gives buskers the blues, but apps keep the green flowing
Natalia Paruz, who serenades straphangers with her musical saw, isn't getting the tips she used to. That was clear on a recent Thursday at the Herald Square station in midtown Manhattan, her gold-colored tip bucket only showing a couple dollar bills and some coins halfway through a three-hour performance during the afternoon rush. 'I have so many people who come to me and say to me, 'I love your music, I want to give, but I'm sorry, I don't carry cash,'' said Paruz, who calls herself the Saw Lady. That's led her to display QR codes for digital payment apps Venmo and PayPal for commuters to send her digital tips. The decline in cash payments is changing business for street performers. With the cash in their tip jars or guitar cases dwindling, magicians and musicians are turning toward digital payments to make money from performing. Nearly half of U.S. adults never use cash in a typical week, according to research from Capital One. Nearly 70% of Americans used cash for 'few if any' purchases in the past year. A vast majority, 87%, of all U.S. transactions were cashless in 2024, and the bank anticipates that by 2027, 94% of U.S. transactions won't involve cash. Cash still reigns among older and low-income Americans, Yale economist David Argente said. Americans ages 55 and older use cash at almost double the rate of 18- to 24-year-olds, according to Federal Reserve data. There's no large-scale data on how people in the United States pay street performers, though the Federal Reserve indicates they are most likely to use cash for payments under $25. Paruz and other performers say busking still mostly draws hard money. Paruz said 70% of her tips still come from cash. New York blues keyboardist Gabriel Aldort, who plays in the city's subways and ferry terminals, said only 5% of his tips are digital. Aldort puts up 'huge' QR codes for apps like CashApp and Venmo, but says his subway audience doesn't get much use out of them. 'I think the vast majority of New Yorkers, even counting the transients, the tourists, have cash,' he said. But performers have noticed that an increasing amount of their tips come from payment apps. Chadd 'Wacky Chad' Deitz, a Boston-based stunt comedian who does backflips off pogo sticks in Northeast cities, has been experimenting with digital payments for 12 years. He now thinks 30% to 40% of his tips come that way. 'If you don't accept digital payments, then you're not going to survive,' Deitz said. Digital payment apps aim to be more 'trusted, familiar, and easy-to-use' ways for gig workers like buskers to make money, Venmo general manager Alexis Sowa said in a statement. A Cash App spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. But while performers say digital tipping is convenient, it has also affected how much audiences tip — and not necessarily for the better, said Danny Tangelo, a traveling magician who performs across Western states. He's found cash tips are often higher than digital tips. Digital payments also lack visibility: Deitz thinks people are encouraged to drop in cash or change when they see others do it. 'I do think that there is a little bit of psychology of people walking forward and saying, 'Thank you,' because they might see the QR code from far away, they might have tipped midshow and then walk away,' Deitz said. 'But then people that didn't pay see those people walk away, and they go, 'Well, I guess it's acceptable to walk away.'' For Paruz, digital payments make busking less personal: Audiences keep their distance rather than coming up to her and dropping in a tip. Cash 'fostered communication,' she said. 'People would stop and talk to us.' Apps like Venmo and Cash App also take a small cut of money received for goods and services, which adds up when performers are processing large amounts of digital payments. An alternative is a nonprofit, busker-specific payment site that allows performers to receive tips via Apple Pay, Google Pay and credit card. Berlin-based filmmaker Nick Broad started building the site in 2012 while working on a documentary about street performers. He says digital payments help make sure that buskers get paid what they're worth. 'It's as easy to give a million dollars as $1 on a cashless payments platform,' Broad said. 'You might think that it's worth $89, $10, $15, whatever, which is not the same when you're getting cash out of your wallet and you're fumbling around for change.' But Broad says fewer performers have taken up in the United States compared to countries like the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. He says that could be because apps like Venmo or Cash App are more mainstream here. Although digital payments have helped buskers make up for a decline in cash tips, performers are still struggling. Paruz says she makes less from cash and digital tips than she did when she began performing in the 1990s, while Deitz has hit all-time lows for payment at multiple performances this year. Broadly, Americans are tired of tipping. A survey this spring found more than 40% of Americans think 'tipping culture is out of control.' That has meant many tipped workers in other industries have seen their tips dip. Besides, with the rising costs of housing and food, if audiences want to save money, 'they're going to do it watching a street performer,' Deitz said. That means performers like him don't care how you pay them — as long as you pay. A $2 tip, Deitz said, isn't going to 'sustain a white picket fence and two kids.' For magician Tangelo, though, cash has one additional benefit. 'I have a trick where money appears inside fruit,' he said. 'You can't do that with Cash App or Venmo.'
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Halsey on Learning From Sydney Sweeney on ‘Americana' and Creating Her Own New Series: 'Really Cool to Be Part of a Project I Don't Face'
Halsey has been making the transition from musician to movie star in recent years — including with a breakout role in 2024's MaXXXine — but the first major project she shot is just now making its way to theaters. Americana — a modern western from writer-director Tony Tost which follows several people as their lives violently intertwine while fighting over an expensive Native American ghost shirt— was shot in 2022, premiered at SXSW in 2023 and is finally heading to this big screen this month. More from The Hollywood Reporter Trump Swoons Over Sydney Sweeney Amid Reports That She's a Republican American Eagle Responds to Sydney Sweeney Jeans Campaign Amid Controversy JD Vance Mocks Protests of Sydney Sweeney's Jeans Ad: "They Can't Help But Freak Out" 'I'd been waiting a really long time, I'd been really cautiously picky about what I was going to do for my first project for getting into this world, into this space,' Halsey told The Hollywood Reporter at the film's Los Angeles premiere on Sunday. 'Tony reached out and he was so personable and so talented and I just really connected with the script and the character. Little did I know we were going to be making it during COVID, which was a crazy experience. And from the moment I read the script until we started shooting, I got pregnant, had a whole pregnancy, gave birth to my son, had my son on set with me, and without giving anything away, it's really serendipitous to [her character] Mandy's arc in the film.' The film also stars Sydney Sweeney — who walked the carpet in her first public appearance following her American Eagle controversy — Paul Walter Hauser, Simon Rex, Eric Dane and Zahn McClarnon. It marks a reunion for Halsey and Sweeney, after the Euphoria star appeared in Halsey's 2019 music video for her song 'Graveyard.' 'We were actually hanging out a bunch during COVID, so when I got the call she was doing the movie we had like just gone hiking a few days before, so it was like, 'Oh cool, I'll see you there,'' Halsey recalled. 'It was just really great to have someone to learn from, to ask questions to — the stupid questions you don't think of. It was my first time on a movie set in a real way; just being like 'Who do I look at? Who do I listen to? What's the cool code words I don't know, the actor lingo?' So having someone to ask the stupid questions to was great.' Next up, Halsey is making another pivot and developing series Bloodlust for Amazon, serving as creator, writer and EP. The dark comedy series has also enlisted MaXXXine filmmaker Ti West to direct and executive produce. 'I started the pilot a few years ago and Amazon wanted it and they took it and now we're getting it on the road. There's not so much that I can say but it's really cool to be a part of a project that I don't face. It's quite relieving,' Halsey explained, confirming that she will not appear on screen in the show. 'Just behind the scenes, just the puppet master,' she noted, celebrating, 'I don't have to do my makeup.' Americana hits theaters Aug. 15. Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 25 Best U.S. Film Schools in 2025 The 40 Greatest Needle Drops in Film History The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience Solve the daily Crossword