Below are simple links to other interesting stuff I've come across on the web in the last day or two; they may or may not concern literature or photography, or indeed the arts at all. You can click here to learn more about how I compile this list and what software I use, if you're interested.

Justina Robson muses on 'voluntary sexism'
One of my favorite writers out there, science-fiction author Justina Robson, posted an interesting personal essay to her blog recently, musing on the fact that she will often defer to the judgement and opinions of the men around her without even being aware that she's doing so. Is this due to cultural conditioning? An inherently sexist landscape to begin with? Why would a feminist do such a thing, even knowing full-well that they're doing so? Lots of food for thought in this short, meaty entry.

International students attending US universities is profoundly down
The reverse brain-drain: And so it begins.

Marketers listen when Radiohead talks
A fascinating article in the New York Times this weekend, on how Radiohead is essentially one of the only rock bands out there whose opinions are actually paid attention to by industry executives, because of them having such profound commercial successes now through what has sometimes seemed like foolhardy experiments. Turns out that money still talks, even when you're a moody reclusive art-rocker.

The road to Damascus is paved with gaudy tourist traps
An interesting article from the always fascinating GlobalPost.com, on how the historically important capital of Syria is rapidly becoming one of the biggest tourist destinations of the entire Middle East, and the various ways this is ruining historical accuracy among the city's remaining architecture.

What should we make of Nathaniel Hawthorne's undeniable racism?
A thought-provoking essay from the always great (and liberally biased) History News Network, using the ugly racist side of the much-admired 1800s author Nathaniel Hawthorne to examine the bigger issue of how we think of the artists we admire. Is it ethically right to simply ignore the parts of artists' lives we find uncomfortable or nasty? Or should we have a 'baby with the bathwater' approach to such artists, essentially throwing out the legitimacy of their creative work when we disagree with their personal views of the world?

SpeedCine.com lists 13,000 legal online full-length movies
Confused over just how many digitized full-length movies are now out there on the web, and ready to be watched through streaming format? Check out SpeedCine.com, which now lists over 13,000 of them, both the ones free to everyone and the ones available through subscription services such as Netflix and Amazon.

Stross on Americans and Lockerbie fallout: "Disturbing, medieval and barbaric"
Science-fiction author Charles Stross takes the barbaric, bloodthirsty, torture-obsessed American public to task, for their collective outrage over Scotland commuting the jail sentence of an elderly cancer-ridden prisoner with only weeks left to live. I've been waiting all week for someone to finally say something like this in public about my mercy-impaired, prison-rape-joking countrymen; how nice that it would just happen to be one of my favorite novelists as well to actually do so. Thank you, Mr. Stross!