Onward and Upward With Arts Criticism: Smoking Gun may have had the scoop on serial art attacker Susan Burns‘ recent return to the National Gallery to assault a Matisse, but The Washington Post‘s report gets the prize for best contextualizing quote: “‘What she did was strange,’ said a police officer, who asked not to be named. ‘But when you think about all the homicides in this city, it’s really not so bad. Maybe she just really hates art.'”

Shakespeare in Deadwood: Local directors Aaron Posner, David Muse, Michael Kahn and others get the rare chance to talk shit about the Bard in this WaPo piece about heavy Shakespeare edits; Shakespeare Theatre Company’s season-opening production of Julius Caesar, for example, shuffles some early scenes. Of one particularly purple scene in Romeo and Juliet, STC’s Kahn says: “It’s very bad writing…And it’s impossible to act, even with Meryl Streep.” The master of ballsy Shakespeare adaptations in D.C. is Posner, who drops this nugget late in the article: that he may adapt The Taming of the Shrew in the style of the HBO Western Deadwood next spring at the Folger. With songs!

Also in WaPo Sunday Arts: A really nice Maura Judkis piece on vintage photography websites, pegged to Reston blogger Jason Powell‘s series of vintage photos within present day ones.

Tumblr Endorsement: The D.C. Docent, essential reading and viewing if you care about D.C.’s museum and gallery scenes.

Today on Arts Desk: An update on P.G. County nightclubs; thoughts on pop-ups.