Today's Stories

Netflix Was Getting Into Gaming For A Bit There, But Now It’s Closing Gaming Studios All Over The Place

"Games on Netflix have had mixed results,” but the plan is to focus on kids and sports, or so it seems. So much for narrative synergy. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

Good News For News Publishers? From AI?

Well, from Apple, in any case: "The pay-as-you-go plan would see publishers paid only when Siri AI uses their content,” which is similar to the Apple News+ model for print (er, digital). - Nieman Lab

Even In Oxford, Romantasy Books Are Taking Off

And NPR gets right down to it with the owner: What is “Monster smut,” and why is it so popular right now? - NPR

How To Solve The So-Called Literacy Crisis, With Fun And Joy

In groups, sometimes with full-throated yawps, it’s time to take back public, communal reading. - The New York Times

Cicero Commissioned An Ancient Roman Shorthand Writing System That We Still Use

“You can still type a symbol originally invented for Cicero nearly 21 centuries ago — at least if you configure your keyboard properly.” - Open Culture

Disney’s Plan For Generation Alpha And Beyond

The big thing is “Disney’s push into the booming vertical media space — aka microdramas and other shortform clips designed to be viewed on mobile phones .” - Variety

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Is It Possible To Have A Great Series Finale?

Here are eight that did it right — landed that unwieldy plane, circled back, etc. — did whatever they needed to do to wrap things up well. - The Atlantic

Our Brains In Pop Music Concerts

A Nick Jonas concert “reminded me of an obscure phrase coined by a 19th-century sociologist – Émile Durkheim’s ‘collective effervescence.’ … Individuals who are normally preoccupied with their personal concerns get swept up into a kind of electric, communal intensity.” - The Guardian (UK)

Mary Heilmann, Who Poked Fun At Her Minimalist Colleagues With ‘Wobbly’ Lines, Has Died At 86

Heilmann, emblematic of women artists of her generation, “was in her 60s when she belatedly achieved wide acclaim for her ebulliently colored, loose-limbed, often lopsided abstract paintings.” - The New York Times

What It’s Like To Be The Bookstore/Skate Shop Right By A Huge Influencer’s Acreage

“Turns out the people can’t get enough fly-fishing guides from 1973.” - The Paris Review

The Salzburg Festival Marches Forward Without An Artistic Director

Soprano Asmik Gregorian: “This feels very strange and empty. … It was planned by Markus Hinterhäuser, and we are all here because of him. It feels a bit like a boat without a captain.” - The New York Times

This Irish Thriller Writer Dominates The NYT’s Best Thrillers List

“Among the experts (291 editors, booksellers, librarians, book lovers and crime authors), four of French’s books made it to a list of the 50 best thrillers of the 21st century” - more than any other writer’s books. - Irish Times

Violet Hensley, Fiddler Who Debuted At The Grand Ole Opry When She Was 99, Has Died At 109

“Hensley made a clear distinction between a fiddle and a violin, even though they are essentially the same instrument. ‘If you can read music, you play the violin,’ she told The Tulsa World in 1982. ‘I can’t read music, so I just play the fiddle.’” - The New York Times

Massive Art Thefts, Massive Recoveries This Week In Italy And Brazil

“The recovered works are Cézanne’s Still Life with Cherries, which authorities said was valued at about $7m (£5.2m), Renoir’s Fish, valued at $3.5m, and Matisse’s Odalisque on the Terrace.” - The Guardian (UK)

Nick Reiner, Accused Of Killing His Parents, Wants To Access His Trust Fund To Pay His Lawyers

But the so-called “Slayer Statute” prevents the youngest child of Michelle Singer Reiner and Rob Reiner from doing that. - The New York Times

Did AI Tell These Middle School Students They Now Live In ‘Venecky’ Instead Of Kentucky?

Wow: "Administrators later warned teachers there were a ‘LOT of mistakes’ on pages 19 through 36 and instructed students to tear the pages out of their planners before taking them home.”- Salon

Visiting The Bullshit Museum In Slovenia’s Capital

“In the heart of old Ljubljana, a mannequin with a bucket on its head welcomes visitors to a new and ambitious project – a museum focusing on the varied and sometimes antagonistic humour of the former Yugoslavia.” - The Guardian

Publishers Face Increasing Pressure Over AI

“Until AI, there has been the expectation that no matter what is written in a book, It authored by a person, or people. There needs to be new terms in the social contract between reader and writer.” - Christian Science Monitor

The Trumpets Of King Tutankhamun — And When A British Army Bandsman Tried To Play One

The oldest known brass instruments in existence are two smallish trumpets found inside the tomb of the boy pharaoh in 1922. Seventeen years later, for a live BBC broadcast from Cairo, a modern musician played one.  Bad idea. - CNN

Celebrating “Other” Washingtons

In Chicago, a lone statue of George Washington is now surrounded by “Other Washingtons,” which take the form of blue flags bearing the faces of Black Americans who bear the same last name. - CNN

By Topic

Good News For News Publishers? From AI?

Well, from Apple, in any case: "The pay-as-you-go plan would see publishers paid only when Siri AI uses their content,” which is similar to the Apple News+ model for print (er, digital). - Nieman Lab

The Neuroscience Explanation For Why We Need Concerts

For “collective effervescence” to occur organically, bodies need to be present, in the same space, dancing to the same rhythm. The function is to restore the social bonds and shared beliefs that are eroded by the drudgery of ordinary life. - The Guardian

An Attempt To Build India’s “Most Livable” City

More than 25,000 people are working at the site on any given day, building a design by Norman Foster, the celebrated British architect. The city is laid out in grids and includes about a five-mile stretch of government buildings. - The New York Times

Are We Close To Locating Where Consciousness Lives In The Brain?

Most discussions of AI and consciousness ask whether machines can experience anything. But maybe the real mystery is: If consciousness is not fundamentally related to higher cognition, then what kind of phenomenon is it? - Noema

Do We Lose Our Minds In Big Crowds?

In popular culture and pop psychology, crowds are often associated with strong emotions, excessive emotional expression and the uncritical spread of emotions. Commentators often link that crowd emotion in turn with uncontrolled behaviour and, in some cases, mindless violence. - Psyche

Unlocking The Mysteries Of Hegel

In both its depth and breadth, Hegel’s philosophy is perhaps rivalled only by that of Aristotle. - Psyche

Did AI Tell These Middle School Students They Now Live In ‘Venecky’ Instead Of Kentucky?

Wow: "Administrators later warned teachers there were a ‘LOT of mistakes’ on pages 19 through 36 and instructed students to tear the pages out of their planners before taking them home.”- Salon

Visiting The Bullshit Museum In Slovenia’s Capital

“In the heart of old Ljubljana, a mannequin with a bucket on its head welcomes visitors to a new and ambitious project – a museum focusing on the varied and sometimes antagonistic humour of the former Yugoslavia.” - The Guardian

Making A Pilgrimage To The Now-Thoroughly Commercialized Mecca

“There are few words to describe the whiplash of coming face to face with a Joe & The Juice, a Sephora and a plethora of other shops and hotels and Times Square-style billboards after going through one of the most spiritually charged experiences of my life.” - Aeon

Former UArts Building To Become Artist Housing In Philly

The news comes after the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded the VIA a $2.5 million grant for the building project and the establishment of on-site arts programming. - Hyperallergic

UK Universities Warn Of Funding Crisis Amid Collapse Of International Enrollment

University leaders are warning of financial turmoil in British higher education after new figures suggested a collapse in international student numbers would deprive the sector of vital income and undermine its future. - The Guardian

Kennedy Center Board Votes To Put Trump’s Name Back On The Kennedy Center

According to the resolution approved by the Trump-allied board, the inscription underneath the institution’s name would read: “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” - The New York Times

Our Brains In Pop Music Concerts

A Nick Jonas concert “reminded me of an obscure phrase coined by a 19th-century sociologist – Émile Durkheim’s ‘collective effervescence.’ … Individuals who are normally preoccupied with their personal concerns get swept up into a kind of electric, communal intensity.” - The Guardian (UK)

The Salzburg Festival Marches Forward Without An Artistic Director

Soprano Asmik Gregorian: “This feels very strange and empty. … It was planned by Markus Hinterhäuser, and we are all here because of him. It feels a bit like a boat without a captain.” - The New York Times

The Trumpets Of King Tutankhamun — And When A British Army Bandsman Tried To Play One

The oldest known brass instruments in existence are two smallish trumpets found inside the tomb of the boy pharaoh in 1922. Seventeen years later, for a live BBC broadcast from Cairo, a modern musician played one.  Bad idea. - CNN

BMG Makes Big Licensing Deal With AI-Music Company Suno

BMG is the first significant rightsholder to ink a licensing deal with Suno since Warner Music Group announced an alliance with the AI company nine months ago. - MusicBusinessWorldwide

What You Learn From A Composer’s Handwritten Manuscript

Scores are more available than ever: in multiple published editions, online in public domain collections, in libraries and elsewhere. But a manuscript, music written in a composer’s hand, has the almost magical power to make even the most distant giants feel near and alive. - The New York Times

Documenting The Harms To The National Symphony In The Past Year

They reveal that even as expenses ticked downward, donations fell 25 percent short of expectations last year, and that this year’s ticket revenue is on pace to earn about half of what the orchestra budgeted. - Washington Post

Massive Art Thefts, Massive Recoveries This Week In Italy And Brazil

“The recovered works are Cézanne’s Still Life with Cherries, which authorities said was valued at about $7m (£5.2m), Renoir’s Fish, valued at $3.5m, and Matisse’s Odalisque on the Terrace.” - The Guardian (UK)

Celebrating “Other” Washingtons

In Chicago, a lone statue of George Washington is now surrounded by “Other Washingtons,” which take the form of blue flags bearing the faces of Black Americans who bear the same last name. - CNN

History Is Being Erased In Gaza, Iran And Ukraine

Of international bodies, Unesco is active in keeping a record of the fate of cultural heritage worldwide, but a record is just a record. Its listing of Russia’s and Israel’s devastation of their hated foes is like watching a historic tragedy unfold in real time. - The Guardian

Eight Matisses Stolen From São Paulo Library Are Found By Brazilian Police

The Matisse illustrations, made for a limited-edition art book, were taken last December from the Biblioteca Mário de Andrade, where they were part of an exhibition presented jointly with the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art. Also stolen were five engravings by Brazilian artist Candido Portinari; they have not yet been located. - BBC

Italian Police Recover Cézanne, Matisse, And Renoir Stolen From Private Museum

The Carabinieri have regained possession of Renoir’s “Fish,” Cézanne’s “Still Life with Cherries,” and Matisse’s “Odalisque on the Terrace,” which were stolen from the Magnani Rocca Foundation near Parma this past March. - AP

What The Trump Administration’s Exhibition Of “Patriotic” Art Says About Patriotism And Art

“Now, in service of an ideology that brooks no deviation from blind nationalism, Passport to Patriotism advances a shallow vision of U.S. identity with all the nuance of a propaganda reel and all the sophistication of the art project your first-grader brought home on Flag Day.” - Slate (MSN)

Even In Oxford, Romantasy Books Are Taking Off

And NPR gets right down to it with the owner: What is “Monster smut,” and why is it so popular right now? - NPR

How To Solve The So-Called Literacy Crisis, With Fun And Joy

In groups, sometimes with full-throated yawps, it’s time to take back public, communal reading. - The New York Times

Cicero Commissioned An Ancient Roman Shorthand Writing System That We Still Use

“You can still type a symbol originally invented for Cicero nearly 21 centuries ago — at least if you configure your keyboard properly.” - Open Culture

What It’s Like To Be The Bookstore/Skate Shop Right By A Huge Influencer’s Acreage

“Turns out the people can’t get enough fly-fishing guides from 1973.” - The Paris Review

This Irish Thriller Writer Dominates The NYT’s Best Thrillers List

“Among the experts (291 editors, booksellers, librarians, book lovers and crime authors), four of French’s books made it to a list of the 50 best thrillers of the 21st century” - more than any other writer’s books. - Irish Times

Publishers Face Increasing Pressure Over AI

“Until AI, there has been the expectation that no matter what is written in a book, It authored by a person, or people. There needs to be new terms in the social contract between reader and writer.” - Christian Science Monitor

Netflix Was Getting Into Gaming For A Bit There, But Now It’s Closing Gaming Studios All Over The Place

"Games on Netflix have had mixed results,” but the plan is to focus on kids and sports, or so it seems. So much for narrative synergy. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

Disney’s Plan For Generation Alpha And Beyond

The big thing is “Disney’s push into the booming vertical media space — aka microdramas and other shortform clips designed to be viewed on mobile phones .” - Variety

Is It Possible To Have A Great Series Finale?

Here are eight that did it right — landed that unwieldy plane, circled back, etc. — did whatever they needed to do to wrap things up well. - The Atlantic

Public Radio Audience Is Growing Briskly Amid Funding Fights

Looking across five major noncommercial formats — news/talk, contemporary Christian, classical, AAA (adult alternative) and jazz — RRC says combined cume across PPM and continuous diary measurement markets is 9.6% higher than it was two years ago at the end of Q1. - InsideRadio

Shooting A Fiction Film Inside Very Real Anti-Government Protests, Complete With Tear Gas

That’s what Georgian filmmaker Uta Beria did with his latest feature, titled Tear Gas, filming amid demonstrations which have continued nonstop for more than 600 days. “We had a plan A, plan B, plan C, plan D,” says Beria. “And there were days where we needed to ... (simply) follow the flow.” - The...

David Ellison Is Making Himself The Best Argument Against The Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger

"So that's how Ellison wants to prove that he will be a steward of (Hollywood's) flailing entertainment industry — by threatening to rip out a big part of its still-beating heart and implant it in Texas or Tennessee?" - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

A Style Writer On Watching Los Angeles Ballet Rehearse

Claire Salinda: “They finesse, they practice and pretend. And from their tinkering comes their version of right and good. ... It seems not so different from the fiddling I do in my own mirror … in an effort to more accurately portray who I wish to be perceived as that day.” - Los Angeles...

Dance Double For Movie Stars: What The Job Involves

“The past year has seen an explosion of dance on the big screen. Behind some of (the) more technical sequences are dance doubles — professional dancers who step in for the actors and execute the choreography. But what does being a dance double actually entail? And how do performers book these roles?” - Dance...

Mixing Tap And Irish Step Dance In A Piece For Ballet Performers — Can This Possibly Work? (Yup!)

“(For) this year’s NOW evening of world premieres at Vail Dance Festival, tap dancer/choreographer Michelle Dorrance … is creating a work with … Chelsea Hoy, co-artistic director of Chicago’s Trinity Irish Dance Company, for a cast that includes top New York City Ballet dancers” — who, says Dorrance, “are blowing everyone’s minds.” - Dance...

Issue That Started Two Years Of Turmoil At Dallas Black Dance Theatre Is Finally Resolved

The drama which nearly derailed the company began in April 2024, when the company members voted to unionize and the then-executive director fired them en masse. That boss has now retired, the dismissed dancers moved on, and their successors — with no resistance from management — have joined AGMA. - The Dallas Morning News...

A Look At 75 Years Of History In The Juilliard Dance Division’s Archives

“A perusal of the archives shows how rich the Dance Division’s history has been, with a roster of teachers and students that reflects the arc of American dance in the 20th century. And the curriculum, a mix of ballet and modern dance, once seen as eccentric, now is the norm.” - The New York...

San Francisco Ballet Performs At Jacob’s Pillow For First Time In 70 Years

“In 1956, under the direction of Lew Christensen, SFB went to the Pillow with three programs featuring eight ballets by George Balanchine and Christensen himself. The performances were a tremendous success, and … helped propel SFB from regional significance to international renown.” Now, under Tamara Rojo, the company is back. - Pointe Magazine

Royal Shakespeare Co. Postpones Lesbian “Othello” Starring Sharon D Clarke

The production, which had been scheduled for next February and March at Stratford-upon-Avon, is being postponed to a yet-to-be-announced date while the 60-year-old Clarke undergoes treatment for cancer. - The Guardian

Stand-Up Comics Experiment With AI At Edinburgh Fringe

“The comedians behind some thoughtful shows (this year) are exploring the vexed problem with a mixture of droll wit and intuitive wisdom." One of them created an AI replica of himself and interacts with it onstage; another recounts how he became convinced AI software was deliberately sabotaging his career. - The New York Times

The Broadway Musical Seems To Be Making A Comeback

This past season saw only six new musicals, the fewest in 25 years; the coming season will have at least eight, roughly the post-COVID normal. The shows have eight-figure budgets, and some have music by superstars (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Dolly Parton, Prince), while others have familiar IP (Paddington, Benjamin Button, Black Swan.) - Broadway Journal

At Edinburgh Fringe, Not One But Three “Heated Rivalry” Musical Parodies

“When a show becomes a meme, the meme becomes the story, eclipsing the show itself. This phenomenon is here to stay. Thankfully, we’ll always have satire.” - The New York Times

Front-Of-House Theatre Staffers Describe The Terrible Audience Behavior They Deal With

Cell phones are the least of it. Yes, of course they occasionally find people having sex in the auditorium or restrooms, but they've encountered things even worse. - The Guardian

ATG, Major Broadway And West End Theatre Owner, Bought By Hollywood Superagent Ari Emanuel

ATG Entertainment (originally Ambassador Theatre Group) owns seven Broadway houses, ten London venues, numerous theatres in Europe, and the discount app TodayTix. Now Emanuel’s company Mari, which owns Frieze art fairs and two large pro tennis tournaments, has agreed to acquire ATG for a rumored $6 billion. - The Hollywood Reporter

Mary Heilmann, Who Poked Fun At Her Minimalist Colleagues With ‘Wobbly’ Lines, Has Died At 86

Heilmann, emblematic of women artists of her generation, “was in her 60s when she belatedly achieved wide acclaim for her ebulliently colored, loose-limbed, often lopsided abstract paintings.” - The New York Times

Violet Hensley, Fiddler Who Debuted At The Grand Ole Opry When She Was 99, Has Died At 109

“Hensley made a clear distinction between a fiddle and a violin, even though they are essentially the same instrument. ‘If you can read music, you play the violin,’ she told The Tulsa World in 1982. ‘I can’t read music, so I just play the fiddle.’” - The New York Times

Nick Reiner, Accused Of Killing His Parents, Wants To Access His Trust Fund To Pay His Lawyers

But the so-called “Slayer Statute” prevents the youngest child of Michelle Singer Reiner and Rob Reiner from doing that. - The New York Times

Soprano Jill Gomez Has Died At 83

Admired for both beauty of voice and acting skill, she was also notably brave, handling boa constrictors as Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, appearing briefly topless at Covent Garden in Tippett’s The Knot Garden, and simulating oral sex as the Duchess of Argyll in Adès’s Powder Her Face. - The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)

John Waters, Now 80, On What He’s Most Proud Of

“That I’ve been able to have this career, doing what I want, for sixty years. Hollywood’s been fair to me. I was always understood, I always had an audience. … I have more jobs than I’ve ever had in my life, so I’m not looking for a new one.” - The Hollywood Reporter

Anthony Hopkins, Composer

The renowned actor has played piano his whole life, and formally written music for at least 30 years, but it might still surprise many to learn that later this month Hopkins will release his debut album, "Life Is a Dream," on Decca Classics. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

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Theater, dance, and live music artists: how is generative AI affecting your work, income, and creative practices? SMU DataArts and artist Annie Dorsen want your voice in the first survey of its kind. Anonymous, open to all roles and career stages, through Sept 8, 2026. Take it here

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New York Theatre Ballet seeks Executive Director

New York Theatre Ballet seeks an Executive Director to lead the organization’s strategic direction, drive fundraising and revenue growth, and oversee operational and artistic functions.

How To Solve The So-Called Literacy Crisis, With Fun And Joy

In groups, sometimes with full-throated yawps, it’s time to take back public, communal reading. - The New York Times

Our Brains In Pop Music Concerts

A Nick Jonas concert “reminded me of an obscure phrase coined by a 19th-century sociologist – Émile Durkheim’s ‘collective effervescence.’ … Individuals who are normally preoccupied with their personal concerns get swept up into a kind of electric, communal intensity.” - The Guardian (UK)

The Salzburg Festival Marches Forward Without An Artistic Director

Soprano Asmik Gregorian: “This feels very strange and empty. … It was planned by Markus Hinterhäuser, and we are all here because of him. It feels a bit like a boat without a captain.” - The New York Times

Kennedy Center Board Votes To Put Trump’s Name Back On The Kennedy Center

According to the resolution approved by the Trump-allied board, the inscription underneath the institution’s name would read: “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” - The New York Times

As ‘Jellicle Ball’ Closes, Andrew Lloyd Webber Has Some Choice Thoughts For Broadway

On Instagram, the composer wrote, "Maybe the show’s closing just might be remembered as the moment that caused everyone involved with Broadway to come to their senses and address the unsustainable cost of producing and running any new show now.” - Variety

Demystifying The Art Of Conducting

No, not by watching Tár. “The very act of conducting—waving a wand to summon ravishing or ethereal or earsplitting sounds—can look like either inexplicable magic or embarrassing nonsense, a kind of tuxedoed air guitar.” - The Atlantic

How Many Broadway Shows Can Follow Hamilton And Hadestown To Success At The Movie Theatre?

“I want to see the eyes of the actors, I want to get closer to the emotion - which is what theatre can’t give you. It’s a different thing,” says the Hadestown pro-shot director. - NPR

The Los Angeles Jazz Festival Was Going To Be Huge, With Stars Like John Legend And Janelle Monae

And then … it was canceled just before the 16-day fest was set to begin. "By Friday, the LA Jazz Fest website had been scrubbed, with only a cryptic message that said, ‘August 22-23. Updated event info coming soon.’” - Variety

The Problem With Super-Flexible High-Tech Performance Venues

Justin Davidson on New York’s Perelman Arts Center and The Shed: “Now the boldest experimenters can take advantage of walls that move at the touch of a button, precision lifts, rooms that shrink and expand, projected images (on) moving surfaces. … Yet the revolution, now that it’s here, feels anticlimactic and overpriced.” - Curbed...

Hollywood’s Open, Horrible Secrets, Such As The Whisper Network Concerning Jared Leto

“When a lot of people make a percentage off the earnings of one famous individual, the capacity for denial is vast” — and now there’s a huge, “well-oiled anti-accountability machine” that cranks up as well. - The New York Times

An Actor Who Was Slated To Star In Hadestown Has ‘Departed’ After His Hostile Comments About Trans People Emerge

For instance, in one video clip that surfaced after Geno Segers was announced as Hades, "Segers likens transgender people to people pretending they are service animals in hopes of receiving discounts on airfare.” - The New York Times

Ballet Might Help Stave Off Dementia

“When we’re learning choreography, we’re asking the brain to do so many things at once: remember sequences, process music, coordinate movement, adapt when we make mistakes, and stay present with other people in the room. It’s a perfect puzzle for keeping the mind fresh.” - Harper’s Bazaar

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