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- Skyscrapers Are Sinking Into The Sand In Miami
It examined many large buildings built on the strip, half of which were built in 2014 and after, and found that 35 had been affected by sinking or “subsidence” of between two to eight-centimetres. – Dezeen
- Should THE BBC Scrap Its License Fee And Go Subscription?
The successful roll-out of fast broadband in the UK has allowed streaming services — led by the US giants, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and Apple TV+ — to demonstrate the dynamic power of subscription as a funding mechanism. – The Critic
- The Curious Incuriosity Of Multi-Culturalists?
For all they like to talk about the “enrichment” that diversity brings, pro-immigration liberalism in Britain often insists on a studied lack of curiosity or observancy about either the individuals or their cultures; or the new cultures that emerge as they mix in our cities. – The Critic
- Diversify Curriculum? Aren’t The Classics Diverse?
One of the wellsprings of the English canon is, of course, classical literature. Where does this start? With Homer, who, if he existed, was a blind poet born on the shores of Asia Minor. The Iliad: battles between Mediterranean warlords and an Asiatic king with many children, and intense love between two male warriors. – The Critic
- Did You Know You Could Buy The Oldest Ten Commandments Stone Tablet?
Expected to sell for an estimated $1 to $2 million, the tablet fetched a whopping $5 million. – ARTnews
- Reconsidering Schoenberg @150
We still don’t quite know how to sell Schoenberg. There is the scary modernist Schoenberg — inventor of the 12-tone system, replacing traditional harmony with the democratic notion that all notes are equal — who reputedly drives audiences away. But there is also the Schoenberg who carried on from the 19th century Romantic tradition. – Los Angeles Times
- The Year And Reading About Dance
As in last year’s column, a couple of these books were published recently; the others earlier in the century. All, in one way or another, are about dancing and dance, the people who make it, practice it, teach it, and, no small thing, the passion that drives them. – Oregon ArtsWatch
- In 2024 The Gaming Industry Fell Apart
In 2023, more than 10,000 developers lost their jobs; one-third of game-makers surveyed at the beginning of this year reported they’d been affected by layoffs in some way. – Wired
- Why Composers Are Drawn To Writing Religious Music
Whether it’s chestnuts roasting on an open fire or a white Christmas, many of our classic Christmas images are drawn from songs written by Jewish composers and lyricists. Why are so many great artists drawn to making art about a holiday that isn’t theirs? – The New York Times
- In Canada The Wait To Check Out Library Books Can Be Over A Year
Despite offering 75 copies of the e-book, the library’s waitlist currently sits at about 1,200 people. With a maximum borrowing period of 21 days, someone placing a hold on the e-book today could be waiting well over a year before it comes available. – CBC
- How Big Publishers Killed The Novel
It’s convenient to assume that readers are to blame for killing literary fiction, and publishers have abandoned it because book-buyers are stupid, have bad taste, and just aren’t reading anymore. But what has actually occurred is death by committee. – Persuasion
- Can Novelty Scores Change How Scientific Publishing Works?
The novelty score is calculated using an algorithm that compares the combinations of keywords and cited journals in a scientific manuscript with those in previous publications and projects the types of paper that will be published in the future. From this, it identifies novelty as deviations from these predictions. – Nature
- Is Spotify Feeding Listeners “Ghost” Artists?
Spotify, the rumor had it, was filling its most popular playlists with stock music attributed to pseudonymous musicians—variously called ghost or fake artists—presumably in an effort to reduce its royalty payouts. Some even speculated that Spotify might be making the tracks itself. – Harper’s
- This Year’s Most Interesting Visual Art Lawsuits
Like most years in the art world, 2024 saw a slew of lawsuits wind their way through the courts. – ARTnews
- Exploring The Art Of The “Art Monster”
Some creative geniuses make the world richer because of their work. Others have used their cultural impact as an excuse not to treat others with basic respect. The latter group brings to mind a truly notorious kind of “art monster” – The Atlantic
- SFMoMA Fires Curator
Eungie Joo, the curator and head of contemporary art at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA), was fired from her position on Tuesday (17 December) for allegedly violating the museum’s policies governing workplace conduct. – The Art Newspaper
- Carlos Simon talks about using the composing process to impact communities
Carlos Simon, Composer-in-Residence of the Kennedy Center, shares the ethos behind his composing process that impacts communities.
- The Egyptian Government Just Rented Out The Pyramids To MrBeast
MrBeast says on the podcast that he worked with the Egyptian government to get access to the historic site. “I’ve never been inside of it,” he says. “I want to just find secrets and go through all the rooms and the tombs and that kind of stuff.” – Fast Company
- Fired Members Of Dallas Black Dance Theatre Reunite For A Final Performance
The National Labor Relations Board ruled in their favor and they’re getting compensation, but the ten dancers are declining to return to DBDT. So they got together for one last performance — a program of new pieces collectively titled Emergence —before figuring out where their careers will take them next. – KERA (Dallas)
- How Judith Jamison Shaped The Alvin Ailey Dance Company
Under Jamison’s direction, the Ailey dancers grew more and more godlike in technique without losing earthly looseness and soul. – The New Yorker
- The Year That Was In NY Theatre
Broadway returned to boom times, and several commercially produced shows did gangbusters business in smaller theatres, but Off Broadway’s nonprofit companies continued to struggle. Yet a lot of what made the city artistically exciting this year required that all parts of the ecosystem flourish. – The New Yorker
- How Music Shapes Our Future Perceptions
“Sound directs our passage through time. It shapes our orientation to the future moment and also to the moment when the future stops.” – The Wall Street Journal
- Ballet Genius/Putin Superfan/Notorious Train Wreck Sergei Polunin Says He’s Leaving Russia
The Ukrainian-born dancer, who has three tattoos of Putin (despite the Russian military’s near-obliteration of his hometown, Kherson), now says “My time in Russia ran out a long time ago … I’ve fulfilled my mission here.” Last week he posted a message calling for peace negotiations and promptly lost his job. – CBS News
- Rousseau’s Philosophical Diagnosis Of What Ails Us (Still Relevant Today)
Rousseau was, in effect, the diagnostician of despair who captured the affliction of alienation in all of its dimensions. The source of our affliction was the very thing we thought made us better: civilization. – The American Scholar
- How Did A Publishing Startup Land 25 Books On The Bestseller List In A Year?
So far this year, Bloom has landed 23 books and two series on the New York Times best-seller list. Last year, it surpassed $100 million in gross sales, and its 2024 sales are up 58 percent. – The New York Times
- Nearly 15,000 Media Jobs In The US Were Eliminated In 2024
“While the 14,909 jobs lost by mid-December this year offered an improvement on the 21,417 jobs cut in 2023, it would be unwise to consider this year a ‘comeback’ by any stretch. Combined, the number of jobs lost between 2023-24 more than quadrupled the amount lost between 2021-22.” – TheWrap (MSN)
- Charlotte Symphony Is Making Big Investments In Immersive Performances
“It is going to be a space you can choose where to be and how to listen,” Fisk said. “We want people to lose themselves in this music and to be swallowed up by the experience of being part of nature.” – Charlotte Observer (MSN)
- Why Some Non-Christian Composers Are Attracted To Christmas Material: David Lang
“Every Christmas, I ask myself this question, because accidentally I — a Jewish composer — have also written something of a Christmas classic: the little match girl passion. Cynics may think that these artists make Christmas music because they’re chasing the market. I believe there is something deeper at work.” – The New York Times
- Movie Producers Sue National Parks System Over Permits In Parks
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Wyoming federal court, Alexander Rienzie and Connor Burkesmith challenge the constitutionality of federal permit and fee requirements on First Amendment grounds. They accuse National Park Services of censoring speech by requiring advance permission to film commercial content. – The Hollywood Reporter
- Can A Musical Be A Better Way Of Focusing Politics On An Issue?
Like the drama series about the Post Office scandal aired a year ago, “Mr Bates vs The Post Office,” dramatizations of the news can often draw more attention to an event. They can also build public pressure for injustices to be addressed.
- The Top 10 Bookselling Stories Of 2024
“We saw booksellers, publishers, and others in the industry step up to aid stores that sustained extensive hurricane damage, call for greater rights and representation for people with diverse identities, and more.” – Publishers Weekly
- What Nonprofit Theater Leaders Told The NEA
“(A) series of listening sessions, held this past summer, helped the (NEA theater) team to learn more about evolving challenges, successful strategies, and potential pathways to future sustainability of the field. Those conversations have now been distilled and analyzed in a new report.” – National Endowment for the Arts
- Will This Be The First Broadway Musical Whose Title Role Is A Dead Body?
“Dead Outlaw, a rambunctious musical that tells the hard-to-believe-it’s-true story of a bandit’s corpse that became a spectacle in early-20th-century America, will open on Broadway next spring. The show … will be the first developed by Audible to make it to Broadway.” – The New York Times
- Is The World’s Largest Fully-Functioning Musical Instrument In Jeopardy?
The organ in the old Wanamaker’s department store, right across from City Hall, is a Philadelphia icon. Yet the store, currently a Macy’s, is shrinking just like other department stores; the building is in receivership as upper-floor office space remains vacant post-COVID; and Macy’s lease expires in 2027. – The Conversation
- Use Our Copyrighted Material To Train AI? Oh Hell No, Huge Coalition Tells UK Government
“Writers, publishers, musicians, photographers, movie producers and newspapers have rejected the Labour government’s plan to create a copyright exemption to help artificial intelligence companies train their algorithms.” – The Guardian