Stories

British Government Approves Purchase Of Telegraph Newspaper

“Axel Springer’s planned £575 million takeover of Telegraph Media Group has been approved by the UK Government. It is still awaiting regulatory approval in Ireland and Austria (due to there being a lower threshold for competition concerns in those countries although there is no expectation of any impact there).” - Press Gazette (UK)

A Dynastic Succession In The Kabuki Theater World Is A Dramatic Affair

“Handing down a name over generations is a central part of the traditional Japanese artform, … and that ceremony gets celebrated at theaters and special events every few years. Now, the ritual is taking place with the eighth Kikugoro, who is having that honor passed down from his 83-year-old father, the seventh Kikugoro.” - AP

The Pressure To Go Viral: These Days You Can’t Be An Artist Without It

All of a sudden, chefs, lawyers, podcasters, critics – all people with jobs once associated with an off-camera existence – are turning the lens on themselves. Even film director Werner Herzog, a once proud non-social media user, is now sizzling steaks and doing unboxing videos to camera. - The Guardian

France Passes Law To Expedite Return Of Looted Artworks

“The bill aims to simplify the return of cultural property taken illegally from France’s former colonies, particularly focusing on items taken between 1815 and 1972 — the year UNESCO’s convention for the protection of cultural heritage came into force.” - Euronews

Man Wins $1.2M Picasso In Christie’s Raffle

"How do I know this isn't a prank?" the 58-year-old asked when he was told he was the new owner of the 1941 work by the Spanish master. Organisers said more than 120,000 tickets for the prize draw were sold at €100 (£87; $118) each, raising around €11m (£10m; $13m) for Alzheimer's research. - BBC

Why Movie Theatre Owners Are Fighting The Paramount/Warner Deal

“Further concentrating marketplace power in the hands of a smaller group of distributors that dictate the terms, windows, scheduling, screen-placement of movies, and access to historic film catalogs will have a real and lasting impact on Main Street and millions of movie fans around the world.” - Los Angeles Times

I Survived A Year Inside Stephen King’s Archives

This book is Caroline Bicks’s account of what happened when King gave her permission to spend a year in his archive, poring over the drafts of five of his most popular novels, including Pet Sematary, The Shining and Carrie. Bicks’s particular aim is to spot what she calls King’s “biblio‑magic” in action. - The Guardian

At This Point, Alec Baldwin Just Wants To Retire

The accidental shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust, the two (unsuccessful) prosecutions in New Mexico, finishing the film in another state — it all took a huge toll on Baldwin, financially as well as psychologically and physically. - The Hollywood Reporter

What 100 Years Of Data Shows Us About Who Gets Guggenheim Grants

If 100 years of data are any indication, then an outsized share of the new recipients work at the most renowned universities in the US. Over time and across fellowships, the high prevalence of winners from well-resourced, high-status institutions can understandably bring to mind Percy Bysshe Shelley’s adage that “the rich have become richer.” - PublicBooks

Millions Of People Are Pretending To Be Chatbots, And Making… Art

The site forces its human users to approximate the speed at which a machine would return a response; there's a 75-second time limit. So drawings, created with a mouse or finger on a trackpad, have a necessarily slapdash look. - NPR

Action Star Jackie Chan To Direct… Puccini?

Chan, known for films like Rush Hour and Rumble in the Bronx, will introduce martial arts into the storytelling as a means of emotional expression. Each character will be given a warrior incarnation to represent their inner strength and desires. - Theatre Mania

Move Over, Nollywood, Nigeria Has A Second Thriving Movie Industry

Nigeria’s film ecosystem is known mostly for Nollywood, the industry headquartered in Lagos. In the largely Muslim north of the country, however, there’s Kannywood, based in Kano, where moviemakers with modest means churn out an amazing number of productions, all while dealing with strict censors. - The New York Times

Two Major Atlanta Museums Ponder Their Place In The City

The two museums now share a similar challenge: to reach across racial, economic, educational and even geographic lines to feel vital and necessary to a vast cross-section of people who constitute Atlanta. And to do so at a time when it seems there is more competition for attention and resources than ever before. - The New York Times

The Decades-Old Little Box That Has Fans Raving About The Guitar Again

The quest to achieve the “Mk.gee tone” spawned a series of “How Does He Make His Guitar Sound Like That?” YouTube videos; musicians compared notes on Discord servers and Reddit threads. - The Atlantic

Victoria & Albert Museum Deleted Images From Catalogues That Violated Chinese Censorship Laws

The Victoria and Albert Museum has agreed to requests by the Chinese printing company to delete maps and images from at least two recent exhibition catalogues, according to documents released to the Guardian after freedom of information requests. - The Guardian

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