Stories

Terrified To Dance At A Party, Nightclub, Or Wedding? Now There’s An App For That

Dance Guru is a virtual reality application in which a digital teacher, seen through your headset, walks you through the steps for salsa, waltzing, bachata or cha-cha — repeating as many times as you need, with no human there to make you self-conscious or to get impatient or bored. - NPR

Andrew Lloyd Webber Warns Of Broadway Crisis After “Cats” Closing

Andrew Lloyd Webber has addressed the closing announcement of CATS: The Jellicle Ball, pleading for "theatre owners, unions and producers to come together urgently to address what is a crisis coming to a head." - Broadway World

A Samuel Beckett Biennale Is Coming To Both Sides Of The Irish Sea

“(The festival) promises experimental ‘performed readings’ of the playwright’s works in pockets of Ireland and Britain over the next 12 years. ... Events will unfold at locations of significance to Beckett’s life and legacy – from Enniskillen, Belfast and Dublin to Folkestone, Reading and Snodland – tracing his footsteps across Britain and Ireland.” - The Guardian

Report: UK Humanities Programs Being Axed By Hard-Up Universities

Analysis of the latest official data by the academy for the Guardian shows that nearly 4,000 academic posts in social sciences, humanities and the arts have been axed in one year alone.  - The Guardian

The Canadians Who Want To Stop AI In Its Tracks

Canadians are hugely wary: a Leger poll found 85 percent of respondents want the government to regulate the technology. But that number doesn’t convey just how frightened many are. - The Walrus

Meet The Book Hoarder

The stacks kept rising as Uminer added his hauls from thrift shops, book dealers and eBay deliveries. “I don’t think of myself as a hoarder,” he said, “but I guess my building did.” - The New York Times

Major Collection Of Mexican Art, Including Kahlos And Riveras, Is Going On Tour. Angry Mexicans Fear It Won’t Come Back.

The privately-owned Gelman Santander Collection, whose 68 pieces include 10 paintings by Frida Kahlo along with works by Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and others, is scheduled to spend two years touring Europe. Some citizens, unconvinced that the art will come home, are suing to keep it in Mexico. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

Revisiting Mark Twain In The Age Of Trump

Satire makes fun of something to expose its truth in a way that can be notoriously difficult to decode. What is often misread in Twain’s most famous novel is this: he satirically uses racism to ridicule racism. - Adi Magazine

EU To Cancel Venice Biennale Grant Over Russia Participation

Over the weekend, a European Union commission followed up on its earlier threats to cancel a €2 million grant to the Venice Biennale, citing Russia’s participation in the event this year as its reasoning. - ARTnews

Trump Admin’s Critique Of The Smithsonian Is Laughably Wrong

Even when judged by the standards of the form, the White House’s anti-woke polemic is a shoddy piece of workmanship not unlike the peeling blue sealant in the $15 million renovation of the Reflecting Pool. - The New Republic

US Publishers And Authors Sue Google Over Its Training Of AI

“Publisher Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning, and Elsevier, as well as author Scott Turow, are the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, … contending that the tech giant has engaged in widespread copyright infringement in developing its Gemini AI models.” - Publishers Weekly

The Van Cliburn Competition Expanded. Should It Have?

A focus on how well individuals conduct a specific orchestra with limited repertoire at a given moment in time makes little sense to me when I think about what makes a great conductor and how one judges such greatness. - Nightingale's Sonata

Silicon Valley’s Science Fiction Problem

Steve Wozniak, Apple’s co-founder, gave expression to this ethos in 2017 when he said: ‘We are the people who make fantasies real.’ It sounds inspiring, but it is important to know which parts of those fantasies they’re choosing, and which parts they’re leaving out. - Aeon

A Punctuational Divide (We Need To Evolve)

Now that we can react to a friend’s needy text or an enemy’s infuriating post in real time and with minimal reflection, we need reliable substitutes for extraverbal cues more than ever.  - The Atlantic

Wyoming’s Public Television Station To Drop PBS Branding

Said the station’s CEO in a statement, “While we will continue to provide the full suite of PBS programming and member benefits like Passport, we want our local vision to not be limited by a national brand. We are Wyoming’s storyteller first and a member station second.” - Current

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