“I asked 10 writers what films they would pick to define America and why. Their choices ranged from blockbusters to indies, homegrown comedies to enigmatic Italian drama, a recent best-picture Oscar nominee to a little-known debut — in short, movies as varied as the country itself.” (Dazed and Confused, eh?) - The New York Times
The production, set in a dystopian future plagued by climate change, will star noted Black lesbian and three-time Olivier-winner Sharon D Clarke and will open in Stratford-upon-Avon next February. - Variety
“Neon said Tuesday that it bought the film following a bidding process. Amazon dropped the nearly complete $40 million film, starring Andrew Garfield as Altman, earlier this month, a surprise move that came just months after Amazon announced a $50 billion investment in OpenAI.” - AP
In addition to the much-litigated case of the George Washington house site, all references to enslaved people were quietly removed from Independence Hall and from the wall panel text for the Thomas Jefferson portrait at the nearby Second Bank of the United States. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
“Following nearly 15 years of lobbying by the International Federation of Musicians and Pearle* Live Performance Europe, the European Parliament and the Council have published a provisional agreement with revised rules, particularly concerning the rights for musical instruments onboard.” - The Strad
The movie certainly helped over the 26 years since it was released: there are noticeably more boys in ballet classes than there used to be — especially where there are boys-only classes. But they still face trouble from peers at school. - The Sunday Times (UK)
The European Foundation for Support of Culture, set up in 2015 and based for several years at the Russian Cultural Centre in Valletta, gave more than €8 million to the Malta Philharmonic between 2018 and 2022, triggering a money-laundering investigation which was stonewalled by the orchestra and eventually faded away. - Times of Malta
Artists and writers have interpreted and reinterpreted George Armstrong Custer, who died in a storied battle that just had a major anniversary. - The New York Times
“Translators like to say, we discover our authors,” writes translator and novelist Anton Hur. “But maybe we’re wrong. Maybe the books choose us.” - American Scholar
When a tool reliably performs a cognitive operation, the internal capacity for that operation tends to weaken with disuse. People who know they can look up something on Google develop weaker memory for the information itself, and habitual GPS users show measurable decline in hippocampal-dependent spatial navigation. - Aeon
Classical music in the United States is borrowed from Europe, and that borrowing was initially ambitious and impressive. An apex was attained around 1900. - The New York Times
These 1,800 papyrus scrolls from Herculaneum, the only such library collection from ancient Rome to survive, were carbonized by the Vesuvius eruption; the scrolls would crumble if physically unrolled, so scientists are using X-ray and AI technology to decipher them. The first scroll to be completely readable is a text about Stoicism. - Smithsonian Magazine
My latest column, about the Ojai Music Festival, is my last. Although the musical scene exhilarates me more than ever — contemporary composition is eternally vital — I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome. - The Rest is Noise
Give people an hour with nothing scheduled, and many fill it with thoughts of to-dos: the unanswered email, the errand that’s been put off, the project due next week. Free time is sometimes less a chance to rest than an opportunity to take inventory of our obligations. - The Atlantic
