“Winning work highlighted during the 36th annual award ceremony” (which was in Zurich this year rather than Boston) “included hilarious research on the aerodynamics of nose blowing, gently stepping on venomous snakes, confirming that teenagers do indeed smell worse than babies and other side-splitting scientific undertakings.” - Smithsonian Magazine
In a tumultuous time for the industry, this transformation could help keep TIFF in the conversation, but as ticket prices rise, what does it all mean for the heart of this festival: the filmgoing public? - CBC
At this point in history, many of us think of the proscenium as conventional, perhaps limiting or even dull. Yet director Dominic Dromgoole describes it as “liberatingly restrictive,” like the sonnet form or the 12-bar blues. After all, the revolutionary work done by Chekhov and Brecht happened on proscenium stages … - The Guardian
The Chinese film and video industry is being transformed by AI-driven storytelling, fueled by rapid advances in video generation software, and at ground zero are the so-called micro dramas that play out on millions of smartphones. - Los Angeles Times
Flock was reported to have a valuation of more than eight billion dollars, with its biggest investor being the venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Around forty per cent of the United States’ law-enforcement agencies now have contracts with the company, and a reported hundred and thirty thousand cameras monitor roads in every state but Alaska. - The New Yorker
As young people, the future billionaires were spending hours (under their covers with flashlights, I imagine) consuming stories about killer robots or Mars colonies. What they seemed not to get—maybe couldn’t get—was that these were cautionary tales, stories that projected deep societal worries into space or onto a future many millennia away. - The Atlantic
“Experts say the revival in some of them is driven partly by second- and third-generation Africans in the diaspora finding it easier to reconnect with their roots and communicate with older relatives, thanks to social media, online learning and entertainment.” - AP
Shouting and a shoving match erupted as Italian-American artist Sergio Furnari unveiled his unpermitted life-size bronze memorial to slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk in Times Square on Thursday. - ARTnews
The debate has come a long way since the advent of Auto-Tune, when artists like Cher and T-Pain had hits that used the technology to turn their recorded vocals into something markedly robotic. - The New York Times
“When Cabrera began her long career, few other women in Mexico were taken seriously as artists, and sculpture was something that only men were expected to do. While she enjoyed some early recognition, … major institutions only started noticing her pioneering work much later in her life.” - ARTnews
The survey will talk to 5,000 book buyers and profile them by genre, covering how they discover books across every channel—including social media and other digital tools—where and how they buy, and their mix of print, e-book, and audio, with a deeper look at audio habits, subscription behavior, etc. - Publishers Weekly
Previous searches have largely revolved around professional qualifications. This one begins after Trump has spent more than a year demanding changes to the Smithsonian’s exhibits and leadership — and as Republicans and Democrats are already staking out competing visions for Bunch’s successor. - Washington Post (MSN)
The SCOTUS deadline is one day after the dozen blue states are set to argue against the David Ellison-owned Para’s desire for a $1.88 billion bond in front of a federal judge in Oakland. - Deadline
The go-to web platform for finding scheduling information about opera worldwide, Operabase developed the technology to convert fragmented information from different companies into a machine-readable, searchable record. Available in 31 languages, it has been online for three decades and is used by virtually the entire industry. - The Violin Channel
