As inflation persists, the country is roiled by protests against President Macron's pension reforms, and Fitch downgrades French bonds, Bruno Le Maire has drawn fury for spending his time writing sex fantasy — and hoots of ridicule for one sex scene in particular. - The Guardian
Over the past decade, our understanding of memory’s role in creativity has only grown. Researchers have linked false memories and forgetting to creative performance. And earlier this year, Schachter and colleagues published a paper that suggests that memory plays an extensive part in every stage of the creative process. - Nautilus
"Cancellation comedy permits comedians to recycle their controversies into a staged performance. A distant cousin of reality TV, the genre lets celebrity humorists reflect on scandals whose epicenter they themselves inhabit. Given the nation's bottomless thirst for spectacle, the marketability of cancellation comedy should never be underestimated." - Salon
Writer-composer Richard Thomas (not to be confused with the actor) remembers how he forgot to ask for Springer for rights clearance, how the host came to see the show and wasn't at all a diva about it, and how he asked Thomas for changes in only two lines. - The Guardian
On April 27th, Switzerland's Couleur 3 aired all-AI programming for 13 hours: the music was selected by algorithm, the scripts written by chatbots, the hosts' voices deepfaked to read those scripts — and listeners were reminded every 20 minutes that all of it was produced by bots. - ZDNET
"Returning to New York City Ballet now, after working on Broadway and on Like Water for Chocolate for the more theatrically oriented Royal Ballet (a coproduction with ABT), made him wonder: Did he still want to make that kind of pure-dance piece?" - The New York Times
After they left MCB, Iliana Lopez and Franklin Gamero launched a school in Fort Myers, training dancers and then watching them leave for elsewhere to find work. So they've launched Florida Gulfshore Ballet, with 16 fully professional dancers and three trainees from their academy. - Gulfshore Life (Bonita Springs, Florida)
"If half the internet can be tricked by an AI-created Drake and The Weeknd collab, could that same tech write scripts and enable studios to create more content for less money? … AI has become a key deal point in the ongoing writers union negotiations." - The Hollywood Reporter
"Museums in Austria and Greece are discussing the potential return to Athens of two ancient Greek sculptures, a move which could have a knock-on effect for the world's thorniest cultural heritage dispute: the fate of the British Museum's Parthenon Sculptures." - AP
"The building boasts a footprint of 110,000 square feet, with dedicated space for temporary and permanent exhibitions, educational programs, film screenings, and a café. It's situated in a historic district on Istanbul's Karaköy waterfront, where the Bosporus Strait and Golden Horn estuary meet." - Artnet
Zaha Hadid Architects is using AI text-to-image generators like DALL-E 2 and Midjourney to come up with design ideas for projects, studio principal Patrik Schumacher has revealed. - Dezeen
"I have never subscribed to the strained idea that the characteristics of one’s handwriting provides a subtle indicator of one’s personality... but I do think there is something visible that communicates an attitude, a willingness to show through muscular coordination and flair." - LitHub
Anger erupted online, with critics accusing Washington National Opera of serving as a mouthpiece for the defense industry. A think tank that advocates military restraint labeled it a “killer drone opera.” New York magazine gave the opera a “despicable” rating on its Approval Matrix. - The New York Times
Half of those surveyed said they were spending less time with YouTube in order to spend more time with podcasts. That is twice as many as those who say they are shifting time away from broadcast radio for on-demand audio. - Inside Radio
