The six-inch statuette of an oddly-shaped nude woman dates from about 600 years after the battle at the site, near the Baltic coast of Germany. It might have been a religious object, a good-luck talisman, or a weight for a balance scale (if not all three). - The New York Times
The return rate to movie theaters in the first week of February was 58% of what it was before the pandemic. Restaurants were nearly three-quarters as full as they were before Covid-19, and air travel had recovered to about 80%. - The Wall Street Journal
"Grete Minde, a late-Romantic opera of 1920s jazz-inspired melodies and large orchestral sounds, was the work of Eugen Engel, a Berlin-based Jewish textile tradesman in his day job, who gave his handwritten sheet music to his daughter for safekeeping when she escaped to the United States in 1941." - The Guardian
The former music director of the Toronto Symphony and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (and, before that, longtime first violinist of the Tokyo String Quartet) was this orchestra's principal guest conductor from 2003-2006. He and the CSO have some changes planned. - Colorado Public Radio
The researchers at SMU Data Arts have updated their numbers, incorporating information about ticket sales, prices, COVID case rates, vaccination rates, etc.; they have new projections based on two scenarios. The key factor: higher vaccination rates aren't making the same difference in attendance they had earlier. - SMU Data Arts
"Navigating the fast-changing digital media landscape has left Slate struggling to define its identity. … Slate once stood out as a home for contrarian takes and intellectual debate, but that distinction has faded in recent years. Questions about its mission have increased after several high-level departures." - The New York Times
Earlier this month, there were reports that Mastaba, a 500-foot-tall quasi-pyramid made of 410,000 brightly colored steel barrels and planned for a desert site 100 miles south of Abu Dhabi city, had been given the go-ahead by UAE authorities. Those reports, it turns out, were premature. - Dezeen
"Critics and collectors, once made aware that Ms. Herrera existed, were rapt by the intensity of her work, which she achieved by juxtaposing geometric shapes in contrasting colors." - MSN (The Washington Post)
Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes — "an all-female team with broad appeal and comedic chops" — are in final talks to serve as emcees for the 2022 ceremonies, several sources have indicated. - Variety
I learned all of these compositional principles from Babbitt. What it amounts to is, music exists in time, so how do you make it cohere? And that’s just as true with a three-minute song as it is with an hour-and-a-half opera, you know? - The New Yorker
Most half-serious music fans would consider their tastes eclectic. Which seems more feasible than a distinct personality type exclusively cleaving to one genre, and this being faithfully replicated across the globe. - The Guardian
The orchestras and concerts have disappeared and so has most of the critical commentary associated with them. To be blunt about it, from a musical point of view, CBC English-language radio has dumbed down. - Toronto Star
The current infodemic isn’t just familiar because of this history. Culture constantly recycles materials: stories are re-told, revised and re-told again. - The Conversation
Born in Czechoslovakia and raised in Canada (where he first met such young comics as his later stars Dan Aykroyd and Rick Moranis), Reitman made his first major impression as the producer of “National Lampoon’s Animal House” (1978). - Variety
