Called Maldives Floating City, the development will contain 5,000 low-rise floating homes floating within a 200-hectare lagoon in the Indian Ocean. As sea levels rise, so too will the city, which will be built upon a series of hexagonal-shaped floating structures. - Dezeen
Conductor John Mauceri has released a study of the forgetting of so much classical music, especially music composed in America by refugees from Nazi-dominated Europe. - The Critic
You don’t know it’s art by looking at it. You know it’s art because galleries want to show it, dealers want to sell it, collectors want to buy it, museums want to exhibit it, and critics can explain it. When the parts are in synch, you have a market. - The New Yorker
The English language evolves at such a pace that, for the OED lexicographers, the goalposts aren’t so much shifting as sprinting away from them. - New Statesman
The most dynamic music in the US in the first decade of the 20th century was ragtime, which Stanley claims “set the template for every successive pop boom”. - New Statesman
Muti, whose Chicago contract runs through the 2022-23 season, considers himself the descendant of strong Italian conductors reaching back to Arturo Toscanini and Tullio Serafin. He’s not a fan of most contemporary directors. - AP
The 404 is the Los Angeles Times' new Finsta - slang for "fake instagram," usually an account for a closer group of friends or family - and is staffed not to spread the paper's journalism but "continually inventing new types of experimental content." OK, #cool. - Los Angeles Times
Young violinist Vijay Gupta "was shocked by the poverty and neglect he saw on Skid Row. The injustice and inequity upset him. He was also disturbed by what he saw as the airless insularity of the classical music world." So he decided to do something about it. - NPR
"Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara will serve five years in prison for 'contempt, defamation, and public disorder,' charges human rights organizations have condemned." Otero Alcántara's partner said of the 500 people sentenced this week, "They are condemning them for making art." - Hyperallergic
"Performer Christina Hall reminded the crowd that all three of the justices appointed by former President Trump had promised at their confirmation hearings that they would not overturn precedents set by previous courts. 'And then they did!' Hall shouted. 'Liars!' replied an audience member." - Los Angeles Times
Novelist Taymour Soomro: "It was important to me to write about queerness in Pakistan for so many reasons, including making visible experiences like my own in Pakistan, and challenging reductive narratives ... about Muslim barbarism and homophobia." - The Guardian (UK)
We hear fluent speech, we think "fluent thought." But wait: "The human brain is hardwired to infer intentions behind words" - even where there is none. - Fast Company
Why does this matter? Stocks are down though subscriptions to Disney Plus are up, and interest in Disney-owned properties is strong. But, one analyst says, "This has been probably the most dramatic and difficult CEO transition that I’ve ever seen in my career." - Los Angeles Times
