"While White Noise is intentionally specific to 1985, the tendencies described have only intensified. … The same tensions DeLillo mined so eloquently still grip us. How to be human amid the ubiquity and velocity of data, the endless streams of non-sequiturs, the static of modern life." - The New York Times Book Review
On the company’s Books app, searching for “AI narration” reveals the catalogue of works included in the scheme, which are described as being “narrated by digital voice based on a human narrator”. - The Guardian
"Compared with 2013, the number of events has gone up by 2,000%, no doubt helped along in the past year by the COVID-driven rise in podcasting's popularity. … It seems the mark of success for a podcast or radio show now is whether or not it tours." - The Guardian
Cineworld has closed 23 theaters since filing and reached new lease agreements with 25% of landlords — a percentage that clearly failed to impress the judge. - Deadline
When the researchers predicted how many of them would stick to their resolutions after six months, their expectations ranged from 10% to 25%. The real number turned out to be 40%. - Wall Street Journal
Until 2020, very few music fans had heard of Vicente Lusitano; even those music history scholars knew him only for a treatise and a notorious 1551 debate. Now performers and listeners are discovering that not only was he a historic figure, his music can be gorgeous. - The New York Times
"Ms. Magazine was a brazen act of independence when it launched 50 years ago. First introduced to the world as an insert in New York Magazine, Ms. demonstrated the potential for journalism that centered news and analysis around women and their lives and made a feminist worldview more accessible to the public." - New York Magazine
"Last week, Disney's The Lion King grossed $4,315,264 in ticket sales, which is the most any Broadway show has ever made from a single week of performances. The average paid admission was $284.89 and the show played to 99.23 percent capacity at the Minskoff Theatre." - TheaterMania
"A polemicist whose opinions shaped themselves around the plot of her latest book, a pragmatist who giggled her way through every sentence, she was mischievous and evasive, yet wilfully and wittily life-affirming. … Weldon gave a big wink to her future obituarists: catch me if you can, (she's) saying." - The Guardian
Founded in 2013 during what had been the slow weeks of mid-January, Prototype — which has already produced two operas that went on to win Pulitzers — "has become increasingly essential as Lincoln Center moves away from presenting festivals that would have hosted (such work)." - The New York Times
"Citing public dismay at news that the Philly Pops would shut down at the end of this season, leaders of the group have reversed course and are now working to save the city's only stand-alone pops orchestra," with a goal of raising $2 million over the next nine months. - The Philadelphia Inquirer
"'We've said publicly, we're actively seeking a new Parthenon partnership with our friends in Greece and as we enter a new year constructive discussions are ongoing,' the British Museum said in a statement." - Reuters
By the mid-aughts, starting a blog was easier than ever. Streaming hadn’t yet taken over our listening habits, but Web connections were speedy enough that, if a blog posted an MP3, a reader could be hearing the song a few minutes later. It was exciting, hopping from blog to blog. - The New Yorker
The 1960s were Stan Lee’s most astonishing decade, during which he came up with ideas and scripts for the first appearances of such heroes as the original X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Black Panther, Daredevil and Doctor Strange. - The Conversation
The Artist’s Studio describes how a noisome cockpit of lust, crime and virtuosity produced innovations in how art gets made, and by whom. - The Guardian
