Science fiction is clearly a leaping-off point for Amazon's next wave of product ideas. Suri Maddhula, director of software for Amazon's Astro, even said as much: "It's taking science fiction and making it a reality." - CNet
Shonda Rhimes’ “Bridgerton” Season 1 scored as the No. 1 series based on both number of Netflix households and time spent viewing (in the initial four-week release), while “Extraction” was the most-viewed film in terms of households. - Variety
TikTok’s popularity soared during the pandemic, becoming the most-downloaded app in the world in the first quarter of 2020, with some 315 million downloads in that quarter alone according to app analytics company SensorTower. - The Verge
"It was the iconic Black music and dance show, a party every weekend that anyone could join from their living room. (On It's Been a Minute,) we break down the lasting influence of Soul Train … with scholars, fans and even a few featured dancers." - NPR
In Singin’ in the Rain, the late Clive James felt he encountered “the absolute concentration of an entire popular culture at its most powerful.” As for Kelly, James said, “it took the whole of America, including all its modern history, to create one of him.” - The American Scholar
Western Australia has had only one new COVID case in 30 days, and, at least when resource prices are high, the state has money for the arts. So the West Australian Ballet in Perth has added seven full-time corps positions to its roster of 32 dancers. - Limelight (Australia)
The orchestra has a deep pool of artistic talent, a fiercely devoted following, and Gail Samuel’s predecessor, Mark Volpe, grew the BSO’s endowment to roughly $550 million (the largest of any American orchestra) while overseeing a pre-pandemic operating budget of more than $100 million. - Boston Globe
"Combining humor, everyday language use, and relatable situations, these videos" — from the Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Education Centre in Winnipeg — "are contributing to making the language accessible, especially during the ongoing pandemic when many people were at home." - Global Voices
"Even before COVID-19, many ambitious productions had been taking place … in elaborately engineered glass cubes that evoke high Modernism. … There wouldn't seem to be a more flagrant violation of dramatic immediacy. And yet the design is, as of late, ubiquitous." - T — The New York Times Style Magazine
Both pilots have received private funding. In San Francisco, after initial city funding, the team raised an additional $3.4 million from #startsmall, a pandemic-relief fund started by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey. - Next City
"As a mainstay of the loose aggregation of Nashville session professionals known as the A-Team, (he) played on many of the landmark country hits of his day. … Each typified the intuitive, uncluttered style of playing that came to characterize the less-is-more Nashville Sound." - The New York Times
Justin Davidson: "Librettist Kasi Lemmons and composer Terence Blanchard … haven't blown up the genre or bent it to new purpose or smuggled anything subversive into a temple of tradition. For all its newsworthiness, Fire Shut Up in My Bones is an old-fashioned opera opera." - Vulture
The Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) announced a prohibition on the exhibition, distribution, possession or broadcast of I Am Samuel on Thursday, … saying it was blasphemous and an affront to the constitution." - Reuters
Two weeks ago, orchestra management made a "last, best and final" contract offer which would cut the number of full-time musicians by 40%; Sunday night, management declared an impasse in negotiations and tried to impose that offer. The musicians declared a strike the following day. - San Antonio Report
