"The short video of Aya Youssef, a 30-year-old primary school teacher, shot on a mobile phone shows her wearing a headscarf, trousers and a long-sleeved top as she dances alongside colleagues, smiling as she enjoys a river cruise on the Nile." - Al Jazeera (AFP)
"Terry’s ability to bounce month to month from film noir to the crisis of the symphony orchestra to the talents of Robert Mitchum to the musicality of Nat King Cole to the ever-sticky problem of how and when and whether to separate an artist’s noxious views from his art were the ultimate testament..." - Commentary
After having performances cancelled over and over (and if they're not, performers and programming changing last-minute) — especially in Australia, which has had some of the world's strictest lockdowns — some groups are trying options beyond the rigid pre-packaged subscription. Here's a look at some experiments. - Arts Hub (Australia)
A collective of anonymous workers called Decolonize SAM is calling for a boycott and demanding the museum stop removing unhoused people from museum property, provide de-escalation training for frontline staff, and other intervention strategies that center around harm-reduction and mutual aid. - Hyperallergic
Traditionally, wassailing wasn't just a matter of going house to house at Christmastime, singing and extorting drinks. Crop-blessing wassails in England involved special clothes, marching to an apple orchard by torchlight, yelling to chase away evil spirits, and (yes) singing and drinking. And it's undergoing a revival. - The Guardian
Is it a good or an ethical idea to go to a concert in the vortex of this unprecedented surge, what with local hospitals overwhelmed and understaffed and worse certain to come in the next weeks? Like so many questions during the last two years, we don’t have easy answers. - MSN (LATimes)
The company announced today it will use data from iSpot.tv, a Bellevue, Wash.-based company that measures audiences across linear TV and streaming platforms to provide viewing information on the two major events next month. - Los Angeles Times
"Desaturation is not in and of itself bad. It's a tool that can be used poorly or well. But why is it everywhere now? There's no one answer to that question, but here are my five best guesses as to what might be behind the desaturation of Hollywood." - Vox
While it is mostly made up of classical music, it also includes: an old album of Édith Piaf’s greatest hits; Argentine tango tunes, especially by Astor Piazzolla; and a 25-disc collection of Elvis Presley’s Gospel songs, said Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture. - Catholic Sun
The fragments are accounts and logbooks from the port from which blocks of white limestone (now long gone) that encased the Great Pyramid were sent to Giza. They record how supplies were loaded and shipped, the size of the crews, how they were fed, etc. - History Today
Besides the fact that "the NFT market is essentially a game of hot potato: Ditch it before the music stops, or you're stuck with some lines of code and a hefty financial loss. … The question is whether NFTs are the right medium to encourage connections" between artists and audiences. - Van
As one of the six editors who made the decision (the vote was 5-1) put it, "Wikipedia really can't be in the business of deciding what counts as art or not, which is why putting NFTs, art or not, in their own list makes things a lot simpler." - Artnet
The I.M. Pei-designed wing, which contains the museum's collection of Modern and contemporary art, will shut down from the end of February through June in order to replace the 23,000-square-foot skylight in the atrium. - DCist
Star Alec Baldwin accidentally killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza on October 21 with a prop gun that was supposed to be loaded with dummy ammunition. The film's armorer is suing PDQ Arm and Prop for false and deceptive labeling and trade practices. - CNN
Ruth Slenczynska, the last surviving student of Sergei Rachmaninoff, will see her new recording of his music and that of Chopin issued on the Decca label, which first recorded her 66 years ago. - BBC
