Archaeologists report that the destruction, circa 1650 BC, of the city of Tall el-Hammam was caused by a large meteor disintegrating in the atmosphere — a blast, 1,000 times larger than Hiroshima, that would have fit the Biblical description of fire raining on the evil cities. - Smithsonian Magazine
At least five companies — including, controversially, one major museum — have stepped up with immersive exhibits based on the life and work of the famous Dutch painter. Nearly 40 different Van Gogh rooms have opened (or will soon) across the U.S. so far. - Bloomberg
"Looking at Johns's work, I sometimes almost no longer feel like a person. I wonder if I have died in the instants between synapses of looking, knowing, then not knowing again. I step outside myself and become more than one person seeing in different ways." - New York Magazine
The album represents a moment in time when everything about Seattle culture changed. The very words “Seattle music” meant something different afterward, both in the Northwest and in the world. - Seattle Times
The script, along with 100 pages of unusually detailed notes for the actors, comes from the pre-Broadway New Haven tryout in the fall of 1947. - Gothamist
As sloppy as AAMD’s new rule is, being born of a rattled, anxious moment, it’s clear who it’s intended to help, and it’s not the museums that house big modern and contemporary collections with hot brand names. - National Review
"The event was held at the National Theatre of Somalia, whose history reflects the tumultuous journey of the African nation. It has been targeted by suicide bombers and used as a base by warlords – and until Wednesday it had never screened a Somali film." - The Guardian (AFP)
"(The delta variant surge has) worsened a host of additional issues, like technology and language barriers and pandemic-stoked xenophobia. Community organizations fear that the diminished patronage and insufficient government support will force many longstanding businesses to close, which could accelerate gentrification." - Slate
DNA evidence at the crime scenes, museums in suburban Amsterdam (van Gogh's The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring) and Leerdam (Hals's Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer) led investigators to a previously convicted thief. The artworks have not been recovered. - The New York Times
The new work, which will replace windows depicting Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson which were removed in 2017, will be Marshall's first in stained glass. The windows, accompanied by a poem by Elizabeth Alexander etched on stone tablets, will be installed in 2023. - The Washington Post
The vote by the Central York district board came after weeks of protests by students and unflattering reports in national media. The list of banned titles also included books by Jacqueline Woodson and Ibram X. Kendi, Malala Yousufzai's autobiography, and a documentary about James Baldwin. - The Guardian
Over 60 years, he was a master of self-reinvention: Air Force navigator; cable-car operator in San Francisco; indie filmmaker; author (in English and French); playwright, composer, and TV writer (nine Tony nominations and an Emmy); the only Black floor trader at the American Stock Exchange. - The Washington Post
The case, to be tried next spring in Antwerp, "stems from complaints by 20 dancers from his company who in 2018 alleged … a toxic work environment where sexual acts became an exchange for performance time and where 'humiliation was our daily bread'." - Yahoo! (AFP)
Greenberg had made it clear that the single most lucrative move for a modern-day critic was to announce the newest new thing, the coming revolution that would sweep everything else aside. And he had proven so influential that... - Ted Gioia
"I think the culture wars are raging, I think we've got a real battle on our hands. I walk a tightrope every day on this, but we've got to fight for it." - BBC
