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Blow To New Zealand’s Identity: Amazon Pulls Filming Of “Lord Of The Rings”

The move came as a blow to many in New Zealand. The production is one of the most expensive in history, with Amazon spending at least $465 million US on the first season, which just finished filming. - CBC

Resignation Over £6M Artificial Hill In London Park Meant To Lure Tourists

“With regret, I have accepted the resignation of my deputy leader, Melvyn Caplan, who led the mound project. We have also instigated a thorough internal review to understand what went wrong and ensure it never happens again.” - The Guardian

Olympic TV Viewing Might Have Been Down, But Streaming Ratings Exploded

YouTube said, Olympics content was viewed more than 190 million times per day during Tokyo, five times more than the average daily views during Rio five years ago. - Variety

Breakdancing In The Olympics: What Does It Mean, For Art And For Sport?

"In theory, ballet, or any performance art could be an Olympic event so long as it can be judged and scored. … But does the Olympic adaptation of such performance — where the activity is changed to fit the rules — change the very nature of it?" - Quartz

The Extraordinarily Improbable Path To Publication For This Booker Nominee

After many rejections, An Island was published by tiny indie press Holland House in a print run of a mere 500 copies owing to the pandemic. It was met mostly with silence. - The Guardian

Australian Ballet Cancels Rest Of Season In Melbourne

We'd hoped that stories like this were in the past, but, with the Delta variant spreading and vaccinations lagging in Australia, the company felt it had no choice. No decision yet on November and December in Sydney, though infection rates there are even higher. - Limelight (Australia)

Twitter Changed Its Font. Users Aren’t Happy

The font that they’re calling Chirp is extremely similar to GT America, which is itself based on Franklin Gothic. They changed the spacing ever so slightly and changed the square dots over i and j, and then the period and comma to be circular. - Slate

A Boom In Murals Brightens Buffalo

"In today's Buffalo, … many locals are now filled with a kind of confidence and optimism that defies population trends and poverty rates. That swagger is best exemplified by a mural on the northern edge of downtown that proudly states 'KEEP BUFFALO A SECRET'." - Bloomberg CityLab

Yayoi Kusama Sculpture Swept Out To Sea In Storm

The sculpture, a giant black and yellow polka-dotted pumpkin by the celebrated artist Yayoi Kusama, has stood at the end of a pier on the “art island” of Naoshima in the Seto inland sea since 1994. - The Guardian

Exploring The Door-Closing Chimes Of The World’s Subway Systems

"Ted Green has been collecting … the telltale chimes — beeps, ding-dongs, jingles and arpeggios that warn riders around the world to stand clear." In Rio, it sounds like a bossa nova guitar; in Delhi, like a doorbell; in Montreal, like Aaron Copland. - The New York Times

Critic Michael Phillips: Go Inside A Movie Theatre Right Now? Maybe Not!

With the delta variant in our lives now, studios and film distributors who have the nerve to require in-person screenings for review are being reckless. Selfish. Wrong. - Chicago Tribune

What Should Theatres Do When Actors Aren’t Vaccinated? And How Will They Know?

Last month in the Bay Area, rumors that the actors in a two-hander were performing unvaccinated in a 99-seat house led to the cancellation of the rest of the run. As theaters reopen and the Delta variant spreads, questions arise about safety and enforcement. - San Francisco Chronicle

Trove Of Intact Late-19th-Century Opera Sets Discovered In Old Colorado Mining Town

The collection of flats and drops had been languishing in the attic of the Tabor Opera House in Leadville. The theater was built by Horace Tabor, whose marriages and financial ruin were chronicled in Douglas Moore's opera The Ballad of Baby Doe. - The New York Times

All Over The World, More Governments Are Censoring More Books: Study

A "Freedom to Publish" report from the International Publishers Association covers hundreds of examples of censorship since the start of the COVID pandemic — not only in such countries as Belarus, Hungary, and China, but also in the US, France, and the UK. - Publishers Weekly

The Old Flagship Barney’s Will Become A Department Store Of Art Galleries

The three guys who brought Maastricht's TEFAF to New York are turning the Madison Avenue building into Art House, which will host exhibitions and rent space, short- or long-term, to small and midsize dealers based outside New York. - ARTnews

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