It is a Goliath of a building, 700 feet long with 300,000 square feet of space. In terms of massiveness, visual impact and sheer joyous bravado, it offers as much spectacle as any of his films. But it is not so much its size that amazes, but its uncanny shape. - The Wall Street Journal
“Trump is taking the Center hostage and threatening to in effect kill it unless he gets his way.” The president is counting on the board’s civic spirit and affection for the institution—neither of which he evidently possesses—to strong-arm it into giving him what the law and courts would not allow. - The Atlantic
The Trump administration is currently preparing temporary signs that will accuse the National Museum of American History of ideological bias, according to a letter I obtained sent by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. - The Atlantic
"Universal Pictures, which controls rights to the film outside North America, (is evidently) having second thoughts on a documentary it paid a significant sum to acquire. The company has not dated the movie, has not communicated with the filmmaking team about its plans, and generally appears to be rethinking the release." - The Hollywood Reporter
“The basic disagreement is … not simply over a percentage raise. It is also over how much work the orchestra should be guaranteed and how the Opera should structure itself now that it stages far fewer operas than it once did.” - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
“I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition. Because frankly, if we don't do that, it's going to close. It'll end up being ripped down,” he told reporters. He said the previous day that he won’t spend congressionally-designated money for the center's renovation unless the building bears his name. - ABC News
“More than half of each floor had been closed. The gift shop was papered over. The box office was open, but there were no tickets to upcoming performances to sell. … A group of young students were shuffling through one last tour. … Security guards were stationed by areas already cordoned off with red tape and ‘Do Not Enter’...
Austrian media were reporting that there would be two leaders: stage director Barrie Kosky (artistic) and Dutch National Opera chief Sophie de Lint (administration). Negotiations with that pair collapsed at the last minute, so the Festival board turned to Peter de Caluwe, until last year director of La Monnaie in Brussels. - Moto Perpetuo
There’s a new play atop the list: Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor Is the Villain, followed by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's Purpose and Bess Wohl’s Pulitzer-winning Liberation. Among playwrights, once-perennial leader Lauren Gunderson is down to fourth place; the late August Wilson is number one, followed by Belflower and Jacobs-Jenkins. - American Theatre
“Through savvy marketing, his … color-saturated, almost hallucinatory depictions of stars, sun rays and people in profile showed up on walls and coffee mugs, on clothing, clocks, stationery, and even airplanes and cruise ships. In some ways, Mr. Max created the graphic equivalent of the rock-and-roll revolution in music.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
“In 1900 there were an estimated 500,000 such establishments; by the 1960s more than half had closed. Today, only about 30,000-40,000 remain and even they are reportedly shutting at a rate of two a day. … The reasons for the closures … are economic and sociological.” - The Guardian
Jacob Coxon, the engineer who recently resigned from Anthropic to protest its safety policies, says A.I. could “kill us all by the end of the decade.” But if A.I. is so outrageously dangerous, why should we accept modest proposals to “pace” its development? Why not call in the Turing cops, and pull the plug? - The New Yorker
“August Wilson and I were very close, but also we fell out a lot. Every time he and I had a debate, the word from the cast was always ‘They’re going to fire you.’ And instead of firing me, he would write another role for me.” - The New York Times
Their perception is that jobs that feel meaningful are being slashed by government or stolen by AI. As a result, she reported, members of Gen Z may just need to find meaning in their hobbies and interests outside of work and pursue jobs that allow them to fully check out at the end of the day. - 3 Quarks...
Few cultural forms have commanded such a vast audience. As of February 2026, over 700 million viewers were registered across the micro-drama platforms’ monthly user bases, with daily screentime averaging two hours per person. - New Left Review
