If you’re anything like me, you did not enjoy reading that paragraph. Everything about it puts me on alert: Something is wrong here; this text is not what it says it is. It’s one of them. - The New York Times
“We as booksellers would naturally and instinctively disdain it,” said James Daunt, but “maybe it's going to produce the next War and Peace. And if people want to read that book, AI-generated or not, we will be selling it — as long as it doesn't pretend to be something it isn't.” - BBC (Yahoo!)
Previous hosts of the Kennedy Center Honors have included Walter Cronkite, Stephen Colbert, Gloria Estefan and Queen Latifah. Trump will host this year, a first for a U.S. president. - NPR
The 36-year-old author of the multiple-Tony-nominated Slave Play and current creative director of the Williamstown Theater Festival was arrested at the airport in Okinawa on November 16 after customs officers found several doses’ worth of MDMA (Ecstasy) in his luggage. Harris has been in custody ever since. - The Guardian
“The Institute of Museum and Library Services is reinstating all grants that were previously terminated by the Trump administration. A short statement posted on the agency's website Wednesday reads, ‘this action supersedes any prior notices which may have been received related to grant termination.’” - NPR
It will be a mammoth task, and a necessary one. The 43-year-old Brutalist landmark in central London has never been renovated, and its physical plant is starting to literally crack up. What’s more, the Barbican is notorious for being confusing to get around in, and that will finally be addressed. - The Guardian
While next weekend’s classical programs are still scheduled, the orchestra’s Holiday Pops shows for the weekend before Christmas and its New Year’s Eve Gala have been called off. - San Antonio Current
“The deal has a total enterprise value (including debt) of approximately $82.7 billion, with an equity value of $72 billion, the companies said. The announcement … came after a weeks-long bidding war that pitted the streaming giant against David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance and Comcast.” - Variety
Well, Pantone is calling it “Cloud Dancer” and describing it with a lot of verbiage that strains credibility, but yes, it is white. As reporter Vittoria Benzine observes, “Maybe this is a good moment to note that white isn’t the absence of color, but the simultaneous presence of all hues.” - Artnet
Bollywood, based in Bombay/Mumbai and producing movies in Hindi, has always been the center of India’s cinematic universe. Yet there are centers of filmmaking in other Indian languages based in other state capitals. One of those centers — Tollywood, which produces Telugu-language movies in Hyderabad — has been enjoying a big run of successes. - AP
Mack, who did two stints as a principal dancer with the company (and got a master’s degree in-between), says her vision is to balance between Alvin Ailey’s own “powerful, visceral” choreography and new pieces by Fredrick Earl Mosley, Matthew Neenan, Jamar Roberts, and Urban Bush Women founder Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. - NPR
Both restrictions are part of an accelerating clampdown on foreign tech platforms: In the case of FaceTime, Russian authorities allege it is being used for criminal activity, while Roblox was accused of distributing extremist materials and "LGBT propaganda." - CBC
As more shows switch to a weekly release schedule, it gives viewers a chance to watch the episodes as they become available and take part in the same cultural moment, but experts suggest what's happening is more of a happy middle ground between appointment viewing and binge watching. - CBC
