Stories

“Domestic ticket sales from May 1 through Labor Day on Sept. 7 stand at $4.76 billion, according to Rentrak. Revenues surpassed the long-held record set in 2013 with $4.755 billion, anchored by Iron Man 3, Despicable Me 2 and Man of Steel.” - Variety

Just a few days after the question of whether Pierre-Auguste Renoir was even a good artist re-entered public discussion, some “well-equipped” and “well-informed” burglars made off with two paintings from Renoir’s home in Cagnes-sur-Mer. (In their rush to escape, the thieves left two other works in the garden.) - AP

David Rubenstein, the billionaire philanthropist who was chair of the Kennedy Center’s board until Trump ousted him in early 2025, has purchased the Joel Shapiro sculpture Blue, which was carted away from the Center’s grounds last week. Rubenstein will loan the work to the National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden. - The New York Times

I don’t read Pauline Kael to track my sensibility with hers on an aesthetic oscilloscope. I read her because I think she—more than any writer I know, including Agee—brings the whole of herself to writing about movies.  - Hedgehog Review

Beyond pushing our concepts of “who” can make art, AI provides a new medium for art experience — it is immersive and participatory.  - Stanford

When she died last month, 37 years later, Ms. Kusama — in her life and her art — was obscured, paradoxically, by too much fame. - The New York Times

“If the administration’s position was accepted, it would result in an unprecedented, uncompensated transfer of IP rights from news organizations to tech companies,” said Matt Topic, a lawyer at Loevy & Loevy who is representing The Intercept in the case. - NiemanLab

The British Museum will lend two fragments of the Parthenon sculptures to an exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany, while Greece has rejected a request to lend nine Parthenon fragments from the Acropolis Museum for the same exhibition. - Greek Reporter

A Kennedy Center Spokesperson called the partial ceiling collapse Friday “another example of the urgent need to close for renovation and revitalization, as our Chairman President Trump has championed.” - AP

It would be easy to describe the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which opens Sept. 22, as “unconventional,” a description the museum’s leaders seem to favor, though “oppositional” also comes to mind. - Los Angeles Times

In Britain, “the head of the Society of Garden and Landscape Designers said many people working in his industry were nervous about AI. He said design companies were more likely to use AI as ‘the intern in the office’ than as a replacement for skilled staff.” - The Guardian (UK)

“He laid out five broad areas of concern: jobs, biotechnology, cyberattacks, psychosocial harms and whether humans will be able to maintain control over the systems they are building.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

“The award was Reiner’s third Emmy. He won his first in 1974 for best supporting actor in a comedy for his portrayal of Mike Stivic in All in the Family, and a second in 1978 for his work in the same show.” - The New York Times

Susan Sarandon certainly thinks so. “Sarandon said resistance to hiring outspoken critics of Israel ⁠remained particularly strong among major studios.” - The Guardian (UK)

Try this site. Though many recordings are from the UK, Europe, and the US, “it’s still quite fun and soothing to set the globe to rotate automatically, and as the reticle nears points on the Earth, it transitions to those new sounds.” - The Verge