Performance, after the cataclysm, is a common theme in science fiction books and shows. That includes, in one of the genre's most literary forms, Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven. But why? - Reactor
"The pressures that deformed the news in Murrow’s day have only grown more intense, and its defenses weaker. The last line of protection is those people sitting in the dark, watching George Clooney remind them what they have to do.” - Slate
Some of her PR tactics were terrific even by today’s standards, and she achieved a level of fame in America that’s astonishing, then or now, for an avant-garde writer, let alone an expatriate. That fame got her just about everything but the one thing she really wanted. - Prospect (UK)
Since 2021, the Sunshine State has led the country in advancing the “parental rights” agenda. Contrary to its name, this agenda has used fuzzy, coded language to manufacture moral panic, and to deliver control over what students can read and learn. - PEN America
For decades she has been Taylor's star dancer, muse, buddy, rehearsal director, and choreographic reconstructor. (He was never particularly interested in the details of reviving his older works.) Even now, she speaks lucidly and clearly, with her signature blunt forcefulness, about her work both over the decades and today. - The Brooklyn Rail
You can tell what a culture values by who it labels a genius—and also what it is prepared to tolerate. The Renaissance had its great artists. The Romantics lionized androgynous, tubercular poets. Today we are in thrall to tech innovators and brilliant jerks in Silicon Valley. - The Atlantic
“Obviously, I’m very neurotic. I’m always trying to understand what’s happening and why. My friends every day talk about what they’re anxious about, and yet no one’s asking for the theater to address that anxiety — but that’s what it’s supposed to do.” - Washington Post
The prospect of speaking dolphin or whale is irresistible. And it seems that they are just as enthusiastic. In November last year, scientists in Alaska recorded an acoustic “conversation” with a humpback whale called Twain, in which they exchanged a call-and-response form known as “whup/throp” with the animal over a 20-minute period. - The Guardian
“There’s a crazy number across the entire continent: less than about 3,000 cinemas, actual cinemas,” said the actor. “I would love to be able to tackle some of that, because I believe that the cinema experience that we all have gone through should be experienced by a new generation.” - Variety
Fraudsters are flooding Spotify, Apple Music and the rest with AI-generated tracks, to try and hoover up the royalties generated by people listening to them. These tracks are cheap, quick and easy to make, with Deezer estimating that over 20,000 fully AI-created tracks – that’s 18% of new tracks – were being ingested into its platform daily. - The Guardian
County jails are incubators for hip-hop, especially in Broward county, which cultivated “legends like Kodak Black and YNW Melly … but the diversity of voices on Bending the Bars is a natural extension of the eclectic mix of detainees that can be found in almost any urban jail”. - The Guardian
“There have been many efforts to adapt Baldwin’s works since he died in 1987, nearly all unsanctioned or unsuccessful in earning approval from his estate. … Giovanni’s Room in particular has been attempted several times” (including an abortive screenplay by Baldwin himself) — making this world premiere in Philadelphia an event. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
The Lords, who are looking for more protections for artists from AI, rejected the latest amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill on Monday. Peers backed calls for greater transparency after musicians such as Sir Elton John warned of the threat to creative industries. - BBC
Importers will be required to identify an object’s country of origin and the date it left the country, as well as the hands the work has passed through, to secure a license. - ARTnews
