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Cate Blanchett Says She’s Giving Up Acting

“My family roll their eyes every time I say it, but I mean it. I am serious about giving up acting.  (There are) a lot of things I want to do with my life.” - Radio Times (UK)

Jean Marsh, Who Co-Created And Starred In “Upstairs, Downstairs,” Is Dead At 90

While she’s best remembered for the TV series, in which she played housemaid Rose Buck, she had an extensive career in theatre, television and film in both the UK and US, from Doctor Who to the Burton-Taylor epic Cleopatra to Hitchcock’s Frenzy to Ron Howard’s Willow. - The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)

Climate-Protesting Art Vandal Who Attacked Degas Sculpture Convicted

“A federal jury convicted Raleigh climate activist Timothy Martin of two felonies Monday for smearing washable paint on a sculpture’s display case in the National Gallery of Art — an act of civil disobedience that could send him to prison for 10 years.” - The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC)

National Geographic Says These Are The World’s Best Book Towns

By definition, a book town is “a small, preferably rural, town or village in which secondhand and antiquarian bookshops are concentrated… available to everyone…” Today, there are dozens of towns with the designation. - National Geographic

Inside The Rise And Fall Of YA Fiction

The rise of more inclusive YA has felt as much like a seismic shift as “The Hunger Games” did back in the day. It’s given teen books a new relevance, and a new energy. Alas, sales of young-adult fiction have been declining since 2021, in part due to well-organized efforts to ban books. - Los Angeles Times

Are Em-Dashes Really A Sign Of AI-Generated Content?

If so — not to put too fine a point on it — is this a sign that the content AI stole, “scraped," from literary writers might have used the em-dash more often than it’s used in everyday communication? - Rolling Stone

How To Stop Students From Being Merely Cogs In Machines?

The trick is convincing administrators, parents, and students that the best way of getting an education in independent and creative thinking is through the study of robust subjects like literature, math, science, history, and philosophy. - 3 Quarks Daily

Teachers Don’t Want Students To Use AI. But Increasingly Teachers Are Using AI

Is it fair to use A.I. to grade student essays, if you’ve prohibited students from using A.I. to write them? School leaders are grappling with these dilemmas as they confront a barrage of marketing claims around how A.I. could “transform,” “personalize” and “accelerate” learning. - The New York Times

What We Need To Do To Save Universities

The future of the nation’s universities is very much at stake. This is not a challenge that can be met with purely defensive tactics. We must do what should have been done long ago: find our way to a new social contract between universities and the American people. - The Atlantic

How Spotify Is Ruining (Not Saving) Music

While music discovery used to be a social event, now most of us cower to simply accepting whatever the Spotify algorithm feeds us. While there is convenience in turning off our brains and mindlessly listening to an AI-generated lo-fi beats playlist, there are real world negative consequences for both the artists and listeners. - SoundGuys

How Learning To Improvise Freed My Mind

As a classically trained flutist, I expected to feel unmoored without structure. But improvisation has made space for a freedom I didn’t know I needed: timelessness. - Washington Post

How AO Scott Morphed From Writing About Movies To Pondering Poetry

 For the past five months, he has been the nation’s most prominent poetry critic, writing a monthly column that uses the Times’ interactive technology to analyze a single poem at a time. Scott isn’t coming to poetry as a true outsider. - Slate

LA Philharmonic Makes Its Coachella Debut

The Los Angeles Philharmonic led the charge into their first Coachella performance on Saturday with the "Ride of the Valkyries," helmed by Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, in his latest move to reach out to new audiences. - Reuters

Where Is Ninety Percent Of Sub-Saharan Africa’s Material Cultural Legacy?

In Western museums, of course. - African History Extra

Cinemas Really Want That Theatrical Window To Lengthen

But we’re all addicted to streaming now, so it seems unlikely to change. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

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