“I just read and reread the book, which I hadn’t done since high school—and back then I probably skipped some chapters. I was also reading criticism about it,” says librettist Gene Scheer. "There’s so much about Moby-Dick that is operatic.” - The Paris Review
“The uncensored literature flooding the country wasn’t reaching Poles by chance. It was sent as part of a decades-long US intelligence operation ... designed, in the words of the programme’s leader, George Minden, to assault the eastern bloc with an ‘offensive of free, honest thinking.’” - The Guardian (UK)
Sudden cancellations of author events about civil rights, voting, homelessness, and climate change make the authors suspicious. One source said “the Carter Library would now need to seek approval from the National Archives for all programs, even those already scheduled.” - The New York Times
Karla Sofia Gascón’s fall from assumed winner to persona non grata was intense. “Rarely has a nominee’s curated image—that of a righteous up-and-comer, applauded by an industry eager to demonstrate its tolerance—so thoroughly differed from the one conjured by her personal online accounts.” - The Atlantic (Yahoo)
“There is—and has long been—a physical appeal to being blanketed by books. … The ladder is a symbol of the scale of the collection, which can be awe-inspiring—both just to look at aesthetically and to consider how much knowledge is held in those books.” - Slate
Legally, "producers do not need to acquire consent from their performers when using AI to alter ‘pitch, tone, clarity ... or the voice of the performer to a foreign language.’” There’s the rub. - CBC
“James had performed with an opera company in France and in a popular musical revue in Atlantic City, N.J., when her manager, Abe Saperstein — the basketball impresario behind the Harlem Globetrotters — landed her an audition in 1954 for Carmen Jones.” - The New York Times
No surprise: Oprah is still on top. Then there are the other three. Sorry, Natalie Portman: Your fans think you’re hot, but they don’t buy the books you pick. - The Cut
“How crazy is it to think that we’re going to celebrate Christ at Christmas with a big traditional production, to celebrate what we are all celebrating in the world during Christmastime, which is the birth of Christ?” Mr. Grenell said at the Conservative Political Action Conference. - The New York Times
“R-Evolution” by sculptor Marco Cochrane had been scheduled to open the evening of Feb. 6 at a public party in the square, but the event was postponed and the installation ultimately canceled due to “unforeseen engineering complexities on site” — to wit, the statue is too damn heavy. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
While some politicians no doubt celebrated the disappearance of pesky journalists, others are lamenting their absence, because municipalities must now work harder and spend more to keep people informed. - The Walrus
Since taking over as chairman, FCC Chair Brendan Carr has revived bias complaints against CBS, ABC and NBC over their 2024 presidential campaign coverage after the Biden administration dismissed them. - Los Angeles Times
Operation Mincemeat, about a plot to convince the Nazis that the Allies were about to invade Greece instead of Sicily, recently arrived on Broadway after winning an Olivier in London. The creators say that, in development, they had to cut some actually true details so improbable that viewers wouldn’t accept them. - Variety
