“The show” — Song of the North, adapted from the medieval Persian epic poem Shahnameh — “is mind-dizzyingly complex, involving 483 puppets, 208 animated backgrounds, 16 character masks and costumes and nine performers who follow more than 2,300 separate cues.” - The New York Times
“What is red-chip art? … (It) comes in many guises, but certain visual patterns predominate: super-flat cartoons, a street art/graffiti aesthetic, and multi-colored chrome. Crucially, red-chip art is defined by its refusal to revere art history, perhaps as a part of a broader rejection of elite, specialized knowledge.” - Artnet
Mayor Steven Meiner has asked the City Council to terminate the lease of, and end a $40,000 grant to, nonprofit movie theater O Cinema after it screened the documentary No Other Land, about life in a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank. - Deadline
The Legislature’s appropriations committee voted unanimously to reject the line in the Governor’s budget cutting $3.61 million — 65% of the network’s total general funds — to South Dakota Public Broadcasting. - USA Today
A 32-year-old Briton (and a direct descendant of Konstantin Stanislavsky), Prior became assistant conductor of the Seattle Symphony at age 17 and music director of the Edmonton Symphony at 25. He begins his initial term in Eugene next October. - KLCC (Eugene, OR)
A house called RiverRock, based on the design plans that were on Wright’s drawing board when he died, was completed early this year in a Cleveland suburb, and the owner charges $800 a night for short-term rentals. Is this a legitimate Wright creation? The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation says no. - Artnet
A full-time sportswriter for The Washington Post for 14 years and steady contributor thereafter, he became known to national audiences through regular appearances on NPR and ESPN. Feinstein wrote or co-write more than 40 books, including the bestseller A Season on the Brink, about basketball coach Bobby Knight. - The Washington Post (MSN)
While it’s been clearly demonstrated that plants respond to sound, the evidence about whether they’re affected by music, let alone which genres, is far from definitive. Nevertheless, there’s plenty of music for plants around; several streaming services even offer specially-programmed plant channels. - The Washington Post (MSN)
The cancellation of Big Bird and co. would be a loss, but there’s something bigger going on. Sesame Street’s fate is symptomatic of a larger shift in how corporations, governments, and, increasingly, citizens have lost faith in the spirit of solidarity that made initiatives like the PBS show possible. - The Walrus
“Archaeologists in Cambodia are celebrating an unexpected find at the country’s centuries-old Angkor temple complex: the torso of a statue of Buddha that matches a head found nearly a century ago at the same site. The torso, believed to be from the 12th or 13th century, was discovered ... last month.” - AP
The Italia Nostra heritage group warned that “downgrading interest in landscape” posed a “serious risk to the heritage of the widespread community”. - The Art Newspaper
Like a page turner for a pianist or a sheet music librarian, music editor is the kind of job that only the idiosyncratic structures of classical music can produce. - The New York Times
According to SAG-AFTRA, a recent proposal submitted by the major video game makers was filled with “alarming loopholes that will leave our members vulnerable to A.I. abuse.” - The Wrap
And that doesn’t mean only Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh, though their shadows are the longest. Ben Brantley revisits some of the other prominent interpreters of the lead roles in A Streetcar Named Desire, from Faye Dunaway and Jon Voight to Gillian Anderson and Ben Foster. - The New York Times
he past several decades have seen rampant consolidation via mergers and acquisitions across creative fields, all of it backed by rivers of Wall Street equity. In visual media, for example, there are just five major players (Comcast, Disney, Sony, Paramount, and Warner Bros). The music industry, meanwhile, has the big three labels. - Public Books
