"Researchers analysed thousands of gestures made by wild chimps in east Africa and found striking similarities with the turn-taking seen in human conversations, in particular how swiftly the apes responded to one another." - The Guardian
“To be dancing in the spotlight for that long, and also making sure it’s funny,” says actor Janelle James. But she was also considering "how the song affects people, particularly Black women. ... A lot of thought went into that little dance.” - Los Angeles Times (AOL)
David Henry Hwang wondered that, too. Yet he's part of an impressive team working on a show about the Large Hadron Collider and the discovery of the Higgs boson. "It took a year to get my head around how to tell this story," Hwang said. - The New York Times
The collection of 1,400 objects belongs to broker Sam Njunuri, who's been ordered to sell part of it to pay $990,000 in damages to two former tenants and used bankruptcy proceedings to avoid paying before. What's more, the objects' provenance is unclear, and taxpayers' money has been used to store them. - ARTnews
"Just 32% of speaking characters in the top 100 movies at the box office in 2023 were women or girls, according to (USC's) Annenberg Inclusion Initiative annual report released Monday. That’s very nearly the same percentage as when Stacy L. Smith first began the study in 2007." - AP
This isn't as bad as "Beast Jesus," but the repainting at the Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Mirón in the city of Soria has some people very upset. One might or might not object to the white-with-coral-trim walls, but the real disaster is on the faces of some little cherubs. - The Guardian
"Nearly 60 journalists — including marquee names such as Adam Serwer, Caitlin Flanagan, Jerusalem Demsas, and George Packer — signed a letter calling on the company to “stop prioritizing its bottom line and champion The Atlantic’s journalism.” The staffers want (their) bosses to include AI protections in the union contract." - The Washington Post (MSN)
This past weekend, the Goodman Theatre called off two performances of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil just before curtain time. On Saturday they couldn't round up enough understudies to cover all the sick cast members; on Sunday they had the same problem with backstage crew. - Chicago Tribune
He dares not venture out for fear of catching even a cold, and he can only walk a short distance before running out of breath. He says he would try to direct remotely if it came to it. But he tweeted to fans that he "will never retire." - The Guardian
"The history of horror scores is a long, winding path (that leads to an old abandoned shed stocked with rusty hatchets), with legends of the form and shadowy figures that lurk around the edges of the frame." Michael Andor Brodeur selects "the most killer composers in film history." - The Washington Post (MSN)
The artwork by the Gao Brothers, titled Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin’s Head, was brought to San Antonio in March 2022. That November, Christopher Rodriguez detonated two canisters of explosives at its base, thinking it was a glorification of Communism. - San Antonio Report
"A neural code refers to particular patterns of brain activity associated with distinct words in their contexts. We found that the speakers’ brains are aligned on a shared neural code. Importantly, the brain’s neural code resembled the artificial neural code of large language models, or LLMs." - The Conversation
After her still-inadequately-explained sacking in 2020, she went in 2022 to be the Adelaide Festival's artistic director through 2026. She completed this year's event in March but has just resigned to take a major position as Program Director, Arts, Culture and Creative Industries Policy for South Australia's state government. - ArtsHub (Australia)
"I was accused of insulting Turkishness, even though nobody knew what that meant. And it was quite surreal, because the words of fictional characters were taken out of the novel and used as evidence in the courtroom; ... my Turkish lawyer had to defend my Armenian fictional characters." - The Guardian
"His job is huge. His friends and fellow artists ask him how he finds time to create when he is in charge of so much — planning seasons, devising programs for children and even overseeing a major renovation. And then there’s his own work." - The New York Times
