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Irony-Impaired Florida Man Pleads Guilty To Bombing Satirical Sculpture of Lenin And Mao

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

AI Software Encodes Language The Same Way Human Brains Do During Conversation

"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

Remember Ruth Mackenzie, Who Was Abruptly Fired As Director Of The Châtelet In Paris? She’s Become A VIP In Australia

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)

Elif Shafak On Being Prosecuted In Her Homeland For Her Fiction

"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

Rachid Ouramdane Is Director Of France’s National Theatre Of Dance. How Does He Find Time To Choreograph So Much?

"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

The Complete Freud, Revised For the 21st Century

"The new 24-volume, 8,100-plus-page Revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud has been three decades in the making, with psychoanalyst and neuropsychologist Mark Solms spearheading the once-in-a-generation project." - Publishers Weekly

The Florida Orchestra May Finally Get A Headquarters Of Its Own

The ensemble operates out of cramped offices in St. Petersburg and has no fixed rehearsal space; now the CEO has proposed a new building to solve that problem, and he says he has private funding lined up. (The orchestra will continue to perform in St. Petersburg, Tampa, and Clearwater.) - St. Pete Catalyst

Racial Inequities In Arts Funding In Pittsburgh Persist, Finds Study

"For the new report, (the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council) analyzed more than 11,000 grants made to about 500 local organizations from 2018 to 2023. The more than $500 million in total funding came from nearly 200 organizations." - WESA (Pittsburgh)

Game Of Thrones Had Three Dragons, And The Sound Designer Could Hold Down Their Thirty Noises

But House of the Dragon? “There are more than a dozen dragons running around the Seven Kingdoms, and every one, Fairfield says, is ‘bespoke’ — a combination of layers, pitch changes, and audio manipulation that gives each a distinct personality.” - Vulture

The Puppet Makers And Puppeteers Reimagining “Spirited Away” For The Stage

Come for the hand-carved dragon scales; stay for the “evil flash mob” animating Kaonashi/No-Face. - T — The New York Times Style Magazine

In Liverpool, England, Far-Right Rioters Set Fire To A Community Library

“The Spellow Library and Community Hub library, a 'one stop shop for one of the most deprived', was set alight with flames visible inside the building within minutes. As firefighters arrived rioters attempted to stop them tackling the blaze, throwing a missile at the fire engine.” - Manchester Evening News (Yahoo)

After Blair Witch Project Came Out, Fans Swarmed A Town That Didn’t Want Them

Now, on the 25th anniversary of the iconic horror film, Burkittsville, Maryland, the new mayor “thinks the town deserves to see some benefit from the landmark movie’s success.” - Washington Post

A US Book Prize Judged By Incarcerated People Awards Its First Winner

And the winner of the Inside Prize is Imani Perry, who also won the National Book Award for her South to America. - LitHub

For Women And Girls In Gymnastics, Dance Is Required, But An Afterthought

What if the sport, and its judges, actually valued dance? “That would involve thinking of each floor routine as a miniature choreographic work: an organic whole that deserves to be enjoyed fully by every audience, live or on TV.” - The New York Times

Alexander Waugh, Grandson Of Evelyn, Opera Critic And Composer, Has Died At 60

“Beginning with Mr. Waugh’s great-grandfather Arthur, the family has produced nearly 200 books and thousands of pieces of journalism; all four of Auberon Waugh’s children, including Alexander, became writers.” - The New York Times

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