What’s really wrong with Trump’s arch isn’t something that is always wrong with victory arches but, rather, something that is always wrong with all the architecture of autocracy. - The New Yorker
The FCC has launched a new inquiry into the TV ratings system, including whether issues of gender identity are being included in children’s programming without flagging that content to parents. - Deadline
“I can’t wait for the judge to get hit with a $45 ‘Verdict Convenience Fee,’ a $30 ‘Gavel Processing Fee,’ and an $80 ‘Digital Print-at-Home Ruling Surcharge,” a Reddit user cracked. (After the verdict, Live Nation said in a statement, “The jury’s verdict is not the last word on this matter.") - The New Yorker
“In getting to its exalted place, the book had to navigate a tricky set of rapids. Though it sailed through them, a question lingers. ... Would a book like this, with its regional setting and its male and outdoorsy focus, face different challenges in today’s publishing world?” - The New York Times
While this may be framed as fiscal discipline, cutting arts and culture is not a serious long-term economic strategy. It is a short-term fix that reduces foot traffic, weakens neighborhood business districts, and chips away at the culture that makes people want to live, work, visit, and invest here in the first place. - San Diego Magazine
Using AI tools and a pseudonym, unknown culprits are now profiting from my work and that of my colleagues. Worse, they are limiting what we can write about in the future. What publisher wants to publish a second book on an archaeological discovery, no matter how significant? - The American Scholar
For me, the subject of music is its sound. And in my music, I want to be in touch with sound that I haven't heard before, that feels somehow elemental, inevitable. One of the ways I've gone about it is, I use mathematics. - NPR
“The main studio of the École des Sables (in) Senegal defies every convention of what a professional dance space should be. It has no sprung floor, no mirrored walls, ... no walls at all. The dancers work outdoors, under a large, tented canopy. … The floor is unusually treacherous: It’s sand.” - The New York Times
The book became a dominant symbol of the age of development through the efforts of the new international institutions, and the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in particular. - The Conversation
This soul of yours has obviously come into existence with your body. Yet equally obviously it’s not made of bodily stuff. It lasts through the night when your body sleeps. It wanders off and leaves your body when you dream. - Aeon
“It may not be realistic to expect lockstep agreement with Guillermo del Toro’s perspective that he would ‘rather die’ than use AI on his films. … But it does prompt questions about determining the right amount of support (or at least agnosticism) that anti-AI advocates can tolerate in their creative heroes.” - The Guardian
The arrangement of Price’s Rainbow Waltz the Vienna Philharmonic played at its New Year’s concert in January has been criticized for bearing almost no resemblance to the original. Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin says he commissioned an arrangement from composer Valerie Coleman; the Viennese rejected it as unsuitable. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
After 42 years, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (WHAT) is suspending its operations as of June 1. The director cited “steadily rising costs in an increasingly challenging philanthropic environment” since the company’s post-COVID reopening in 2021. - TheaterMania
Construction on the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, in the redeveloping East Bank neighborhood, begins next year; opening is expected in 2030. The complex, with Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) as lead designer, will include a 2,600-seat hall for touring Broadway shows, a 650-seat dance/opera hall, a black-box theater and a cabaret space. - WPLN (Nashville)
“(The donor is) Mitchell Rales, the 69-year-old billionaire art collector and co-founder of health care company Danaher. The contribution is the largest programming-related donation in the NGA’s history and will serve to indefinitely fund the museum’s Across the Nation program, which loans artwork to partner museums.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
