After Izvestiya reported this story two weeks ago, both Gergiev himself and outgoing director Vladimir Urin backed away from it, though without an outright denial. But Urin announced his departure to colleagues last night, and the government announced that Gergiev has been appointed for a five-year term. - The Guardian
"Montana’s first-in-the-nation law banning the video-sharing app TikTok in the state was blocked Thursday, one month before it was set to take effect, by a federal judge who called the measure unconstitutional." - AP
"They are expressing shock that Colette Pierce Burnette would serve just 15 months in the role, especially since they said the Indianapolis newcomer was quickly building new and needed relationships. … And they worry whether a high-quality candidate will even want to become the institution's CEO and president permanently." - MSN (Indianapolis Star)
On Thursday (Nov. 30), during Act II of Wagner's Tannhäuser, as the characters were singing about a natural spring, activists on each side of the top balcony unfurling banners reading “No Opera on a Dead Planet” and chanting that the spring was fouled by climate change. - Hyperallergic
“It’s one thing to use to make a King Kong or a flying serpent (though this displaces many VFX/CGI artists), it is another thing to have an AI object play a human character instead of a real actor.” - Wired
Hunter College has agreed to reschedule a screening of a documentary critical of Israel, following an outcry from faculty members and students who claimed that the administration’s earlier decision to cancel it violated academic freedom. - The New York Times
A new book argues that the invention of states and corporations has something to teach us about A.I. But perhaps it’s the other way around. - The New Yorker
The artwork was originally displayed in a small church in the Italian town of Santa Maria la Arita before being given to a local family who safekept it in their private residence for several generations. - ARTnews
It set the stage for the rise of empowering culturally rich narratives in the decade that followed. Subsequent hits included the strongly female-centric Moana (2016), Encanto (2021), and Turning Red (2022), marking a new era in animated storytelling celebrating different kinds of voices and perspectives. - The Conversation
"(He) somehow managed to know nearly every significant cultural figure of the past half-century. Mickey Mantle confided in him. … Martin Scorsese taught him film directing at NYU. He (did) surprise cameos with Robin Williams." Billie Holiday took him to the movies. Tiffany Haddish calls him her godfather. - MSN (The Washington Post)
The law, which passed earlier this year via a majority Republican Legislature, forbids "any program, curriculum, test, survey, questionnaire, promotion, or instruction relating to gender identity or sexual orientation" in grades K-6. - Axios
"Under the name @seanalator, Sean Bankhead built a YouTube channel to showcase his unique style; a routine set to Beyoncé’s 'Run The World (Girls)' went viral and reached 8.4 million views, and soon Bankhead was working with the likes of Missy Elliott and Katy Perry." - GQ
"That’s not a matter of preference, such as not caring for sports or pets; it’s a pathological condition. Accordingly, it’s been given one of those Greek-derived diagnostic labels that allow us to imagine we’ve established a scientific truth rather than merely invented a term: 'musical anhedonia.'" - Literary Hub
All these movies are awards contenders, and each of them, in a different way, is enthralling. What they add up to is the glorious resurgence of a form that never went away but is reaching a new peak of influence. Yet you might well ask: Why the biopic, and why now? - Variety
