While this Ministry of Culture and Heritage announcement is money already in the kitty for the sector’s from the COVID recovery fund rather than newly allotted spending, it’s unsurprisingly been well received - the creative community has been abuzz in a way unseen in a long time. - The Big Idea
"(She) managed a surprise best-actress nomination last month that quickly turned from boon to boondoggle. It's the story everyone in Hollywood is talking about, though you'd be forgiven for wondering what exactly has gone down or why any of it matters." - The New York Times
From the myth that humans only use 10 percent of their brain to the idea that creativity and logic is a "right-brained" versus "left-brained" issue, there are many popular misconceptions about neuroscience that have wormed their way into public consciousness. - Salon
"Louis's depiction of poverty is more radical in its honesty. Deprivation doesn't just cause pain and hunger; it also fosters hostility. Circumstances warp behavior. ... Louis is scathing about the government's neglect of the working class, but he also makes no attempt to sugarcoat the psychological effects of poverty." - The Nation
The modern U.S. economy is really made up of metropolitan regions, not states whose boundaries are arbitrary compared to local economies. A 2009 study identified eleven “megaregions” in the United States with 31 percent of all U.S. counties but 74 percent of the nation’s population. - Big Think
"Sharp reductions in expenses coupled with large growth in government contributions and investments kept theatres afloat. ... As audiences return to live performances, theatres will be challenged to revive earned revenue income sources to counter reduced government relief and the effects of high inflation in 2022." - SMU Data Arts / Theatre Communications Group
"The key question is, what are the things that are being done in order to emerge from the pandemic in a sustainable way?" said Teresa Eyring, executive director and CEO of Theatre Communications Group, a support organization for the nation's performing arts sector. - NPR
"I was attracted by this idea of doing something straightforward and honest and useful, like keeping people's hands off of some of the most beautiful things human hands have made. ... Say a person is a one-in-a-million personality. That means we're getting seven of those a year, at least." - The New Yorker
I’ve got my Pods in and, for reasons I can’t explain but that they may one day understand, I am compelled to listen to Linda Ronstadt over and over and over and over until suddenly, just as abruptly as it started, it stops. - The Guardian
The song was performed on a giant rotating turntable. "After a week of rehearsing this piece perfectly going one way," explained a dancer, "the moment it's time to perform, it starts going the other way, and in real time we have to troubleshoot and do a complete piece in reverse." - BBC
"One of the last of the great popular songwriters of the 20th century, ... he created songs that became standards in their own right. They were classy, catchy, commercial and musically complex, and scores of them became hits during a career that lasted more than 50 years." - BBC
Microsoft is incorporating ChatGPT into Bing, and Google's at work on its own AI bot, called Bard, for its search engine. Organizations are very dependent on search engines to bring their sites traffic. If that traffic disappears, the Web's entire ecosystem changes — and nobody knows how. - Nieman Lab
The videos, by a purported outlet called Wolf News, "were distributed by pro-China bot accounts on Facebook and Twitter, in the first known instance of 'deepfake' video technology being used to create fictitious people as part of a state-aligned information campaign." - The New York Times
Antoni Gaudí's great church has been under construction for over a century. Huge progress has been made in recent decades, and it's time to start building what's called the Glory façade. Problem is, the design includes an enormous staircase and pedestrian avenue — and there are now apartment buildings in the way. - The World
"They have been verbally and physically assaulted by a small number of audience members while trying to do their job. Two weeks ago one of my staff was punched. This week one of them was pushed and spat on." - The National (Scotland)
