In 1969, thieves cut Caravaggio's Nativity With Saints Lawrence and Francis of Assisi from its frame at the Oratory of Saint Lawrence in Palermo. Since 2010, there's been an annual commission for a new painting for the empty space, and Beecroft's work is a sly homage to the original. - Artnet
The matter is more complicated than it appears, and those who try to capitalize on the expiring “Steamboat Willie” copyright could easily end up in a legal mousetrap. - The New York Times
"That piano is so central ... that (August) Wilson's script dedicates half of its mandate for the play's setting to a description of the instrument. ... The seemingly obvious artistry of the piano speaks to intense research, precise dramaturgy and the arduous labor that brought its design to fruition." - Broadway News
The spectacle of a pint-size virtuoso — in any field, not just music — feels otherworldly, and it inspires an almost lurid fascination that is difficult to resist. It can also lead us to misconstrue the reality of what we’re witnessing. - San Francisco Chronicle
"With more than 77 billion views globally to date, TikTok's collection of literary-minded creators and clips, ... (has) (a lot of) drama, much of which has practical implications for the book world and beyond.... Here's a look back on the biggest, baddest, and oddest BookTok controversies of the year." - Vulture
Unless, that is, you're already famous; Lizzo's dance videos easily draw a million viewers. Earlier in TikTok's history, before there were mountains of content, it was easier for an unknown to catch users' attention; now, the pandemic days when folks were cooped up at home watching videos are gone. - Yahoo! (Bloomberg)
"Language, religion, historical memory: These, as much as territory, are the war's battlefields. Against its appalling human cost, its cultural toll may feel insignificant — but culture is in every way a front of this war, and the fate of more nations than one hangs on its defense." - The New York Times
"The conflict is spawning a new lexicon. Some of the words and phrases that have entered wider usage in Ukrainian society date back to the beginning of the war in 2014, others to ... Soviet-era military slang that has become popularised again, and others are entirely new coinages." - The Guardian
"Archaeologists (have) discovered 168 geoglyphs near the arid Nazca plain in southern Peru. The new findings, which encompass images of humans, birds, snakes, cats, and killer whales, date between 100 BCE and 300 CE, when the pre-Incan Nazca civilization lived in the region." - Hyperallergic
"The (Colorado) company is in a bitter dispute with the labor union representing its performers, The American Guild of Musical Artists, ... with accusations that include charges of withheld artist payments, refusals to bargain in good faith, body shaming, sexual harassment, and other threats." - Colorado Public Radio
"Do we want you to argue with this list? Of course we do. That's the nature of the beast. ... No doubt you'll say: How could that movie have been left off the list? Or this one? Or that one? Trust us: We often asked that very same question ourselves." - Variety
The return of shoppers to physical retailers was good news for bookstores. ABA reported a record number of members, while Barnes & Noble began opening new outlets in the year and expects to open 30 new stores in 2023. Total bookstore sales through October were up 7.5% over the comparable period in 2021. - Publishers Weekly
The new limitations of his body became an opportunity for renewal. There is a lesson here about what it means to care for the body, to inhabit the bodies we have not merely with acceptance and love, as we are often rightly advised to do. - The New York Times
Physicists at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) used a 3D nanolithography tool called the Nanofrazor to cut the smallest record ever. The tune they "recorded," in full stereo no less: the first 25 seconds of "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree." - Ars Technica
