“The cumulative effect of F1 and its press tour have been a carefully tuned charm offensive meant to obscure, if not outright bury, the alleged violent particulars of his behavior toward ex-wife Angelina Jolie.” - Vulture (Internet Archive)
“The case of the Mendelssohn Stradivarius highlights the opaque trade for rare instruments, in which details about provenance, or the history of previous ownership, are often not well documented or, in some cases, intentionally obscured.” - The New York Times
That’s because the “memoir” (and its sequels, not to mention the new movie starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs) was at least partly fiction, covering up theft, a criminal case, and land in France. - The Observer (UK)
And it’s weirdly hopeful, deeply compelling stuff. “People were especially motivated to share their input when they were told that their contributions would be archived for posterity” (assuming the country & institutions, ah, survive). - Hyperallergic
"We are being advised that the curtailing of Palestine Action could have a major knock-on effect for us as it could become not only illegal for others to voice support for them but also for us, as film-makers, to distribute this film.” - The Guardian (UK)
Why? "Unlike the dawn of the internet where democratized access to information empowered everyday people in unique, surprising ways, the generative AI era has been defined by half-baked software releases and threats of AI replacing human workers.” - Wired
A personalized tour of the Library of Congress “included original manuscripts from composers Béla Bartók, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky and Johannes Brahms. … But it was American composer George Gershwin's manuscript for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess that moved Sondheim to tears." - CBC
The police bust of an all-women party she hosted in 1925 was the subject of Ma Rainey’s 1928 record “Prove It on Me Blues.” Rainey and her contralto voice were part of a wider lesbian blues counterculture that included Gladys Bentley, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters and Alberta Hunter. - BBC
“Owning a Wright original — the architecture buff’s equivalent of owning a Picasso — comes with headaches as manifold as they are esoteric. … To address these hurdles … the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy has created an ecosystem in which its 730 members can swap advice, trade stories and build community.” - The New York Times
“Artspace, the Minneapolis nonprofit that owns the lofts, sold the city on a vision: affordable housing that would help retain Seattle’s creative soul as redevelopment and rising costs were driving out artists. But the dream shattered.” - Seattle Times
“While the FTC’s lawyers were calling witnesses against Meta in one courtroom, a nearby room was hosting arguments about whether Trump could fire two of the agency’s own commissioners.” - The Verge
One young adult fantasy author “doesn't say a single word in the video, but her captions on the screen speak volumes. ‘Using GenAI to write a book doesn’t make you a writer, it makes you a thief,’ reads one.” - Wired
The news "came as a shock to authors who were swayed by the possibility that 8th Note could help engineer best sellers with elaborate marketing campaigns on TikTok. Instead, 8th Note has started taking down digital editions of their books, effectively unpublishing them.” - The New York Times
When AI systems learn about Canadian culture, history, and events, they should be learning from trusted, structured, Canadian sources - not filtered scraps from engagement-driven platforms. - LinkedIn
“Many of the buildings on the original list were not ‘underutilized’ at all. They were simply being used for government work that the president didn’t like or by government officials whom the president wanted to punish.” - The New York Times
But federal funding cuts are threatening national history: "A scramble for stopgap funding from donors and bake sales allowed all qualifying teams to attend the national finals this year. But what happens next is unclear.” - The New York Times
“Artists, writers and community leaders have gone the center to be inspired, root their work in a deep understanding of the vastness of the African diaspora, and spread word of the global accomplishments of Black people” - Seattle Times (AP)
As the artists worked on a video, “We’re flying away from the Oort cloud and out pops this spiral, a spiral shape to the outside of our solar system. … A huge structure, millions and millions of particles.” - Fast Company (Internet Archive)
