Instead of thinking of AI-generated art as a doomsday development — a cluster-bomb thrown by Big Tech into the heart of the art world — you can think of it as something with its own fascinating history, intoxicating present and unknown future. Something to be curious about. - Washington Post
"Starting in the 1980s, (Michael) Steinhardt amassed one of the world's great collections of antiquities. Renowned for their breadth and quality, his private holdings spanned centuries and rivaled those of many museums. ... (Prosecutors believe he) was the principal buyer in some of the world's most prolific antiquities-trafficking networks." - New York Magazine
After the incident last Saturday in which Marco Goecke, enraged over a harsh review, smeared the face of critic Wiebke Hüster with the feces of his pet dachshund, the Hannover State Opera, where he directed the ballet company, has terminated his contract. - BBC
It ain’t always pretty, but it is fascinating. As the policy tide turns to the end of single-family zoning and looser housing development regulations, Houston is a vision of the future. Other cities have a lot to learn from its successes and failures. - Fast Company
Learning to write is about more than learning to write. For one thing, it’s about learning to turn a loose assemblage of thoughts into a clear line of reasoning—a skill that is useful for everyone, not just those who enjoy writing or need to do a lot of it for work. - The Atlantic
He says he's "not a young conductor anymore" - and now, "he is working to establish himself as a seasoned interpreter of the repertory — a maestro fluent in the symphonies of Mahler and Beethoven as well as less common fare." - The New York Times
Wendy Halsted Beard, says the FBI, "allegedly went to great lengths to deceive her clients, ... making up a double lung transplant and other medical emergencies, and swapping one client’s signed photograph with a $405.26 purchase from the Ansel Adams Gallery’s gift shop." - The New York Times
"HarperCollins Publishers and the union representing around 250 striking employees reached a tentative agreement providing increases to entry level salaries. If union members ratify the contract, it will run through the end of 2025 and end a walkout that began nearly three months ago." - AP
"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
Just a decade ago, there were concerns about its future. Now its home, David Geffen Hall, has reopened after a $550 million renovation, and it has secured in Dudamel the rare maestro whose fame transcends classical music, even as he is sought by the world’s leading ensembles. - The New York Times
It might just be inevitable to conclude that, as Shakespeare himself wrote, ‘there be nothing new, but that which is hath been before’ – borrowing from the Old Testament, of course. - Psyche
In the so-called concern about the left ruling the campuses, what we actually have is an onslaught by the right wing to control what we read, who we talk to, and what we talk about. - The New Yorker
His wife said at the time of his arrest "that his detention - several months before the ongoing anti-government protests erupted - amounted to a kidnapping." - BBC
In addition, the more progressive U.S. membership has clashed - repeatedly - with the much more culturally conservative international contingent. - The New York Times
We have surrendered ourselves to our entertainment. We will become so distracted and dazed by our fictions that we’ll lose our sense of what is real. We will make our escapes so comprehensive that we cannot free ourselves from them. The result will be a populace that forgets how to think... - The Atlantic
The 14-square mile project was to be on Federal land in eastern Nevada — on the way to Michael Heizer's 1970 work Double Negative, a pair of man-made gashes in the mesa. Fans of the work hated the idea of people driving through an enormous field of solar panels to reach it. - Los Angeles Times
"While this monumental shift has long been attributed to shifting stylistic preferences, a new study ... argues that it was also due to a change in the environment's appearance: As the Industrial Revolution engulfed London and Paris in smog, the world literally became blurrier." - Hyperallergic
"All this has left the documentary world suffering an identity crisis. What even is a documentary anymore? There is more money than ever, but it has come with expectations that didn't exist when the industry was closer in ethics and taste to public broadcasting than to Hollywood." - New York Magazine
"In the words of author and writing coach Paulette Perhach, 'It feels like the castle we made is being swept off the table by a billionaire's tantrum.' To get to the heart of what’s at stake, let's look at the role Book Twitter plays in shaping the publishing process." - Esquire
"The November event — called the California Festival: A Celebration of New Music — is a collaborative project organized by three maestros: Gustavo Dudamel from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen from the San Francisco Symphony and Rafael Payare from the San Diego Symphony." - The New York Times
