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Librarians Saved The Day In WWII

The so-called “ink knights” were deeply into the spy game. “What’s stronger than the sword? Apparently a humble aspect, a high tolerance for cocktail party talk, and a library card.” - LitHub

Trump Seizes Control Of The Kennedy Center

Trump plans to announce the dismissal of multiple members of the Kennedy Center board as soon as today, a group likely to include recent appointees of former President Joe Biden. - The Atlantic

Daniel Barenboim Reveals That He Has Parkinson’s Disease

"The 82-year-old musician has been in failing health for some years, and in January 2023 resigned from his position as the general music director of the Berlin State Opera. Although increasingly frail, he has continued to make occasional appearances as a conductor." - The Guardian

Art Collector Who Bought $6.2 Million Banana Sues David Geffen Over Giacometti

Justin Sun, a cryptocurrency mogul who earned international notoriety when he purchased Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian (the banana duct-taped to a wall) and ate it, claims that an art adviser forged his signature and fraudulently sold to Geffen Giacometti's Le Nez. Geffen's attorney calls the suit "bizarre and baseless." - The New York Times

How Portland’s Capella Romana Survived This Administration’s First Attempt To Shut Down The Arts

As Capella Romana was planning concerts in Portland and Seattle, their NEA grant funding was suddenly frozen. Donations have poured in, but the concert, “by bringing together Black and European musical and culture traditions, … may very well raise a warning flag in the new administration." - Oregon ArtsWatch

Two Of The Stars Of Emilia Perez Fight Back

The “French musical about a Mexican drug trafficker who transitions and leaves behind a life of violence has generated a wave of controversy,” but stars Selena Gomez and Édgar Ramírez say it’s not a political film. - El País

What Kind Of Los Angeles Will Now Arise?

“Time and again, fires have fast-tracked urban change. London after the Great Fire of 1666 rewrote its safety laws, widened streets and erected new public buildings, like the domed St. Paul’s Cathedral. Chicago after the Great Fire of 1871 ... invented the modern American metropolis.” - The New York Times

When Michael Palin Started Keeping A Diary, Little Did He Know Who He’d Become

“I did worry I’d lose friends. But, well, there’s no revelations of mass drug taking or orgies or anything. Because I haven’t been to any, really.” - The New York Times

Wired Is Tracking As US Government Websites Disappear

An employee said, “Decades worth of taxpayer-funded reports and analysis gone in an instant. … We have no idea what is happening behind the scenes or what will be back, when, and in what form.” - Wired

This Parody Of “Emilia Pérez” Is A Better Work Of Art Than Its Model: J.P. Brammer

"In addition to being the most compelling conflict between France and Mexico since the Battle of Puebla, Johanne Sacreblu is the critique of shallow Hollywood representation I’ve been waiting for. .. (It) also models what media criticism can look like when there’s general fatigue with 'call-out culture.'" - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

Have Karla Sofía Gascón’s Old Tweets Torpedoed The “Emilia Pérez” Oscar Campaign?

The discovery of posts from 2020-21 in which she disparaged George Floyd, Islam, Arabs in Spain, China and its COVID vaccine, and even the Oscars themselves may have taken the movie she starred in — which was receiving backlash already, especially from appalled Mexicans — from frontrunner-with-13-nominations status to … well, a touchy subject. - Variety

Over $200 Million Worth Of Stolen Paintings Recovered By French Authorities

"A Paris court has secured 135 stolen paintings estimated to be worth over €200 million for the family of (collector) Uthman Khatib, (who) is seeking to recover a collection of 1,800 pieces of Russian avant-garde art allegedly taken from a storage facility in Germany in 2019." - Artnet

Marianne Faithful, 78

"(The) British singer-songwriter and 1960s pop star reinvented herself as a new-wave artist and smoky-voiced chanteuse, channeling her struggles with drug abuse and personal loss into songs of torment, anger, sorrow and resilience." - The Washington Post (MSN)

This Broadway Play About Fighting Over Vaccines Is Very Tricky — Because The Audience Is Laughing So Hard

The third scene of Eureka Day depicts a board meeting at a private school in Berkeley (!) after a student gets mumps. The board does it town-hall style, with a running feed, shown upstage, of the insane comments the online attendees put in the chat box. Yikes. - The New York Times

Is This The Worst Page On The Internet? Or An Important Lesson About The Internet? (Both, Of Course)

"The name of this monstrosity, which was released earlier this month, is Stimulation Clicker, and it is more than a game. It is a reenactment of the evolution of the internet, a loving parody of its contents, and a pointed commentary on how our online life went wrong." - The Atlantic (MSN)

Every Artist In Britain Including Paul McCartney Wants The Government To Stand Up To AI Pressure

What the actual artist-hating hell, UK? “The government is considering an overhaul of law that would allow AI developers to use creators' content on the internet to help develop their models, unless the rights holders opt out.” - BBC

Theatre Critics, Tear Down That Wall

A regular rotation of theatre articles and criticism from daily papers (whatever those are) isn’t coming back. So it’s up to theatre makers to keep writing, posting, blogging, making video about the process and the products - and critics need to deal with it. - The Stage (UK)

The Death Of The Commons

What does Starbucks’ new bathroom policy have to do with an ability to gather in public, and the forces destroying that ability? - The Atlantic

The National Gallery Of Art Ends Its DEI Program

“The museum has removed any language referring to DEI from its website. On a page outlining the institution’s mission and values, the words 'diversity, equity, access and inclusion' have been replaced with 'welcoming and accessible.’” - Hyperallergic

Thieves Blow Up Dutch Museum Door To Steal A Golden Helmet

“The video is grainy but ominous: three hooded figures, clambering over one another to tug at a heavy access door of the Drents Museum ... and then an explosion and a flurry of sparks in the wee hours of Saturday.” - The New York Times
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