AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Out Of The Kennedy Center, National Symphony Presses On
Good Morning,
Since the Kennedy Center closed on September 15, the National Symphony Orchestra has been playing in six venues around Washington. It will give about half its usual concerts, and ticket revenue is expected to fall by half and donations by a quarter (NPR).
The earliest spoken recordings of Louisiana Creole were made in 1935 by the linguist Lorenzo Dow Turner and found on aluminum discs labeled only “Louisiana.” They are the only extended audio of the New Orleans variety, which died out in the city by the 1950s (The New York Times).
Italy’s art crime squad used an AI system to flag an oil painting at an antiques fair as a Saint Agnes stolen from a church 20 years ago. Someone had painted over its lamb (ARTnews).
Voters in Independence, Oregon, decide Tuesday on a city fee that will determine what happens to the Heritage Museum’s 25,000 items, in storage since the city sold the building (Oregon ArtsWatch).
In Amsterdam, the Rembrandt House Museum is tattooing Rembrandt’s 1633 etching The Descent from the Cross across one winner’s back, with smaller tattoos on sale from €100 (The New York Times).
All of Today’s stories below.
- The Enduring Appeal Of Literary Locations
Hotels are particularly adaptable settings for fiction. They bring strangers together in temporary communities, creating opportunities for encounters, misunderstandings and suspicion. In detective fiction, they can also provide a ready-made sense of enclosure: a place where characters are brought together and escape becomes difficult. – The Conversation
- Italian Police Locate $200M Of Stolen Art Using AI
The Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Italy’s art crime squad, has been using an AI algorithm to identify stolen artworks and artifacts since 2023. The platform they use is called SWOADS—or Stolen Works of Art Detection System—and was developed by Salvatore Rapicavoli, an IT engineer who joined the art crime team in 2023. – ARTnews
- Is Curiosity A Good Idea?
Our curiosity may be or could be one of the best things about us (though when we describe someone as a curious person we can sometimes mean that they are a bit odd, as though we admire curiosity but it makes us uneasy). – London Review of Books
- Oldest Recording Of Someone Speaking Creole Was Discovered
“The moment I heard these recordings, I knew that they would drastically change our understanding of this language,” Dr. Mayeux said. His research findings were published in the journal “Language Documentation and Description.” – The New York Times
ISSUES
- Italian Police Locate $200M Of Stolen Art Using AI
The Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Italy’s art crime squad, has been using an AI algorithm to identify stolen artworks and artifacts since 2023. The platform they use is called SWOADS—or Stolen Works of Art Detection System—and was developed by Salvatore Rapicavoli, an IT engineer who joined the art crime team in 2023. – ARTnews
- How A Quick-Thinking Photographer Turned A Traffic Jam Into An Instantly Iconic Image
“As we’re all waiting for traffic to clear, I could feel the motion of the bridge, slightly pulsating up and down. Curiosity got to many people, who got out of their cars to see if they could see anything.” – San Francisco Chronicle
- For A Few Hundred Euros, You Can Get A Rembrandt Inked On Your Body
“It’s a highbrow-meets-lowbrow thing,” said the Dutch tattoo artist completing the requests. He’s done it before, but “this time, [he] had a greater ambition: to reproduce one of Rembrandt’s most famous etchings, The Descent From the Cross, from 1633, across a man’s back.” – The New York Times
- This Oregon Museum Had To Sell Its Museum
And Tuesday’s election will determine what happens with its collection – and if its local advocates have done enough to organize support. – Oregon ArtsWatch
- The Rise And Fall Of The Triumphal Arch
“In 1941, Albert Speer presented plans to his Führer for a monumental arch that would tower nearly 400 feet over Berlin. Taller than the towers of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge in New York, it would have been twice the height of the Arc de Triomphe.” – The New York Times
MEDIA
- Kennedy Center Leaders Threatened Payroll Over Trump Naming, Lawmaker Alleges
Kennedy Center leaders jeopardized the institution’s operations by tying millions of dollarsin funding to keeping President Donald Trump’s name on its building, a Democratic congresswoman who serves on its board alleges in a court brief filed Friday. – Washington Post
- Anti-Trans Political Rhetoric Is Harming Nonbinary And Trans Actors Too
Even actors like Elliot Page and Asia Kate Dillon have said it’s harder to find work in a world where roles for them are, according to them, vanishing. – CBC
- AI Isn’t Just Cooking Our Water Supply And Our Writing, But Also Our Food
“Most of those bowls and sandwiches available in the lunchtime hours are sold by fast-casual chains, the kind of establishments that give private equity investors wet dreams thanks to their sky-high margins, low labor costs, and simplistic, trend-driven menus.” – Ravenous
- Solidarity Mural In Iowa, Covered By Blue Tarp In Advance Of Trump Visit, Ordered By The City To Be Uncovered
A spokesperson from the building’s management company: “The goal of the White House in covering the mural was to provide exterior branding and put up a U.S. flag.” But the city had not authorized any exterior modifications. – Des Moines Register (MSN)
- You Don’t Know What The Algorithms Are Doing To Us Until You Walk Away
“Here’s the thing about spending a month off grid and overseas: … You are more relaxed than you have ever been, and you have forgotten the way nearly every news story of the past decade grabs hold of your heart and squeezes, twists, strangles. That constant, low-level dread.” – Slate
MUSIC
- The Enduring Appeal Of Literary Locations
Hotels are particularly adaptable settings for fiction. They bring strangers together in temporary communities, creating opportunities for encounters, misunderstandings and suspicion. In detective fiction, they can also provide a ready-made sense of enclosure: a place where characters are brought together and escape becomes difficult. – The Conversation
- Oldest Recording Of Someone Speaking Creole Was Discovered
“The moment I heard these recordings, I knew that they would drastically change our understanding of this language,” Dr. Mayeux said. His research findings were published in the journal “Language Documentation and Description.” – The New York Times
- AI Has Thrown The Publishing World Into Chaos
Book publishing houses have also been inundated with AI writing, and the industry is scrambling to respond. “There is a high level of concern and I think maybe anxiety among editors,” Friedman said. “They’re not sure how to detect it.” – WNG
- Serial Fiction Is Having A Moment. Again.
“’Today’s newspapers have fallen out of the habit of rewarding their readers with chunks of fiction. … So it has fallen to us to pick up the slack.’ But it seems worth asking why ‘chunks’ of fiction are their own reward.” – LitHub
- This Is How A Publishing Season’s ‘Big’ Cookbooks Come To Life
For instance: “You wouldn’t know it, but some of these dishes were shot on the literal ground.” – Best Food Blog
PEOPLE
- Out Of The Kennedy Center, National Symphony Presses On
Good Morning,
Since the Kennedy Center closed on September 15, the National Symphony Orchestra has been playing in six venues around Washington. It will give about half its usual concerts, and ticket revenue is expected to fall by half and donations by a quarter (NPR).
The earliest spoken recordings of Louisiana Creole were made in 1935 by the linguist Lorenzo Dow Turner and found on aluminum discs labeled only “Louisiana.” They are the only extended audio of the New Orleans variety, which died out in the city by the 1950s (The New York Times).
Italy’s art crime squad used an AI system to flag an oil painting at an antiques fair as a Saint Agnes stolen from a church 20 years ago. Someone had painted over its lamb (ARTnews).
Voters in Independence, Oregon, decide Tuesday on a city fee that will determine what happens to the Heritage Museum’s 25,000 items, in storage since the city sold the building (Oregon ArtsWatch).
In Amsterdam, the Rembrandt House Museum is tattooing Rembrandt’s 1633 etching The Descent from the Cross across one winner’s back, with smaller tattoos on sale from €100 (The New York Times).
All of Today’s stories below.
- The Enduring Appeal Of Literary Locations
Hotels are particularly adaptable settings for fiction. They bring strangers together in temporary communities, creating opportunities for encounters, misunderstandings and suspicion. In detective fiction, they can also provide a ready-made sense of enclosure: a place where characters are brought together and escape becomes difficult. – The Conversation
- Italian Police Locate $200M Of Stolen Art Using AI
The Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Italy’s art crime squad, has been using an AI algorithm to identify stolen artworks and artifacts since 2023. The platform they use is called SWOADS—or Stolen Works of Art Detection System—and was developed by Salvatore Rapicavoli, an IT engineer who joined the art crime team in 2023. – ARTnews
- Is Curiosity A Good Idea?
Our curiosity may be or could be one of the best things about us (though when we describe someone as a curious person we can sometimes mean that they are a bit odd, as though we admire curiosity but it makes us uneasy). – London Review of Books
- Oldest Recording Of Someone Speaking Creole Was Discovered
“The moment I heard these recordings, I knew that they would drastically change our understanding of this language,” Dr. Mayeux said. His research findings were published in the journal “Language Documentation and Description.” – The New York Times
PEOPLE
- Out Of The Kennedy Center, National Symphony Presses On
Good Morning,
Since the Kennedy Center closed on September 15, the National Symphony Orchestra has been playing in six venues around Washington. It will give about half its usual concerts, and ticket revenue is expected to fall by half and donations by a quarter (NPR).
The earliest spoken recordings of Louisiana Creole were made in 1935 by the linguist Lorenzo Dow Turner and found on aluminum discs labeled only “Louisiana.” They are the only extended audio of the New Orleans variety, which died out in the city by the 1950s (The New York Times).
Italy’s art crime squad used an AI system to flag an oil painting at an antiques fair as a Saint Agnes stolen from a church 20 years ago. Someone had painted over its lamb (ARTnews).
Voters in Independence, Oregon, decide Tuesday on a city fee that will determine what happens to the Heritage Museum’s 25,000 items, in storage since the city sold the building (Oregon ArtsWatch).
In Amsterdam, the Rembrandt House Museum is tattooing Rembrandt’s 1633 etching The Descent from the Cross across one winner’s back, with smaller tattoos on sale from €100 (The New York Times).
All of Today’s stories below.
- The Enduring Appeal Of Literary Locations
Hotels are particularly adaptable settings for fiction. They bring strangers together in temporary communities, creating opportunities for encounters, misunderstandings and suspicion. In detective fiction, they can also provide a ready-made sense of enclosure: a place where characters are brought together and escape becomes difficult. – The Conversation
- Italian Police Locate $200M Of Stolen Art Using AI
The Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Italy’s art crime squad, has been using an AI algorithm to identify stolen artworks and artifacts since 2023. The platform they use is called SWOADS—or Stolen Works of Art Detection System—and was developed by Salvatore Rapicavoli, an IT engineer who joined the art crime team in 2023. – ARTnews
- Is Curiosity A Good Idea?
Our curiosity may be or could be one of the best things about us (though when we describe someone as a curious person we can sometimes mean that they are a bit odd, as though we admire curiosity but it makes us uneasy). – London Review of Books
- Oldest Recording Of Someone Speaking Creole Was Discovered
“The moment I heard these recordings, I knew that they would drastically change our understanding of this language,” Dr. Mayeux said. His research findings were published in the journal “Language Documentation and Description.” – The New York Times
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Is Curiosity A Good Idea?
Our curiosity may be or could be one of the best things about us (though when we describe someone as a curious person we can sometimes mean that they are a bit odd, as though we admire curiosity but it makes us uneasy). – London Review of Books
- Predictive Algorithms Are Flattening Culture Everywhere In The World
“At ‘temperature zero,’ the [large language] model always chooses the most likely next token and gives the same answer every time” – down to the music and menus in every restaurant or pub. – The New York Times
- Why We Like To Be Scared
“Because of horror’s position as a sandbox for misfortune, consumers tend to reward horror films that reflect their generation’s anxieties.” – Time
- Major Culture Shift: Private Equity Is Buying Up Small Businesses
Deal by deal, ownership is being extracted from the thousands of communities where businesses were built to the handful of cities where capital is already concentrated. – The New York Times
- How Our Brains Cope With Uncertainty
Systems fail; unanticipated difficulties occur; things break or rot. To cope with this reality, philosophical and religious traditions such as Buddhism and Stoicism have long focused on transience, unpredictability, and the inevitability of change and loss. – Scientific American