AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Mapmakers Solved This Problem A Century Ago
Good Morning,
In the 1920s, cartographers planted invented towns in their maps. Two mapmakers might independently draw the same real village, but they can’t independently dream up the same fake one — so a phantom town turning up in a rival’s atlas was proof of theft (Open Culture).
Publishing could use the trick. A $2 million crime-novel deal collapsed this week not because the manuscript was bad — the agents called it dazzling — but because nobody could authenticate how it “evolved from origin to completion” (The Guardian).
Copying, meanwhile, keeps getting cheaper: a full leak of the new Spider-Man ran on X for seven hours and reached 5.9 million accounts while the box office went right on breaking records (The Verge). David Hockney copied too, and for his part, has never hidden what he took from the Louvre (The Atlantic).
Elsewhere: the Emily Wilson Odyssey fight rolls on (The New York Times), and artists are fighting to save a sculpture park in a city with more monuments to animals than to women (The Guardian).
All of our stories below.
- How To Get From Canada To Eurovision
“It’s still too soon to say how Canada’s act will be chosen, but as any athlete will tell you, it’s never too soon to start preparing for the international media, the next-level fans or winning over voters.” – CBC
- Vincent Pastore, Who Went From Nightclub Owner To Mob Guys In ‘Goodfellas’ And ‘The Sopranos,’ Has Died At 80
Pastore once said, “It’s easier for me to play a tough guy than it is to play the good guy. … I grew up in a tough neighborhood. I didn’t study the classics. I’m a street actor. A lot of my training was on the set.” – The New York Times
- When Childhood Dreams Turn Into Big Screen Reality
This guy started practicing Spider-moves and parkour as a kid, hoping he’d one day get to do stunts for Spider-Man movies … and that has paid off in a big way. – BBC
- Cicero Sez
ISSUES
- They’re Re-Gilding Some Statues In DC, For Some Reason
“All four statues were a thank-you gift from Italy following the end of World War II.” – Artforum
- Artists Fight To Save A Women’s Sculpture Park In London
“Of almost 1,500 monuments in London, more than a fifth [are] dedicated to named men and only 4% [are] dedicated to women, half as many as those that celebrated animals. And of all the public sculptures in London, only 13% were created by women.” – The Guardian (UK)
- What David Hockney Learned From The Louvre
“Hockney used visibly different etching techniques in different territories of the image—soft mats of color for the window blind, meticulous linear hatching for the floor, and splotchy, translucent color for the surrounding wall.” – The Atlantic
- Do Artists Still Need Galleries?
It is often assumed that a gallery is a prerequisite to finding commercial success and a place in the history of art. But a growing number of artists are rejecting that notion and going—to use the kind of commercial lingo that the art market likes to avoid—Direct to Consumer (DTC). – Ocula
- Historic Japanese Castle Damaged By Earthquake For Second Time In Ten Years
Kumamoto Castle, built in 1607 on the island of Kyushu, is considered one of Japan’s three great surviving castles. A portion of its moat wall collapsed following Tuesday’s 7.1 earthquake. In 2016, a different portion of the wall came down in another temblor. – Hyperallergic
MEDIA
- The Report From Interlochen Might Help Change Michigan’s Laws Around Statute Of Limitations
Current bills “would extend the civil statute of limitations for criminal sexual conduct claims, create a one-year revival window for lawsuits that are currently time-barred and eliminate the civil statute of limitations when a criminal case results in a conviction.” – Detroit Free Press
- The Firestorm Over Emily Wilson’s Review Of The Odyssey
It was a strongly worded review, and Joyce Carol Oates, for one, isn’t having it. “Oates said she would have expected a translator, whose role she described as having subjectivity, to be more tolerant.” – The New York Times
- Kennedy Center Stops Public Tours Three Days After NY Times Feature On Tour Guide
On Monday, The New York Times posted an article featuring a longtime volunteer tour guide who said of the currently-dormant institution, “Now it’s a black hole.” On Thursday, a Kennedy Center official sent a memo to all volunteer tour guides telling them not to come there “until further notice.” – The New York Times
- Trump Administration’s Overhaul Of Historical Preservation Rules Alarms Preservationists
“A draft of the rule changes that circulated in recent weeks prompted an outcry from preservationists, architects, archaeologists and organizations representing Native American tribes. … ‘It’s both a scalpel and a bludgeon,’ said Greg Werkheiser, a lawyer who specializes in preservation cases.” – The New York Times
- Director Ruth Mackenzie, Sacked From Paris’s Théâtre Du Châtelet In 2020, Joins UK Prime Minister’s New Government
Following her abrupt firing, she went to direct Australia’s Adelaide Festival, then quit two years early to work in South Australia’s state government. Nine months after that, she departed for London to head the British Council. One year later, Mackenzie is now in the House of Lords as Under-Secretary for the Arts. – Limelight (Australia)
MUSIC
- What Happens When Two Partners Working Writers Suddenly Write Together
“‘We’d always been very wary of working together because we’d quite like to stay together,’ says Sharp wryly. She looks at her partner of 13 years. ‘You don’t generally like to work with others.’” – The Guardian (UK)
- If You Need A Good Laugh
Try one of Andrew Sean Greer’s comic novel recommendations, even though he says, “nobody knows what a comic novel is. And once you start discussing it, all the fun runs out.” – The Guardian (UK)
- No, Rachel Cusk’s Newest Book Is Not Dishing On Her Buddy Natalie Portman
“Life of M is a narrative hall of mirrors that only a fool would confuse with a thinly veiled roman à clef about a celebrity. To my mind, only one true mystery remains: Was Portman in on it?” – Slate
- A Two Million Dollar Publishing Deal Just Collapsed Over Potential AI Use
“An email sent to publishers by Falade’s agents … said: ‘Jerry Falade produced an incredible manuscript that dazzled us and the top publishing professionals around the world. Unfortunately, we are no longer able to authenticate how the manuscript fully evolved from origin to completion.’”- The Guardian (UK)
- Florida College Professor Fired For Assigning Ottessa Moshfegh Short Story
Vinita Prabhakar, until recently an adjunct professor at South Florida State College, had used Moshfegh’s “Bettering Myself” in an introductory reading-and-writing course there without incident since 2023. But someone complained about the story’s content to the college president, who fired Prabhakar, who’s now suing. – Tallahassee Democrat
PEOPLE
- Mapmakers Solved This Problem A Century Ago
Good Morning,
In the 1920s, cartographers planted invented towns in their maps. Two mapmakers might independently draw the same real village, but they can’t independently dream up the same fake one — so a phantom town turning up in a rival’s atlas was proof of theft (Open Culture).
Publishing could use the trick. A $2 million crime-novel deal collapsed this week not because the manuscript was bad — the agents called it dazzling — but because nobody could authenticate how it “evolved from origin to completion” (The Guardian).
Copying, meanwhile, keeps getting cheaper: a full leak of the new Spider-Man ran on X for seven hours and reached 5.9 million accounts while the box office went right on breaking records (The Verge). David Hockney copied too, and for his part, has never hidden what he took from the Louvre (The Atlantic).
Elsewhere: the Emily Wilson Odyssey fight rolls on (The New York Times), and artists are fighting to save a sculpture park in a city with more monuments to animals than to women (The Guardian).
All of our stories below.
- How To Get From Canada To Eurovision
“It’s still too soon to say how Canada’s act will be chosen, but as any athlete will tell you, it’s never too soon to start preparing for the international media, the next-level fans or winning over voters.” – CBC
- Vincent Pastore, Who Went From Nightclub Owner To Mob Guys In ‘Goodfellas’ And ‘The Sopranos,’ Has Died At 80
Pastore once said, “It’s easier for me to play a tough guy than it is to play the good guy. … I grew up in a tough neighborhood. I didn’t study the classics. I’m a street actor. A lot of my training was on the set.” – The New York Times
- When Childhood Dreams Turn Into Big Screen Reality
This guy started practicing Spider-moves and parkour as a kid, hoping he’d one day get to do stunts for Spider-Man movies … and that has paid off in a big way. – BBC
- Cicero Sez
PEOPLE
- Mapmakers Solved This Problem A Century Ago
Good Morning,
In the 1920s, cartographers planted invented towns in their maps. Two mapmakers might independently draw the same real village, but they can’t independently dream up the same fake one — so a phantom town turning up in a rival’s atlas was proof of theft (Open Culture).
Publishing could use the trick. A $2 million crime-novel deal collapsed this week not because the manuscript was bad — the agents called it dazzling — but because nobody could authenticate how it “evolved from origin to completion” (The Guardian).
Copying, meanwhile, keeps getting cheaper: a full leak of the new Spider-Man ran on X for seven hours and reached 5.9 million accounts while the box office went right on breaking records (The Verge). David Hockney copied too, and for his part, has never hidden what he took from the Louvre (The Atlantic).
Elsewhere: the Emily Wilson Odyssey fight rolls on (The New York Times), and artists are fighting to save a sculpture park in a city with more monuments to animals than to women (The Guardian).
All of our stories below.
- How To Get From Canada To Eurovision
“It’s still too soon to say how Canada’s act will be chosen, but as any athlete will tell you, it’s never too soon to start preparing for the international media, the next-level fans or winning over voters.” – CBC
- Vincent Pastore, Who Went From Nightclub Owner To Mob Guys In ‘Goodfellas’ And ‘The Sopranos,’ Has Died At 80
Pastore once said, “It’s easier for me to play a tough guy than it is to play the good guy. … I grew up in a tough neighborhood. I didn’t study the classics. I’m a street actor. A lot of my training was on the set.” – The New York Times
- When Childhood Dreams Turn Into Big Screen Reality
This guy started practicing Spider-moves and parkour as a kid, hoping he’d one day get to do stunts for Spider-Man movies … and that has paid off in a big way. – BBC
- Cicero Sez
THEATRE
VISUAL
- The Power Of Images, Or, How Fake Towns On Maps Sometimes Became Real
“The logic is simple: two cartographers might easily draw the same real town, but two cartographers can’t independently dream up the same fake one. So if a rival’s map contains the same invented place, it all but proves they copied the map.” – Open Culture
- Where Does All Of This ‘Odyssey’ Discourse Leave Us?
First of all, let academics write reviews of things they know about – whether you agree with their reviews or not, it jump-starts the discussion. – Vulture
- The Modern Stadium And Monumentality
Nearly all monumental architecture is expected to convey some set of values greater than its stated purpose. This is especially true of stadiums with their straightforward program – a pitch for a game to be played and seating from which to observe it. – Dezeen
- Should We Stop Listening To Technocrats?
International civil servants do not in fact escape power. They rearticulate it with the help of technical experts. By framing this rearticulation as real impartiality, however, they conflate technocracy and expertise. This conflation lies at the heart of the legitimacy crisis that international organisations face today. – Aeon
- What If Instead Of Humanity Inventing Art, Art Invented Humanity?
Today, many would argue that the ordinary ‘truth of accountants’ is more fundamental than ecstatic truth, which relies heavily on perception, interpretation and subjective feeling. Yet this misses the reality that art discloses. – Aeon