AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Nicolas Cage Didn’t Sign Amazon’s AI Waiver
Good Morning,
Nicolas Cage told a New York ComicCon panel that he refused to sign Amazon’s AI waiver for Spider-Noir, a series Amazon cancelled after one season and 11 Emmy nominations (Variety). Meanwhile more than two dozen staffers at HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette tell Wired that executives are having ChatGPT and Claude write publicity copy and emails to literary agents, and that HarperCollins drafted dozens of employees as “AI Champions” (Wired). One industry source tells the Guardian that AI-made ads can cost up to 60 percent less, which worries Luke Scott, who runs Ridley Scott Associates, about a “lost generation” of directors who would have learned on ad shoots (The Guardian).
SiriusXM replaced its Raw Comedy channel, which played tracks from more than 800 comedians a month at $15 a spin, with a channel owned by Sebastian Maniscalco that played 275 last month, three-quarters of the plays going to its top 50 (CBC). Deniz Göktaş, the Turkish stand-up convicted of insulting Erdoğan after 88 days in custody, used his courtroom defense to argue that if leaders can be this fragile about jokes, comedy has power (The New York Times).
And from the physical, practical world of dance, Ballet Des Moines, Iowa’s only professional resident dance company, spends about $45,000 a year on 300 pairs of pointe shoes and is raising $10,000 by October 31 (KCCI).
All of the stories we collected this weekend, below. See you tomorrow.
- Please, No More Articles On The End Of Reading
Just stop. We know, already. Got anything new to say? – Slate
- Why We Need A Four (Or More) Hour Documentary About Elon Musk
“This small group of people has tried to basically run a con on all of us. ‘We’re doing this out of the goodness of our own hearts. We’re making the world better.’ No, you’re padding your bottom lines and all you care about is you.” – The New York Times
- How To Become The Queen Of Romantasy
Simply generate “the raw fiber of old myths woven into new stories, processed through the internet, refined into audiobooks, … which drive fans back to bookstores, where they can buy a keepsake hardcover” and, if they’re lucky, “drink themed cocktails in ACOTAR-inspired ball gowns at midnight.” – The Atlantic
- It’s ‘Stop Giving Literary Prizes To Stories With AI Flags’ Time, Again
“That this narrator has all the personality of a chatbot is probably not coincidental.” Ouch. – The Atlantic
ISSUES
- Piero Lovers Never Get Stuck In Florence
Not that “stuck in Florence” is so awful, but for full Italian Renaissance Master love, you have to travel. – The New York Times
- Ousted Kennedy Center Chair Buys Sculpture Rejected By Trump’s People
“Billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein has purchased the abstract sculpture called Blue that was removed from the [Kennedy Center] grounds last week. … It will eventually be displayed in the Sculpture Garden of the National Gallery of Art.” – The New York Times
- The Trolls That Took Over A Town And Charmed Everyone
“I’ve been here 37 years and I’ve never had a busier summer,” said Tina Merrihew, 59, who owns a half-laundromat, half-doughnut shop. “Amazing what trolls can do. They’re instigators.” – The New York Times
- Indy’s Newfields Museum Director Steps Down
Belinda Tate began at Newfields in 2023, days before the surprise exit of former CEO and president Colette Pierce Burnette and after a years-long spotlight had been on Newfields in part due to controversial language in a 2021 posting of the director job, which led to the resignation of then-CEO and president Charles Venable. – Indianapolis Star
- Stolen Renoirs Have Been Recovered, Six Suspects Arrested
Two paintings, “Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano” and “Young Woman at the Well,” have been reclaimed by police after having been stolen last month from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, near Nice. (Two other paintings were dropped and left behind by the thieves while they were absconding.) – AP
MEDIA
- Amazon Fumbled The Bag With Spider Noir – And With Nic Cage
Cage: “I am not an AI-friendly actor, so it’s like, connect those dots! I’m not a member of their club. I didn’t sign the waiver to let him use AI on Spider Noir. I’m probably not going to be working with that studio again.” – Variety
- Artist Manager For Rock Stars To Be Kennedy Center’s Next Programming Chief
“Rick Canny, … a longtime talent manager who worked with several prominent rock stars from the 1980s and ‘90s, … will soon be elevated to an executive artistic director position, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.” – CNN (MSN)
- Cooper Union Finds A New Lessee/Owner New York’s Chrysler Building
“New York’s iconic Chrysler Building, standing on land owned and leased by the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, is transferring ownership to the commercial real-estate company Tishman Speyer and other investors, who are planning an extensive overhaul of the Art Deco landmark after years of neglect.” – ARTnews
- How Defunding Arts Education Brought About Civic Unraveling
The Bicentennial offered everyday people in the middle of the map novel opportunities to appreciate and deliberate what America was, and it succeeded in this because it conducted more than a history lesson: Art was surprisingly paramount in this event of collective self-identification, historical commemoration, and political convocation. – ARTnews
- How Venice Built The World’s First Ghetto
In 1516, the Venetian Senate voted to create the world’s first ‘ghetto’. All Jews then living in the city – as well as any others who might come later – were ordered to move immediately to a small island in the northeastern sestiere of Cannaregio. It was anything but appealing. – Aeon
MUSIC
- Please, No More Articles On The End Of Reading
Just stop. We know, already. Got anything new to say? – Slate
- How To Become The Queen Of Romantasy
Simply generate “the raw fiber of old myths woven into new stories, processed through the internet, refined into audiobooks, … which drive fans back to bookstores, where they can buy a keepsake hardcover” and, if they’re lucky, “drink themed cocktails in ACOTAR-inspired ball gowns at midnight.” – The Atlantic
- It’s ‘Stop Giving Literary Prizes To Stories With AI Flags’ Time, Again
“That this narrator has all the personality of a chatbot is probably not coincidental.” Ouch. – The Atlantic
- Book Publishers Are Using More AI Behind The Scenes, And Workers Are Furious
“Publishers are now using LLMs like Claude and ChatGPT to email literary agents, write publicity and back-cover copy, design cover art, and generate marketing materials, often at the direction of their executives.” – Wired
- The New Cold Tip For Used Books: Freeze Them
But, alert: “there’s more to freezing a book than just tossing it next to the ice cream.” – The New York Times
PEOPLE
- Nicolas Cage Didn’t Sign Amazon’s AI Waiver
Good Morning,
Nicolas Cage told a New York ComicCon panel that he refused to sign Amazon’s AI waiver for Spider-Noir, a series Amazon cancelled after one season and 11 Emmy nominations (Variety). Meanwhile more than two dozen staffers at HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette tell Wired that executives are having ChatGPT and Claude write publicity copy and emails to literary agents, and that HarperCollins drafted dozens of employees as “AI Champions” (Wired). One industry source tells the Guardian that AI-made ads can cost up to 60 percent less, which worries Luke Scott, who runs Ridley Scott Associates, about a “lost generation” of directors who would have learned on ad shoots (The Guardian).
SiriusXM replaced its Raw Comedy channel, which played tracks from more than 800 comedians a month at $15 a spin, with a channel owned by Sebastian Maniscalco that played 275 last month, three-quarters of the plays going to its top 50 (CBC). Deniz Göktaş, the Turkish stand-up convicted of insulting Erdoğan after 88 days in custody, used his courtroom defense to argue that if leaders can be this fragile about jokes, comedy has power (The New York Times).
And from the physical, practical world of dance, Ballet Des Moines, Iowa’s only professional resident dance company, spends about $45,000 a year on 300 pairs of pointe shoes and is raising $10,000 by October 31 (KCCI).
All of the stories we collected this weekend, below. See you tomorrow.
- Please, No More Articles On The End Of Reading
Just stop. We know, already. Got anything new to say? – Slate
- Why We Need A Four (Or More) Hour Documentary About Elon Musk
“This small group of people has tried to basically run a con on all of us. ‘We’re doing this out of the goodness of our own hearts. We’re making the world better.’ No, you’re padding your bottom lines and all you care about is you.” – The New York Times
- How To Become The Queen Of Romantasy
Simply generate “the raw fiber of old myths woven into new stories, processed through the internet, refined into audiobooks, … which drive fans back to bookstores, where they can buy a keepsake hardcover” and, if they’re lucky, “drink themed cocktails in ACOTAR-inspired ball gowns at midnight.” – The Atlantic
- It’s ‘Stop Giving Literary Prizes To Stories With AI Flags’ Time, Again
“That this narrator has all the personality of a chatbot is probably not coincidental.” Ouch. – The Atlantic
PEOPLE
- Nicolas Cage Didn’t Sign Amazon’s AI Waiver
Good Morning,
Nicolas Cage told a New York ComicCon panel that he refused to sign Amazon’s AI waiver for Spider-Noir, a series Amazon cancelled after one season and 11 Emmy nominations (Variety). Meanwhile more than two dozen staffers at HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette tell Wired that executives are having ChatGPT and Claude write publicity copy and emails to literary agents, and that HarperCollins drafted dozens of employees as “AI Champions” (Wired). One industry source tells the Guardian that AI-made ads can cost up to 60 percent less, which worries Luke Scott, who runs Ridley Scott Associates, about a “lost generation” of directors who would have learned on ad shoots (The Guardian).
SiriusXM replaced its Raw Comedy channel, which played tracks from more than 800 comedians a month at $15 a spin, with a channel owned by Sebastian Maniscalco that played 275 last month, three-quarters of the plays going to its top 50 (CBC). Deniz Göktaş, the Turkish stand-up convicted of insulting Erdoğan after 88 days in custody, used his courtroom defense to argue that if leaders can be this fragile about jokes, comedy has power (The New York Times).
And from the physical, practical world of dance, Ballet Des Moines, Iowa’s only professional resident dance company, spends about $45,000 a year on 300 pairs of pointe shoes and is raising $10,000 by October 31 (KCCI).
All of the stories we collected this weekend, below. See you tomorrow.
- Please, No More Articles On The End Of Reading
Just stop. We know, already. Got anything new to say? – Slate
- Why We Need A Four (Or More) Hour Documentary About Elon Musk
“This small group of people has tried to basically run a con on all of us. ‘We’re doing this out of the goodness of our own hearts. We’re making the world better.’ No, you’re padding your bottom lines and all you care about is you.” – The New York Times
- How To Become The Queen Of Romantasy
Simply generate “the raw fiber of old myths woven into new stories, processed through the internet, refined into audiobooks, … which drive fans back to bookstores, where they can buy a keepsake hardcover” and, if they’re lucky, “drink themed cocktails in ACOTAR-inspired ball gowns at midnight.” – The Atlantic
- It’s ‘Stop Giving Literary Prizes To Stories With AI Flags’ Time, Again
“That this narrator has all the personality of a chatbot is probably not coincidental.” Ouch. – The Atlantic
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Why We Need A Four (Or More) Hour Documentary About Elon Musk
“This small group of people has tried to basically run a con on all of us. ‘We’re doing this out of the goodness of our own hearts. We’re making the world better.’ No, you’re padding your bottom lines and all you care about is you.” – The New York Times
- The Helpful Science Behind Spooky Season
“Seeking out fear is our way of preparing our bodies for the sometimes scary real world. And this vaccine is actually fun for most people.” – NPR
- Is AI A Brain Or A Database?
Human intuitions and mental models about how technology works govern how people use it. The idea of AI as software – deterministic, fact-retrieving – causes people to misinterpret the outputs they provide. – The Conversation
- For Lifelong Learning, It’s Better With Partners
The internet is full of resources for self-directed learning: for any subject, you can easily find blog posts about essential texts, links to university syllabi, and hours of YouTube lectures. When I attempted to make use of these guides, however, I often found myself disengaged and unfocused. – Psyche
- How Data Visualization Tells Stories
Because data, and how we present it, tells a story, it’s important to transform results responsibly into visuals. A good visualization can show you really interesting patterns in your data; however, a bad visualization, like truncating the Y-axis or choosing the wrong type of plot, can lead you or your audience to the wrong conclusions. – The Scientist