AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- The Telegraph’s New Owner Wants an “AI-Powered” Paper
Good Morning,
Axel Springer, the German publisher of Politico and Bild, told staff at London’s Telegraph on Friday that the paper will become “a global, AI-powered premium media and intelligence business.” Insiders expect up to 100 jobs to go, with the culture and sports desks hit hardest, and the new revenue list (video, audio, puzzles, events, licensing, commerce) names no arts coverage (The Guardian). It leads because a culture desk is being cut in the same announcement that promises AI.
Ann Powers argues that “Is it real?” has become music’s central question, from AI tracks flooding streaming services to country star Stella Lefty’s “Boston” borrowing the chorus of Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season.” Her historical point is that earlier fakery panics, from Ry Cooder’s digital 1979 album to Paula Abdul’s vocals, were ways of saying “stay out.” (NPR).
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has $45.5 million in cash and a projected $79 million budget, and owns most of Downtown’s theatres. It says it is “not a funder”. Meanwhile Pittsburgh Public Theater and Pittsburgh CLO have merged and the opera and ballet are cutting Downtown dates (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). It matters beyond Pittsburgh because it shows what a regional market gets when its biggest institution exists to bring people Downtown.
Michelle Terry leaves Shakespeare’s Globe at the end of 2027 after a decade of holding the £5 ticket, and calls theatre “the most necessary of AI-proof art forms” (What’s On Stage).
All of our stories below.
- First Word Of The Year For 2026 Is Here: Dictionary.Com Selects “Maxxing”
“’Maxxing” rose through the cultural lexicons of Gen Z and Gen Alpha quickly, ‘and now works as a noun, verb, adjective and adverb all at once. Leveling up your workout routine? ‘Gymmaxxing.’ Your personal care practices? ‘Healthmaxxing,’ an umbrella term that covers numerous subgenres, including ‘proteinmaxxing’ and ‘fibermaxxing.’” – CBS News
- Scientists Figure Out How That Mysterious Ancient Roman Cup Changes Color
“Depending on where a light source is positioned, the Lycurgus Cup changes colour, from jade green under normal lighting to ruby red when lit from behind – a feat of optical engineering that has confounded historians and glassmakers for centuries. Now scientists from the University of Sheffield have replicated its optical behaviour.” – The Guardian
- Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Is A Juggernaut. So How Does It Work?
Things are going so well for the Trust that, in recent years, it has made some of the tinier theater spaces it owns and manages available free of charge to individual artists and small arts organizations. And yet, mentioning the Cultural Trust to some Pittsburgh artists can bring a wince. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Lincoln In Opera — A Different Portrait
The composer Missy Mazzoli and the librettist Royce Vavrek, one of the hottest creative teams in opera, conjure a darker, more conflicted president in “Lincoln in the Bardo,” which premiered on Oct. 19 at the Metropolitan Opera. – The New York Times
ISSUES
- Scientists Figure Out How That Mysterious Ancient Roman Cup Changes Color
“Depending on where a light source is positioned, the Lycurgus Cup changes colour, from jade green under normal lighting to ruby red when lit from behind – a feat of optical engineering that has confounded historians and glassmakers for centuries. Now scientists from the University of Sheffield have replicated its optical behaviour.” – The Guardian
- Why Has The Bayeux Tapestry Become A Pop Culture Hit?
In the first hour that the second round of tickets to view the tapestry were available last Wednesday, payments from Monzo cardholders to the British Museum reached £14,100 and were 48 times that of a normal Wednesday morning. More than half (55%) of those buyers were aged under 35. – The Guardian
- Staffers At V&A Museums In London Suspend Strike Plans
“The strike was suspended on Monday pending last-minute talks with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, after the V&A management made an improved offer.” – The Guardian
- San Francisco’s SFMoMA Gets A Big Boost From A K-Pop Star
Want to sell tickets? Get a K-pop star’s art collection up. “The show has been a blockbuster success, with over 66,000 tickets sold and advance sales that were six times higher than any previous exhibition at the museum.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Dealers Scramble To Get Work Out Of Art Basel Paris After Surprise Early Closing
Multiple dealers told ARTnews they’d received an email announcing the decision at around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. By then, many had already suspected Saturday’s opening might be canceled. The loss of Sunday came as more of a surprise. – ARTnews
MEDIA
- Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Is A Juggernaut. So How Does It Work?
Things are going so well for the Trust that, in recent years, it has made some of the tinier theater spaces it owns and manages available free of charge to individual artists and small arts organizations. And yet, mentioning the Cultural Trust to some Pittsburgh artists can bring a wince. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Perot Museum Of Nature And Science Plans $185 Million Expansion
“Plans include a five-story parking garage, a new arrival pavilion, a dedicated area for school bus drop-offs, a pollinator garden and a paleontology garden. This will double the amount of square footage that the museum has dedicated to exhibits, but now outside the building.” – KERA (Dallas)
- The Film Director Whose Impossible Class Struggle Movie Won At Venice
Lee Chang-Dong: “I constantly asked myself: am I worthy of telling this story? And if I am, how do I tell it? Do I stand close to the workers, or keep my distance?” – The Guardian (UK)
- A Huge Fire Has Destroyed Hitler’s Nazi Guesthouse
For some reason (the reason being that after WWII, “local officials fought successfully to keep it, seeing it as a historical site that could attract visitors”), it was still standing, and had a popular restaurant. – The New York Times
- “Why Satire Is No Laughing Matter”: An Essay By Sacha Baron Cohen
“Satire doesn’t just needle politicians or regimes — it occasionally helps bring them down. … Historian Ben Lewis credits Soviet joke-telling with helping to topple communism, by making it impossible for even the system’s own enforcers to take it seriously. … ‘Every joke,’ George Orwell observed, ‘is a tiny revolution.’” – Time
MUSIC
- First Word Of The Year For 2026 Is Here: Dictionary.Com Selects “Maxxing”
“’Maxxing” rose through the cultural lexicons of Gen Z and Gen Alpha quickly, ‘and now works as a noun, verb, adjective and adverb all at once. Leveling up your workout routine? ‘Gymmaxxing.’ Your personal care practices? ‘Healthmaxxing,’ an umbrella term that covers numerous subgenres, including ‘proteinmaxxing’ and ‘fibermaxxing.’” – CBS News
- Layoffs At UK Newspaper The Telegraph As Owner Aims To Make It “AI-Powered Business”
“Staff were told the title would rely increasingly on technology, data and AI to ‘reinvent the reader experience’. Newsroom insiders said they expected as many as 100 people to lose their jobs.” The move comes four months after The Telegraph was acquired by German media conglomerate Axel Springer. – The Guardian
- Has Substack “Fixed” Writing On The Internet?
The company is, in essence, a crowdfunding e-commerce site, belonging to the same category as Kickstarter, Patreon, Gumroad, and OnlyFans. But it has out-evolved its ancestors and bested its competitors in its relevance to public discourse and in its direct commodification of online parasocial relationships. – The New Yorker
- Can An Immigrant From Scotland Really Be ‘An Irish Writer’?
The writer herself has questions.”Writers are, often, to generalise, outsiders, observers, given to the long view, odd if not downright awkward. … How do these propensities relate to the construction of literature as an international sport?” – Irish Times
- How To Write About People, And Place, Beyond War
“Turning to fiction allowed for stories that would otherwise have disappeared into the chest of time, to live on, and slowly but surely they are educating, bringing forth that we all share this place together. The 24-hour news cycle leaves little room for reflection or deeper understanding.” – LitHub
PEOPLE
- The Telegraph’s New Owner Wants an “AI-Powered” Paper
Good Morning,
Axel Springer, the German publisher of Politico and Bild, told staff at London’s Telegraph on Friday that the paper will become “a global, AI-powered premium media and intelligence business.” Insiders expect up to 100 jobs to go, with the culture and sports desks hit hardest, and the new revenue list (video, audio, puzzles, events, licensing, commerce) names no arts coverage (The Guardian). It leads because a culture desk is being cut in the same announcement that promises AI.
Ann Powers argues that “Is it real?” has become music’s central question, from AI tracks flooding streaming services to country star Stella Lefty’s “Boston” borrowing the chorus of Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season.” Her historical point is that earlier fakery panics, from Ry Cooder’s digital 1979 album to Paula Abdul’s vocals, were ways of saying “stay out.” (NPR).
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has $45.5 million in cash and a projected $79 million budget, and owns most of Downtown’s theatres. It says it is “not a funder”. Meanwhile Pittsburgh Public Theater and Pittsburgh CLO have merged and the opera and ballet are cutting Downtown dates (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). It matters beyond Pittsburgh because it shows what a regional market gets when its biggest institution exists to bring people Downtown.
Michelle Terry leaves Shakespeare’s Globe at the end of 2027 after a decade of holding the £5 ticket, and calls theatre “the most necessary of AI-proof art forms” (What’s On Stage).
All of our stories below.
- First Word Of The Year For 2026 Is Here: Dictionary.Com Selects “Maxxing”
“’Maxxing” rose through the cultural lexicons of Gen Z and Gen Alpha quickly, ‘and now works as a noun, verb, adjective and adverb all at once. Leveling up your workout routine? ‘Gymmaxxing.’ Your personal care practices? ‘Healthmaxxing,’ an umbrella term that covers numerous subgenres, including ‘proteinmaxxing’ and ‘fibermaxxing.’” – CBS News
- Scientists Figure Out How That Mysterious Ancient Roman Cup Changes Color
“Depending on where a light source is positioned, the Lycurgus Cup changes colour, from jade green under normal lighting to ruby red when lit from behind – a feat of optical engineering that has confounded historians and glassmakers for centuries. Now scientists from the University of Sheffield have replicated its optical behaviour.” – The Guardian
- Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Is A Juggernaut. So How Does It Work?
Things are going so well for the Trust that, in recent years, it has made some of the tinier theater spaces it owns and manages available free of charge to individual artists and small arts organizations. And yet, mentioning the Cultural Trust to some Pittsburgh artists can bring a wince. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Lincoln In Opera — A Different Portrait
The composer Missy Mazzoli and the librettist Royce Vavrek, one of the hottest creative teams in opera, conjure a darker, more conflicted president in “Lincoln in the Bardo,” which premiered on Oct. 19 at the Metropolitan Opera. – The New York Times
PEOPLE
- The Telegraph’s New Owner Wants an “AI-Powered” Paper
Good Morning,
Axel Springer, the German publisher of Politico and Bild, told staff at London’s Telegraph on Friday that the paper will become “a global, AI-powered premium media and intelligence business.” Insiders expect up to 100 jobs to go, with the culture and sports desks hit hardest, and the new revenue list (video, audio, puzzles, events, licensing, commerce) names no arts coverage (The Guardian). It leads because a culture desk is being cut in the same announcement that promises AI.
Ann Powers argues that “Is it real?” has become music’s central question, from AI tracks flooding streaming services to country star Stella Lefty’s “Boston” borrowing the chorus of Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season.” Her historical point is that earlier fakery panics, from Ry Cooder’s digital 1979 album to Paula Abdul’s vocals, were ways of saying “stay out.” (NPR).
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has $45.5 million in cash and a projected $79 million budget, and owns most of Downtown’s theatres. It says it is “not a funder”. Meanwhile Pittsburgh Public Theater and Pittsburgh CLO have merged and the opera and ballet are cutting Downtown dates (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). It matters beyond Pittsburgh because it shows what a regional market gets when its biggest institution exists to bring people Downtown.
Michelle Terry leaves Shakespeare’s Globe at the end of 2027 after a decade of holding the £5 ticket, and calls theatre “the most necessary of AI-proof art forms” (What’s On Stage).
All of our stories below.
- First Word Of The Year For 2026 Is Here: Dictionary.Com Selects “Maxxing”
“’Maxxing” rose through the cultural lexicons of Gen Z and Gen Alpha quickly, ‘and now works as a noun, verb, adjective and adverb all at once. Leveling up your workout routine? ‘Gymmaxxing.’ Your personal care practices? ‘Healthmaxxing,’ an umbrella term that covers numerous subgenres, including ‘proteinmaxxing’ and ‘fibermaxxing.’” – CBS News
- Scientists Figure Out How That Mysterious Ancient Roman Cup Changes Color
“Depending on where a light source is positioned, the Lycurgus Cup changes colour, from jade green under normal lighting to ruby red when lit from behind – a feat of optical engineering that has confounded historians and glassmakers for centuries. Now scientists from the University of Sheffield have replicated its optical behaviour.” – The Guardian
- Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Is A Juggernaut. So How Does It Work?
Things are going so well for the Trust that, in recent years, it has made some of the tinier theater spaces it owns and manages available free of charge to individual artists and small arts organizations. And yet, mentioning the Cultural Trust to some Pittsburgh artists can bring a wince. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Lincoln In Opera — A Different Portrait
The composer Missy Mazzoli and the librettist Royce Vavrek, one of the hottest creative teams in opera, conjure a darker, more conflicted president in “Lincoln in the Bardo,” which premiered on Oct. 19 at the Metropolitan Opera. – The New York Times
THEATRE
VISUAL
- AI Will Upend Culture. How Should AI Companies Be Regulated?
What should the government do? We asked a panel of experts to assess the risks A.I. presents and the tools of governance that could be adopted to address them. – The New York Times
- Study Upends Understanding Of How Language Works
A groundbreaking study challenges 70 years of assumptions about how human language works. By analyzing billions of word uses, scientists discovered that meaning is organized around power, danger, and order rather than emotion alone. – ScienceDaily
- We’re Enhancing Real Life as a Cinematic Experience
The result is that cinematic, as a descriptor, now connotes not a break from regular life but an enhancement of it. – The Atlantic
- Billionaire Tech Nerds And Their Investment In Ending Democracy
As Trump’s behaviour became increasingly authoritarian—openly defying laws, targeting his enemies with prosecutions, dispatching troops into Democratic cities, and turning US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into a shock force to terrorize immigrant communities—many in Silicon Valley cashed in on the action. – The Walrus
- Does The California Gold Rush Teach Us Anything About The Rush To AI?
In 1849 alone, more than forty thousand people travelled overland to California, while roughly the same number headed there by sea. – The New Yorker