AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- American Classical Music at 250 — Take Seven: Another Boston Symphony Perspective on the “Malaise” Afflicting Orchestras
- Trust Us, The Amphitheatre Is Ancient
Good Morning,
Some of the most trusted political voices in 18th-century Britain didn’t exist. Writers invented personas, and readers believed the invented bylines more than the real ones — a tradition The Conversation argues never died, it just migrated to the accounts we follow now. Authorship was always partly a performance, and the audience was always a little in on it.
So the theme for today is fabrication. The city of Vicenza has spent generations admiring a Roman amphitheatre that turns out to be a 19th-century fabrication (Gramilano). Penguin Random House pulled a forthcoming book from sale after a plagiarism investigation (Washington Post). Prosecutors are pursuing Hermitage-linked archaeologists over digs in occupied Crimea (ARTnews) — excavation as a chain-of-custody crime. And thieves carried four Renaissance paintings out of a Messina museum while the city was at a festival (The New York Times), which at least has the candor of theft with the direct approach.
The through-line isn’t fraud. It’s provenance — the growing sense that what a thing is matters less than whose hands it passed through and who’s willing to vouch for it.
Meanwhile, a history of punctuation (The Wall Street Journal) notes that the exclamation point had to be invented in the 14th century. Someone decided enthusiasm needed notation, and we’ve been overusing it ever since. Emojis, anyone?
All of our stories below.
- A Whole Crop Of Pole-Dancing Shows At This Year’s Edinburgh Fringe
“Pole dance is a big part of the festival this year, popping up in sweaty, dazzling shows right across the Fringe. Not only do these acts show off amazing physical feats, they also tell stories that range from one woman’s HIV diagnosis, to the relationship between a neurodivergent mother and son.” – The Guardian
- Some Of The Sharpest Political Writers In 18th Century Britain Were Fictional
British writers in the 18th century repeatedly invented fictional characters to intervene in the politics and culture of their day. – The Conversation
- An Expressive History Of Punctuation
The exclamation point arrived in the middle of the 14th century, bringing what many felt was “a welcome infusion of emotion onto the page,” and was joined, over the 15th century, by parentheses and the apostrophe. – The Wall Street Journal
ISSUES
- Brazen: Thieves Steal Four Renaissance Paintings From Italian Museum
Taking advantage of an annual religious celebration that brings tens of thousands to Messina’s streets, thieves made off with three of five panels that constitute the Polyptych of San Gregorio as well as a small double-sided devotional painting. – The New York Times
- Preservation Group Appeals To Supreme Court To Stop White House Construction
The preservationist group trying to stop President Trump’s White House ballroom urged the Supreme Court to deny the administration’s emergency request to allow construction, calling it “astonishing” on Tuesday. – The Hill
- Sudden Power Outages And Overcrowding Plague Several Chinese Museums This Summer
“China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration has ordered public museums across the country to strengthen emergency management protocols to protect visitors and artefacts, following a string of power outages and overcrowding incidents during the summer holiday season. The directive follows several infrastructural breakdowns at major cultural institutions.” – The Art Newspaper
- Prosecutors For Crimea Investigate Archaeology Researchers Connected To Hermitage For War Crimes
“The prosecutor’s office of the republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol is investigating two unnamed researchers, one of them associated with the Hermitage, for war crimes. The prosecutors say they participated in illegal archaeological expeditions in the territory, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014.” – ARTnews
- Marina Abramović Is Making Art With, Of All Things, Balloons
“Snowy/Windy/Spring on Planet Z, the latest installation by the performance artist Marina Abramović, opened earlier this month at New York’s new Balloon Museum, which bills itself as ‘the first permanent home for inflatable art’.” – The Guardian
MEDIA
- The Case Of The Fake Ancient Roman Amphitheatre
“Picture this: a hillside ‘archaeological site’ complete with what were marketed as Neolithic and Greco-Roman artefacts, impressive enough that visitors were charged a hefty 40-euro entrance fee. … Except it wasn’t ancient at all.” And the perpetrator had cleared a protected hillside forest to build it. – Gramilano
- France’s Planned Ban On Social Media For Under-15s Ruled Unconstitutional
“The Constitutional Council … said the restrictions in the bill disproportionately infringe on minors’ right to freedom of expression and communication. Europe’s would-be first social media ban … had been a flagship policy of Macron’s second and final term.” – Politico
- Close The Kennedy Center? It Might Be The Best Option
Given how thoroughly Trump’s leadership has destroyed the center’s viability as a presenting organization, that is probably the best of a slew of bad options. – Washington Post
- Confirmed: Amazon Is Scanning And Then Ripping Up Rare Books
Wow, OK, way to be just obviously evil. “The printed book is destroyed in the process. The logo of the Amazon team that works at this warehouse, called VGT3, is a dinosaur, brandishing its teeth and with a book in its hands.” – 404 Media
- The Current Guy Uses AI To Claim Ballroom Approval From A Long-Dead Leader
The 47th president shared “a series of seemingly AI-generated images … and a short video in which Trump and Washington stroll through the still-unbuilt ballroom. ‘Thank you, George, for some of your brilliant ideas on this great Military Complex/Ballroom!’ Trump captioned the 10-second video.” – Salon
MUSIC
- An Expressive History Of Punctuation
The exclamation point arrived in the middle of the 14th century, bringing what many felt was “a welcome infusion of emotion onto the page,” and was joined, over the 15th century, by parentheses and the apostrophe. – The Wall Street Journal
- A Plan To Bring Portable Kids Libraries To Rural Mongolia
Magic Box, a Mongolian NGO (non-governmental agency) has hatched a program to turn old shipping containers into a constellation of children’s libraries throughout rural Mongolia. And they now the program will catch on anywhere children need books, and a place to call their own. – Publishing Perspectives
- “Thoreauvian Resistance” — Why “Walden” Is A Big Hit In Today’s China
“Thoreau warned us that most men lead lives of quiet desperation. In China today, that desperation has been given a name: Neijuan — involution. … If Thoreau were alive today, he might say that China has industrialized quiet desperation. The pushback has a name too: tang ping — lying flat.” – Literary Hub
- Publisher Suspends Book After Plagiarism Charges
Penguin Random House has suspended promotion and public sales of a forthcoming book by journalist Ross Barkan following allegations of extensive plagiarism in political columns he wrote as a freelancer for New York Magazine. – Washington Post
- Why Reading Fiction Is Good For Your Brain
The amount of fiction people read seems to be a better predictor of language ability than nonfiction, research finds. And, perhaps even more importantly, research has found that fiction is linked to better social cognition and an increased understanding of the world as a complex place. – Washington Post
PEOPLE
- American Classical Music at 250 — Take Seven: Another Boston Symphony Perspective on the “Malaise” Afflicting Orchestras
- Trust Us, The Amphitheatre Is Ancient
Good Morning,
Some of the most trusted political voices in 18th-century Britain didn’t exist. Writers invented personas, and readers believed the invented bylines more than the real ones — a tradition The Conversation argues never died, it just migrated to the accounts we follow now. Authorship was always partly a performance, and the audience was always a little in on it.
So the theme for today is fabrication. The city of Vicenza has spent generations admiring a Roman amphitheatre that turns out to be a 19th-century fabrication (Gramilano). Penguin Random House pulled a forthcoming book from sale after a plagiarism investigation (Washington Post). Prosecutors are pursuing Hermitage-linked archaeologists over digs in occupied Crimea (ARTnews) — excavation as a chain-of-custody crime. And thieves carried four Renaissance paintings out of a Messina museum while the city was at a festival (The New York Times), which at least has the candor of theft with the direct approach.
The through-line isn’t fraud. It’s provenance — the growing sense that what a thing is matters less than whose hands it passed through and who’s willing to vouch for it.
Meanwhile, a history of punctuation (The Wall Street Journal) notes that the exclamation point had to be invented in the 14th century. Someone decided enthusiasm needed notation, and we’ve been overusing it ever since. Emojis, anyone?
All of our stories below.
- A Whole Crop Of Pole-Dancing Shows At This Year’s Edinburgh Fringe
“Pole dance is a big part of the festival this year, popping up in sweaty, dazzling shows right across the Fringe. Not only do these acts show off amazing physical feats, they also tell stories that range from one woman’s HIV diagnosis, to the relationship between a neurodivergent mother and son.” – The Guardian
- Some Of The Sharpest Political Writers In 18th Century Britain Were Fictional
British writers in the 18th century repeatedly invented fictional characters to intervene in the politics and culture of their day. – The Conversation
- An Expressive History Of Punctuation
The exclamation point arrived in the middle of the 14th century, bringing what many felt was “a welcome infusion of emotion onto the page,” and was joined, over the 15th century, by parentheses and the apostrophe. – The Wall Street Journal
PEOPLE
- American Classical Music at 250 — Take Seven: Another Boston Symphony Perspective on the “Malaise” Afflicting Orchestras
- Trust Us, The Amphitheatre Is Ancient
Good Morning,
Some of the most trusted political voices in 18th-century Britain didn’t exist. Writers invented personas, and readers believed the invented bylines more than the real ones — a tradition The Conversation argues never died, it just migrated to the accounts we follow now. Authorship was always partly a performance, and the audience was always a little in on it.
So the theme for today is fabrication. The city of Vicenza has spent generations admiring a Roman amphitheatre that turns out to be a 19th-century fabrication (Gramilano). Penguin Random House pulled a forthcoming book from sale after a plagiarism investigation (Washington Post). Prosecutors are pursuing Hermitage-linked archaeologists over digs in occupied Crimea (ARTnews) — excavation as a chain-of-custody crime. And thieves carried four Renaissance paintings out of a Messina museum while the city was at a festival (The New York Times), which at least has the candor of theft with the direct approach.
The through-line isn’t fraud. It’s provenance — the growing sense that what a thing is matters less than whose hands it passed through and who’s willing to vouch for it.
Meanwhile, a history of punctuation (The Wall Street Journal) notes that the exclamation point had to be invented in the 14th century. Someone decided enthusiasm needed notation, and we’ve been overusing it ever since. Emojis, anyone?
All of our stories below.
- A Whole Crop Of Pole-Dancing Shows At This Year’s Edinburgh Fringe
“Pole dance is a big part of the festival this year, popping up in sweaty, dazzling shows right across the Fringe. Not only do these acts show off amazing physical feats, they also tell stories that range from one woman’s HIV diagnosis, to the relationship between a neurodivergent mother and son.” – The Guardian
- Some Of The Sharpest Political Writers In 18th Century Britain Were Fictional
British writers in the 18th century repeatedly invented fictional characters to intervene in the politics and culture of their day. – The Conversation
- An Expressive History Of Punctuation
The exclamation point arrived in the middle of the 14th century, bringing what many felt was “a welcome infusion of emotion onto the page,” and was joined, over the 15th century, by parentheses and the apostrophe. – The Wall Street Journal
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Some Of The Sharpest Political Writers In 18th Century Britain Were Fictional
British writers in the 18th century repeatedly invented fictional characters to intervene in the politics and culture of their day. – The Conversation
- Research: Why We’re Bothered More When We Think People Are Wrong (And It’s Not Just A Different Opinion)
Our new research finds that people are more disturbed by others’ beliefs when they feel those beliefs are not merely different from their own but are based on incorrect information. – The Conversation
- The End Of Nostalgia?
What if businesses become too good at selling nostalgia? Research I carried out with colleagues suggests that digital technology is changing nostalgia itself. Ironically, by making the past permanently available, companies may be weakening the very notion they are trying to sell. – The Conversation
- Warning: Screen Time Is Having An Impact On Kids’ Cognitive Abilities
“Our children are less cognitively capable than we were at their age. For nearly two centuries, the west experienced steady generational progress. Each new cohort of children grew up, on average, healthier, happier, and better educated than the last. Until now.” – The Guardian
- How AI Will Damage Children’s Brain Development
During the most foundational period of brain development, social interaction of the sort that AI can now emulate isn’t entertainment for the developing brain. It’s nutrition. Once you see it that way, the right parallel snaps into focus. A more apt comparison than social media is food—more precisely, processed food. – The Atlantic