AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- AMC Settles Lawsuit Over Profit-Sharing On “The Walking Dead”
“The lawsuit, initially filed in 2022, was about the profit participation rights for the original Walking Dead series, and its first spinoff series Fear the Walking Dead. AMC says that it will pay $120 million to resolve the lawsuit, including $85 million this month, with another $35 million next year.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- Summer Season At U.S. Movie Theaters Sets All-Time Box Office Record
“Domestic ticket sales from May 1 through Labor Day on Sept. 7 stand at $4.76 billion, according to Rentrak. Revenues surpassed the long-held record set in 2013 with $4.755 billion, anchored by Iron Man 3, Despicable Me 2 and Man of Steel.” – Variety
- Today In French Museum Robberies: Thieves Take Renoirs From Museum On Riviera
Just a few days after the question of whether Pierre-Auguste Renoir was even a good artist re-entered public discussion, some “well-equipped” and “well-informed” burglars made off from two paintings from Renoir’s home in Cagnes-sur-Mer. (In their rush to escape, the thieves left two other works in the garden.) – AP
- Kennedy Center Chairman That Trump Fired Buys Sculpture That Trump Had Removed
David Rubenstein, the billionaire philanthropist who was chair of the Kennedy Center’s board until Trump ousted him in early 2025, has purchased the Joel Shapiro sculpture Blue, which was carted away from the Center’s grounds last week. Rubenstein will loan the work to the National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden. – The New York Times
- What the world sounds like
Good Morning,
A piece of the Kennedy Center’s ceiling came down Friday, and the Center’s spokesperson called it fresh proof of the need to close for the renovation its chairman champions (AP).
In Los Angeles, the Lucas Museum opens this month on a bet that comics, illustration and film belong on the same walls as the canon — and that the public, not the field, gets to say so (Los Angeles Times). Venice, by contrast, has two films by women this year; one of their directors says the cult of male genius is exactly why (The Guardian).
Stanford’s AI institute makes a hopeful case: art and AI can hold each other accountable — artists exposing what the systems can’t see, the systems handing art a participatory medium (Stanford). The less hopeful version of accountability is in court, where the Trump administration argues a New York Times win over OpenAI would threaten national security — a position publishers’ lawyers call an uncompensated transfer of IP from newsrooms to tech companies (NiemanLab). British design leaders, meanwhile, tell nervous staff AI is just “the intern in the office” (The Guardian), the same weekend Bill Gates went to Telluride to say the opposite (Los Angeles Times). Nobody litigates over an intern.
And a site that lets you spin a globe and listen to anywhere on it (The Verge). The world, unedited.
All of our stories below.
ISSUES
- Today In French Museum Robberies: Thieves Take Renoirs From Museum On Riviera
Just a few days after the question of whether Pierre-Auguste Renoir was even a good artist re-entered public discussion, some “well-equipped” and “well-informed” burglars made off from two paintings from Renoir’s home in Cagnes-sur-Mer. (In their rush to escape, the thieves left two other works in the garden.) – AP
- Kennedy Center Chairman That Trump Fired Buys Sculpture That Trump Had Removed
David Rubenstein, the billionaire philanthropist who was chair of the Kennedy Center’s board until Trump ousted him in early 2025, has purchased the Joel Shapiro sculpture Blue, which was carted away from the Center’s grounds last week. Rubenstein will loan the work to the National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden. – The New York Times
- UK Loans Parthenon Pieces To Germany
The British Museum will lend two fragments of the Parthenon sculptures to an exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany, while Greece has rejected a request to lend nine Parthenon fragments from the Acropolis Museum for the same exhibition. – Greek Reporter
- The Lucas Museum’s Populist Bet
It would be easy to describe the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which opens Sept. 22, as “unconventional,” a description the museum’s leaders seem to favor, though “oppositional” also comes to mind. – Los Angeles Times
- What Happened To The Pieces Of Steel Salvaged From The World Trade Center?
“Everyone experienced the attacks on 9/11 as this really, really intense television event, and bringing a piece of steel from the World Trade Center … allowed people to lay hands on these artifacts and to really feel this kind of deep expression of complex and lingering grief.” – NPR
MEDIA
- Officials Renew Calls To Close After Falling Ceiling Piece At Kennedy Center
A Kennedy Center Spokesperson called the partial ceiling collapse Friday “another example of the urgent need to close for renovation and revitalization, as our Chairman President Trump has championed.” – AP
- Other Industry Leaders Say Not To Worry About AI, At Least If You’re A Designer
In Britain, “the head of the Society of Garden and Landscape Designers said many people working in his industry were nervous about AI. He said design companies were more likely to use AI as ‘the intern in the office’ than as a replacement for skilled staff.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Bill Gates, Yes, That Bill Gates, Sounds A Strong Alarm Over AI
“He laid out five broad areas of concern: jobs, biotechnology, cyberattacks, psychosocial harms and whether humans will be able to maintain control over the systems they are building.” – Los Angeles Times (MSN)
- Are Actors Who Support Gaza Getting Blacklisted In Hollywood?
Susan Sarandon certainly thinks so. “Sarandon said resistance to hiring outspoken critics of Israel remained particularly strong among major studios.” – The Guardian (UK)
- The ‘Cult Of Male Directors’ Must End
Venice only has two films directed by women this year – and one of those directors says that “the enduring cult of male genius is keeping down female film-makers.” – The Guardian (UK)
MUSIC
- The Point Of Reading Pauline Kael
I don’t read Pauline Kael to track my sensibility with hers on an aesthetic oscilloscope. I read her because I think she—more than any writer I know, including Agee—brings the whole of herself to writing about movies. – Hedgehog Review
- In A World With Awards For Writing Badly About Sex, LitHub Has Tips For Doing The Opposite
“Even if you’re writing about stereotypically bad sex, your language should be fresh and surprising.” – LitHub
- The Anthropic Settlement Is Turning Into Yet More Struggle For Authors Whose Works Were Stolen
Publishers and authors are wrangling, and third parties are getting into it, and in general, this isn’t great. – The New York Times
- Remembering Gloria Steinem As A Writer
As she said, “It’s one of the ironies of trying to be a writer and an activist at the same time that just when you feel you have the most to write about, you have the least time in which to write it.” – The New York Times
- This May Not Be The Great American Novel, But It’s Got To Be The Great American Manuscript
That would be the 120-foot scroll of architectural tracing paper on which Jack Kerouac typed — single-spaced — his original draft of On the Road. He produced the whole megillah in three very caffeinated weeks. – AP
PEOPLE
- AMC Settles Lawsuit Over Profit-Sharing On “The Walking Dead”
“The lawsuit, initially filed in 2022, was about the profit participation rights for the original Walking Dead series, and its first spinoff series Fear the Walking Dead. AMC says that it will pay $120 million to resolve the lawsuit, including $85 million this month, with another $35 million next year.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- Summer Season At U.S. Movie Theaters Sets All-Time Box Office Record
“Domestic ticket sales from May 1 through Labor Day on Sept. 7 stand at $4.76 billion, according to Rentrak. Revenues surpassed the long-held record set in 2013 with $4.755 billion, anchored by Iron Man 3, Despicable Me 2 and Man of Steel.” – Variety
- Today In French Museum Robberies: Thieves Take Renoirs From Museum On Riviera
Just a few days after the question of whether Pierre-Auguste Renoir was even a good artist re-entered public discussion, some “well-equipped” and “well-informed” burglars made off from two paintings from Renoir’s home in Cagnes-sur-Mer. (In their rush to escape, the thieves left two other works in the garden.) – AP
- Kennedy Center Chairman That Trump Fired Buys Sculpture That Trump Had Removed
David Rubenstein, the billionaire philanthropist who was chair of the Kennedy Center’s board until Trump ousted him in early 2025, has purchased the Joel Shapiro sculpture Blue, which was carted away from the Center’s grounds last week. Rubenstein will loan the work to the National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden. – The New York Times
- What the world sounds like
Good Morning,
A piece of the Kennedy Center’s ceiling came down Friday, and the Center’s spokesperson called it fresh proof of the need to close for the renovation its chairman champions (AP).
In Los Angeles, the Lucas Museum opens this month on a bet that comics, illustration and film belong on the same walls as the canon — and that the public, not the field, gets to say so (Los Angeles Times). Venice, by contrast, has two films by women this year; one of their directors says the cult of male genius is exactly why (The Guardian).
Stanford’s AI institute makes a hopeful case: art and AI can hold each other accountable — artists exposing what the systems can’t see, the systems handing art a participatory medium (Stanford). The less hopeful version of accountability is in court, where the Trump administration argues a New York Times win over OpenAI would threaten national security — a position publishers’ lawyers call an uncompensated transfer of IP from newsrooms to tech companies (NiemanLab). British design leaders, meanwhile, tell nervous staff AI is just “the intern in the office” (The Guardian), the same weekend Bill Gates went to Telluride to say the opposite (Los Angeles Times). Nobody litigates over an intern.
And a site that lets you spin a globe and listen to anywhere on it (The Verge). The world, unedited.
All of our stories below.
PEOPLE
- AMC Settles Lawsuit Over Profit-Sharing On “The Walking Dead”
“The lawsuit, initially filed in 2022, was about the profit participation rights for the original Walking Dead series, and its first spinoff series Fear the Walking Dead. AMC says that it will pay $120 million to resolve the lawsuit, including $85 million this month, with another $35 million next year.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- Summer Season At U.S. Movie Theaters Sets All-Time Box Office Record
“Domestic ticket sales from May 1 through Labor Day on Sept. 7 stand at $4.76 billion, according to Rentrak. Revenues surpassed the long-held record set in 2013 with $4.755 billion, anchored by Iron Man 3, Despicable Me 2 and Man of Steel.” – Variety
- Today In French Museum Robberies: Thieves Take Renoirs From Museum On Riviera
Just a few days after the question of whether Pierre-Auguste Renoir was even a good artist re-entered public discussion, some “well-equipped” and “well-informed” burglars made off from two paintings from Renoir’s home in Cagnes-sur-Mer. (In their rush to escape, the thieves left two other works in the garden.) – AP
- Kennedy Center Chairman That Trump Fired Buys Sculpture That Trump Had Removed
David Rubenstein, the billionaire philanthropist who was chair of the Kennedy Center’s board until Trump ousted him in early 2025, has purchased the Joel Shapiro sculpture Blue, which was carted away from the Center’s grounds last week. Rubenstein will loan the work to the National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden. – The New York Times
- What the world sounds like
Good Morning,
A piece of the Kennedy Center’s ceiling came down Friday, and the Center’s spokesperson called it fresh proof of the need to close for the renovation its chairman champions (AP).
In Los Angeles, the Lucas Museum opens this month on a bet that comics, illustration and film belong on the same walls as the canon — and that the public, not the field, gets to say so (Los Angeles Times). Venice, by contrast, has two films by women this year; one of their directors says the cult of male genius is exactly why (The Guardian).
Stanford’s AI institute makes a hopeful case: art and AI can hold each other accountable — artists exposing what the systems can’t see, the systems handing art a participatory medium (Stanford). The less hopeful version of accountability is in court, where the Trump administration argues a New York Times win over OpenAI would threaten national security — a position publishers’ lawyers call an uncompensated transfer of IP from newsrooms to tech companies (NiemanLab). British design leaders, meanwhile, tell nervous staff AI is just “the intern in the office” (The Guardian), the same weekend Bill Gates went to Telluride to say the opposite (Los Angeles Times). Nobody litigates over an intern.
And a site that lets you spin a globe and listen to anywhere on it (The Verge). The world, unedited.
All of our stories below.
THEATRE
VISUAL
- How Art And AI Can Hold Each Other Accountable
Beyond pushing our concepts of “who” can make art, AI provides a new medium for art experience — it is immersive and participatory. – Stanford
- It’s Not Just Physical Media
Landlines are making a slightly abashed return. “The phone itself is a sleek black with gold trim, and the cord connecting the receiver is all coiled up—just like the ones I grew up with back in the ’90s.” – Maclean‘s
- Why Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey Is Destined To Be Forgotten
It’s “a nearly three-hour barn burner, racing from event to event with whirlwind kinetic energy. … Nolan’s reluctance to take a pause should, actually, give us pause. After all, Homer’s poem doesn’t just involve a lot of waiting. It is a postwar tale about waiting.” – Boston Globe
- What To Do With All Of Europe’s Empty Churches?
Sure, indoor pickleball courts can work, but there are many arts options. – The New York Times
- Have We Wrecked Childhood?
This doesn’t sound like a very nice life, does it? It’s an existence in which you’re micromanaged and surveilled, given almost no freedom or privacy, and put under constant pressure while, at the same time, being seen as incompetent and lazy. – The New Yorker