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- Sorry, But The Reading “Crisis” Isn’t One
The practice of using our eyes to create and absorb systems of language instead is so difficult and so weird, in fact, that, as best as we can tell, and as Marriott reminds us, it’s been invented no more than four times in our 300,000 years as a species. – The New Republic
- Hollywood Expects David Ellison To Fail. Will He?
With $80 billion in debt and a sprawling media empire to combine, David Ellison will have his hands full with the now court-approved combination of Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery, known as Skydance. But so-called “expert” opinion has him failing before he even starts. – New York Post
- American Retirees Aren’t Spending Down Their Savings. This Is A Problem
A survey of older adults with at least $100,000 showed that only 28 percent were comfortable watching their savings taper off to cover living expenses, ostensibly exactly what the money was saved for in the first place. This is a problem—not just for retirees but for the country. – The Atlantic
- New Hammer Museum Director Envisions A New Arts District
At an institution with a fiscal operating budget of about $30.4 million, she is seeking to place educational initiatives on equal footing with exhibitions, pursuing collaborations across the city, and positioning the Hammer as the anchor of a Westside arts district. – Los Angeles Times
- Netflix Admits Using AI On More Than 300 Projects
Sung Q Lee, Netflix’s senior director of production for Asia-Pacific, said the technology was being deployed across the filmmaking process, but stressed the importance of preserving human creativity. – The Hollywood Reporter
- Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum Reaches Funding Deal To Stay Open
The museum, one of Europe’s most popular art institutions, had long campaigned for additional government funding for what it said were essential renovations to help preserve its more than 200 paintings and nearly 500 drawings by Vincent van Gogh. – The New York Times
- Six Of The Best First Lines In Literature
A novel’s first line is saddled with an extraordinary responsibility: to not only establish a story’s start but also to impart with indelible effect the writer’s voice. – The Atlantic
- The Hidden World Of Art Logistics
“Art logistics is the vital, invisible backbone of the global art market.” – The New York Times
- Why Are National Anthems Always Orchestral?
More to the point, why are some of them so dire? There’s no comparison between God Save the King and La Marseillaise; one’s a dirge, the other makes me want to march to the barricades. – The Guardian
- Should The Paris Opera Remove Chagall’s Work In Favor Of The Original Dome Art?
A relative of the 19th century artist whose work is under Chagall’s says oui: Jules-Eugène Lenepveu “was specifically chosen to decorate the opera ceiling by Charles Garnier, who designed everything in the opera house right down to the last door knob.” – The Guardian (UK)
- The Oregon Guy Behind Goofy And Bozo The Clown
Pinto Colvig, who got his first job as a clown when he was 12 and visiting the Lewis & Clark Centennial Expo in Portland, also voiced Grumpy and Sleepy, and a whole host of other characters. – OPB
- Previewing The Met’s Lincoln In The Bardo
“‘Wild scene,’ the writer George Saunders said, a little wide-eyed, after witnessing a portion of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lincoln in the Bardo unfold.” – The New York Times
- If Bookshops Make Ninety Percent Of People Happier, What’s Going On For The Ten Percent?
“One crime bookshops have been getting away with for years is their blatant role in incentivising the creation of ‘TBR’ (to-be-read) piles.” – Irish Times
- Choral Evensong, A Long Tradition In Britain, Is Threatened By Many Different Pressures
“There is something profoundly human about sitting quietly in a great building, hearing young and old voices combine in astonishingly beautiful music.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Indie Publisher New Directions Keeps Finding Nobel Prize Winners
“In an era when corporate publishers dominate a rapidly consolidating industry, New Directions has remained independent and continued its long tradition of seeking out and nurturing some of the world’s most seminal authors.” – The New York Times
- Since The Time Traveller’s Wife Was Published, Its Author Has Become Famous – And, She Says, Radicalized
“In early scene in the new book involves a group of neo-Nazis at a house party. When she was writing it, few people believed the US would witness a resurgence of neo-nazism.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Remember When San Francisco Had A Working Waterfront?
This museum sure does. – San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
- At Rehearsal With The Los Angeles Ballet
“Rehearsal is formally a space where you practice a role; informally, it is where, in the background moments, you rehearse your version of yourself.” – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
- A Three-Year Arts Launchpad In Boston Provides A Path For Smaller Arts Groups
The Boston Center for the Arts Launchpad “is meant to provide both an anchor and a resource without restricting what each company might create.” – Boston Globe
- How Relevant Is Goya?
Scarily so. “Goya’s works depict the society of his time with criticism, and some images are no different to modern-day situation.” – The New York Times
- Sarah Schulman Also Predicted This
Writer and activist Schulman: “People raised to dominate are told – and taught – that they should never feel uncomfortable. If you ask them to question themselves or reflect on how they relate to others, it’s as if you’re attacking them, mistreating them.” – El País English
- Why Do Opera Singers Quit?
Andrew Potter says it’s the money. “We just have to start telling the truth, and that is that unless you’re in the top 1- or 2% of singers in the world, this is not something that you’ll be able to sustain a family with.” – NPR
- Yes, Having A Gay, Theatre-Loving Uncle Can Help You Find Your Way In New York
“The play twines the story of Ryan’s relatively easy coming out with Charlie’s fraught experience a generation earlier, when his parents took a painfully long time to accept him as gay.” – The New York Times
- If The Ellisons Think This Is Going To Be Easy, They Need To Read Some Hollywood History
Skydance “must braid together two huge film studios (housing nine film labels), four streaming services, three TV production studios, three animation units and more than 50 television networks, including two prominent news organizations.” – Los Angeles Times (MSN)
- 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
- This Comedian Claims He Didn’t Mean To Slash The Income Of 800 People
And yet: “Hundreds of working-class comedians have lost a key source of income and exposure, while wealthy celebrity comics take up their airspace” on SiriusXM. – CBC
- 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
- Terri & Richard: Late-In-Life Sweethearts<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2026/10/terri-richard-late-in-life-sweethearts.html" title="Terri & Richard: Late-In-Life Sweethearts” rel=”nofollow”> She was
- 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
- How Will Directors Learn To Direct Films If Ads Are All AI-Generated?
“The panicked race to introduce AI technology across the advertising industry, to cut client costs and avoid being pushed aside by big tech, has raised fears of a lost generation.” – The Guardian (UK)
- 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