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- How YouTube Made A Snack Out Of Podcasts And Then Ate Television For Dessert
“Short-form video, autoplay feeds, and video podcasts are reshaping our attention, our politics, and even our sense of self—turning podcasts into background ‘wallpaper’ while nudging more of us into broadcasting our lives.” – The Atlantic
- The Royal Society Of Literature Names Elif Shafak Its New President
Shafak, author of The Island of Missing Trees, has a popular appeal across the globe: She “is the author of 21 books, including 13 novels; her works have been translated into 58 languages. She also holds a PhD in political science.” – The Guardian (UK)
- How Alban Berg’s ‘Wozzeck’ Keeps On Shocking Its Audience, A Century On
“The music is thoroughly and smoothly integrated with the plot, representing opera in its purest ideal of form.” – The New York Times
- A Startup Wants To Relaunch Twitter
The group Operation Bluebird claims Elon Musk’s X has legally abandoned Twitter (not to mention the word “tweet”), and wants to relaunch. If you “reserve your handle” at twitter dot new, you’ll even see a surprise hashtag. – Ars Technica
- The Smithsonian Returns Suspected Looted Khmer Artifacts To Cambodia
The National Museum of Asian Art’s “records showed that there were no export licenses for the objects, as required under Cambodian law, and that the items had passed through the hands of middlemen known to have trafficked in looted artworks.” – The New York Times
- Why The Pope Would Like The Newest Knives Out
It actively engages with Catholicism and belief – and not in a surface way. That’s vanishingly rare. – Vulture
- Enrico Morricone Finally Gets His Opera Premiere
But sadly, he’s not here to see it. “Why the opera was not performed when it was written, in 1995, offers a snapshot of the classical music scene in Italy at the time, which snubbed Morricone as a mere composer of film soundtracks.” – The New York Times
- Whether It’s TikTok Or Celebrity Book Groups Or Both, Some Books Turn Into Surprise Sleeper Hits
Sometimes it’s timing – or a good translation. Vincenzo Latronico’s Perfection didn’t find its audience in Italy, but English readers love it. It “has now sold more copies in specific London bookshops than in the whole of France.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Museums Were Prepared For Vandals, But Not For Thieves
Two recent heists “represent a different threat altogether, one involving weapons, threats to staff, getaway vehicles, and missing artworks worth over $100 million, all happening in broad daylight.” – Wall Street Journal (MSN)
- The Definitive Oral History Of How Jim Carrey’s Grinch Movie Really Did Steal Christmas
The rewriters who didn’t get a credit: “The way that Writers Guild arbitration process works is that if you arbitrate for credit and you don’t get credit, the Writers Guild forbids what they call compensatory credit. … Jim Carrey’s dentist has a credit on this movie, and we don’t.” – Vulture
- This Free Web Serial Turned Into A Book Series With Millions Of Books Sold
Oh, people don’t read anymore? Tell that to Matt Dinniman, who was making a living drawing people’s cats (yes, that’s a job) until he started writing what became the Dungeon Crawler Carl empire. – The New York Times
- There’s A PR Push From AI Companies To Say Data Centers Might Not Be That Bad In Terms Of Water Usage
A lot depends on where you are. “In the near term, it’s not a concern and it’s not a nationwide crisis. … But it depends on location. In locations that have existing water stress, building these AI data centers is gonna be a big problem.” – Wired
- The Toughest Shot In Cinema Got A New Entry This Year
“The long take, the unbroken tracking shot, ‘the oner’ — whatever you want to call it, … it’s a feat of creativity, but also great coordination and choreography when a single, tiny mistake can ruin a shot.” – The Verge (Archive Today)
- Madeleine Wickham, Whose Pen Name Was Sophie Kinsella, Has Died At 55
“The works under her pen name came to define Ms. Wickham’s career. She wrote nine Shopaholic novels, which sold tens of millions of copies and were translated into dozens of languages.” The writer announced a glioblastoma diagnosis in an Instagram post in 2024. – The New York Times
- Sinners Is About Black Creativity Changing Everything
“Ryan Coogler’s supersized supernatural blockbuster fused critical and commercial enthusiasm into a kind of mass obsessive fervor. It became, for a few weeks, the film everyone was talking (and raving) about,” but some in Hollywood – and the US in general – couldn’t deal. – American Prospect
- Peter Greene, Actor In Pulp Fiction And The Mask, Has Died At 60
“Over a four-decade career, Mr. Greene stood comfortably in a villain’s shoes, bringing to life a range of characters who unnerved audiences with their sadism and moral corruption,” including in Pulp Fiction and The Mask. – The New York Times
- Kate Winslet On Her New Movie, Written By Her Son, Inspired By Her Mother’s Death
“I almost felt like I was living out moments of my own mother’s passing that I never would have witnessed. So directing actors in a tender way without falling apart in the corner was definitely part of the challenge.” – Irish Times
- The Holiday Music Race In Britain Is So, So Serious
Sorry, it’s truly the Christmas music race. “There are 20 Christmas songs overall in the Top 40. But these classics will have new rivals for the Christmas No 1 next week, as a number of charity and novelty singles enter the race.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Good Morning
This week’s highlights: The entertainment landscape is undergoing tectonic shifts that make previous disruptions look like minor tremors. The headline grabber is Netflix, which proposes to swallow Warner Bros. whole. As The New Yorker notes, this feels existential—a move that could portend the end of mainstream moviegoing as we know it. While Ted Sarandos reportedly made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago (The Hollywood Reporter) to smooth the way, analysts warn that this consolidation creates a runaway market leader (Slate), leaving rivals to wither. It signals a future where residuals dissolve into upfront fees (TheWrap) and the “Paramount” era of studio dominance officially fades to black.
If Netflix is buying the past, Disney is spending on the future. The House of Mouse will invest $1 billion in OpenAI, a deal that will see Mickey and Marvel characters officially licensed for video generation (The Wall Street Journal). It’s a jarring pivot: while Disney aggressively sues Google for copyright infringement (TechCrunch) on one hand, it is essentially legitimizing the AI revolution with the other, redefining copyright in real-time (Wired). Side Note: In what kind of traditional licensing deal does the licensor pay the licensee for IP rights? (that should tell you much about this deal right there). Meanwhile, we are left to ponder if we are outsourcing not just our animation, but our actual thinking (The Atlantic) to algorithms.
On the political front, the culture wars are moving from the budget office to the design studio. The State Department declared a war on “woke” fonts, ordering a retreat from the gentle curves of Calibri back to the serifed walls of Times New Roman (The Guardian). Closer to home, the Kennedy Center is getting a “Trumpian revamp,” (Washington Post) trading aesthetic for portraits of the first family. The chill is financial, too: Arkansas PBS has become the first state network to sever ties with the mother ship (AP), and there is talk of stripping licenses from NPR stations entirely (Ars Technica).
Small presses are facing an existential funding crisis (LitHub), Broadway’s suburban audience has retreated to 30-year lows (The Hollywood Reporter), and the Louvre is literally leaking on its art (The Guardian) while staff vote to strike (AP).
But take heart. An octopus spent six months learning to play the piano (sort of) (ZME Science), we finally have scientific proof that Mariah Carey might be tanking your productivity (Fast Company), and Denzel Washington is apparently one of the most mispronounced names of the year (NPR).
The rest of this week’s stories organized by topic are below.
- Allyssa Jones shares the importance of providing access to young people of diverse composers
Allyssa Jones, Founder of Rising Tide Music, talks about the importance of providing access for young people to diverse composers.
- An Ethnomusicologist Analyzes Eartha Kitt’s “Santa Baby”
Prof. Michael O’Brien discusses why we listen to so many of the same songs year after year, the unusual appeal of “Santa Baby,” and why Eartha Kitt’s version is so much better than Madonna’s (or anyone else’s). – The Post and Courier (Charleston)
- The Woeful State Of Arts PR. Here’s Why It Matters
On the inside of my job, lousy PR is one of the biggest signs that an institution is struggling. Outreach goes ignored, follow-up is late and flustered, and media events suffer. – Broad Street Review
- The Collective Who’s Transforming Ballet In France’s Second City
“(LA)HORDE is a choreographic collective running the National Ballet of Marseille and rewriting the ballet rulebook for a new era. Their work blends classical techniques with surprising influences, from queer nightlife to the political history of social dance.” – BBC (video)
- What Happens To You Creatively After You’ve Won Success?
These big breaks and large prizes are remarkable things that can provide incredible opportunities, but there is so often another side to that success. – LA Review of Books
- Fred Child To Lead Portland Classical Music Station
He is best known for his 25-year run as host of American Public Media’s national classical music program “Performance Today.” Child, who will relocate to Oregon from New York City, stepped down from the show in October. – Inside Radio
- Jake Heggie’s New Opera: A Historic 1976 Wine Competition
His one-act opera “The Judgement of Paris” is set to make its world premiere at Festival Napa Valley at Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena on July 18, part of the Wine Country event’s 20th anniversary season. – Los Angeles Times (MSN)
- World’s Third-Busiest Public Library Withdraws “Restructuring” Plan After Outcry
Many of Australia’s most prominent writers and artists, along with thousands of ordinary citizens, expressed outrage over the proposal to eliminate 39 jobs — including cutting the number of public-facing reference librarians by 60% — and refocus the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne on tourist-oriented “digital experiences.” – The Guardian
- David Ellison’s Dangerous Play For Warner Bros.
David Ellison was able to ascend to Paramount moguldom thanks in part to his closeness with Mr. Trump, and now he is trying to capitalize on the same bond to win the president’s favor for an even bigger prize. And he has leverage. – The New York Times
- Profound Changes In Canada’s Cultural Economy
It found that Manitoba’s cultural sector produces $1,010 worth of cultural goods and services per person, one of the highest per-capita levels in Canada. Manitoba trails only British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. – Winnipeg Free Press
- The Benefits Of Tolerant Cultures
A tolerant person is one who does not interfere with other people, even if he thinks they are wrong, but is prepared to let them think what they like and say what they think. If he thinks they are wrong, he may try to persuade them, but he will not try to force them. – Psyche
- Director Of Britain’s Tate Galleries To Step Down
“Maria Balshaw is to (depart) in 2026, after a challenging nine-year tenure when she steered the organisation through the COVID-19 pandemic and had to deal with fluctuating attendance figures and financial instability.” – The Guardian
- Disney Sues Google For “Massive” Copyright Infringement
Disney is accusing the tech giant of copyright infringement on a “massive scale,” claiming it has used AI models and services to commercially distribute unauthorized images and videos, according to the letter seen by Variety. – TechCrunch
- Controversial New Designs For Notre Dame’s Stained Glass Windows Go On Display
The designs for six new stained-glass windows for the cathedral of Notre Dame have gone on show at the Grand Palais in Paris, despite a number of protests against the project. – CNN
- Disney/OpenAI Deal Will Redefine Copyright
On the surface, there appears to be some dissonance with Disney embracing OpenAI while poking its rivals. But it’s more than likely that Hollywood is embarking down a similar path as media publishers when it comes to AI. – Wired
- A Wave Of Unionization At Chicago’s Cultural Institutions
In the last four years, AFSCME’s Cultural Workers United organizing campaign has helped 2,500 Illinois cultural workers form unions at such sites as the Art Institute of Chicago, Field Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shedd Aquarium, Newberry Library, and, most recently, the Adler Planetarium and Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. – WBEZ (Chicago)
