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- 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
- 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
- The Irish Dancer Trying To Revive Dancing For Pleasure
“You know how it feels when you’ve got really good music and you dance and people are suddenly dancing closely and they never got the chance to dance closely?” So the establishment was right about the corrupting influence of dancehalls? She laughs. “They were.” – Irish Times
- 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
- A New World Record For Most Tickets Sold For A Standup Comedy Tour
“Nate Bargatze’s ‘Big Dumb Eyes’ tour, which began on April 6, 2025, crossed the 2 million mark after just 16 months and 10 days — and across only 128 venues.” As of last Saturday, the total was sold approximately 2,016,254 tickets. – Variety
- 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
- The Difficulty Of Turning Viral Video Into Full Movies
Consider the growing slate of satires about influencers, the numerous coming-of-age films that have tapped into teenage angst amid the rise of social media, and the fact that entire movies have been made that take place exclusively on computer screens. – The Atlantic
- “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
- Movie Theatre Group Reverses Position On Paramount/Warner Deal
“Today, our industry has the wind at its back. Studio partners are creating and distributing extraordinary films. Audiences across generations are responding with enthusiasm. But none of that can be taken for granted. Global exhibition believes in a bold future for this industry, but reaching our full potential requires working together.“ – The Hollywood Reporter
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Film And TV Director Mark Rydell, Oscar Nominee For “On Golden Pond,” Is Dead At 97
Rydell’s most-honored film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won three (including for Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn), though he lost to Warren Beatty for Reds. Among his other titles were The Cowboys (with John Wayne), Cinderella Liberty, The Rose (with Bette Midler), and The River (with Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek). – AP
- 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
- Conductor Herbert Blomstedt, 99, Cancels More Performances Due To Health
The Swedish maestro, who was hospitalized in May after partially collapsing and being taken from the stage during a San Francisco Symphony concert, has now withdrawn from his September appearances at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. He recently cancelled October dates in London and Tokyo as well. – San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
- Paramount Demands $1.9 Billion Bond From States Suing To Prevent Its Takeover Of Warner Bros.
“In Monday’s court filing, Paramount requested (that) the plaintiff states … as well as the Writers Guild of America post a bond that would cover some of its costs, including ‘ticking fees’ Paramount promised to pay Warner shareholders should the deal stretch beyond its anticipated September close.” – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
- ABC Sues Trump’s FCC Over Threats To Network’s Broadcast Licenses
“Further escalating its battle with the Trump administration, ABC on Tuesday took the rare step of suing the Federal Communications Commission on First Amendment grounds, saying the agency’s demand for early review of its broadcast licenses posed an ‘existential threat’ to the network.” – AP
- Phyllida Law, Prolific Actress (And Emma Thompson’s Mum), Has Died At 94
She broke into television and theatre in the 1950s, working at (among others) both the London and Bristol Old Vics as well as in the West End. Her film career took off in the 1980s, and she appeared a number of times with each of her daughters, Emma and Sophie Thompson. – The Guardian
- 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
- 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
- Some Media Outlets Are Adapting Their Investigative Journalism Into Video Games
“More than three billion people globally play some form of video games. For a media industry with falling revenues and growing audience distrust, games — ranging from simple quizzes to fully-fledged downloadable games and augmented reality experiences — have become a new way to engage and inform audiences.” – Nieman Lab
- Dance USA’s New Director On The State Of The Field
The entire field is facing heightened levels of uncertainty, and we have not been spared. Dance/USA needs to reimagine and rebuild its business model. Our existing organizational strategy and structure are not sustainable. I took this job knowing that that was the case. – Dance Magazine
- The Onion’s Takeover Of InfoWars May Be The Most Interesting Media Story Of The Year
Since The Onion took over Alex Jones’s rabidly right-wing media property and turned it into a parody of itself, the brand has gotten hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. What could have been a one-note joke has become a real business, with viewership exceeding Jones’s own. – TheWrap (Yahoo!)
- Microdramas Are Surging As Hollywood Chases TikTok
Microdramas may be the only thing that’s growing in Hollywood. The format is expected to generate $1.5 billion in revenue in the U.S. this year and jump to nearly $2 billion next year, according to research firm Omdia. – Reuters
- National Symphony Announces New Season (No Kennedy Center)
The orchestra said that from September to June, it will stage some 60 performances at six venues across the region. – Washington Post (MSN)
- Researchers Use AI To Define Musical “Fingerprints” Of 20 Jazz Greats
In a new paper in Nature Machine Intelligence, three University of Cambridge researchers used AI to help better define the musical tics of 20 of the most celebrated jazz pianists of all time. – Scientific American
- The Rijksmuseum Has Digitized 840,000 Artworks And Put Them Online
The museum promised to “bring the museum to you,” and it has delivered not only with its extensive digital collection, free for downloading, sharing and editing with a free Rijksmuseum account, but also with informative series on its website. – Open Culture
- To Prepare For Playing St. Francis Of Assisi, This Baritone Went To Live With Franciscan Monks
Canadian baritone Philippe Sly, currently starring in the Salzburg Festival’s production of Messiaen’s six-hour opera St. François d’Assise, is staying at the Kapuzinerkloster, a monastery across the Salzach River from the venue, eating with them in the refectory and attending every prayer service he’s available for. – The New York Times
- ByteDance Signs AI Copyright Deal With Motion Picture Association
ByteDance and the Motion Picture Association on Monday signed an agreement to strengthen copyright safeguards on the Chinese company’s AI video and image-generation models, months after the Hollywood trade group challenged its handling of intellectual property. – Reuters
- 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
- What Are The Best Art Emojis? Getty Curators Have Thoughts…
Curators at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles have taken those variations as an invitation to judgment. In a series of recent social media posts, the museum is rating the appearances of art-adjacent emojis across different platforms and operating systems, leavening scholarly expertise with a liberal sprinkling of cheek. – The New York Times
- Why Writing Detectors For AI Won’t Work
Either human speech and AI speech progressively assimilate, causing a collapse in any meaningful distinction, or language becomes a contested social signal. This second scenario would essentially be a game of whack-a-mole across the English language. – Washington Post