Some do suggest that the Internet and digital technologies impair or otherwise alter performance on specific learning and memory tasks: people who use GPS devices to navigate seem worse at recalling routes, for instance. - Nature

High culture became the only thing standing in the way of the free market, and now that too has been taken care of. Art can co-exist with Schlock, but it cannot indefinitely survive the onslaught of Kitsch — the only kind of culture the free market can really tolerate. - Unherd

 Such attempts to mimic him miss the point, which is that true thinking should be dangerous to your intellectual equilibrium. It should strive for answers that overthrow the terms of the questions being asked, not simply prove a point. - The New Republic

“Time and again, fires have fast-tracked urban change. London after the Great Fire of 1666 rewrote its safety laws, widened streets and erected new public buildings, like the domed St. Paul’s Cathedral. Chicago after the Great Fire of 1871 ... invented the modern American metropolis.” - The New York Times

"In front of Sam’s tool crib, where workers got outfitted with gloves, goggles, hand tools, and helmets, I bumped into Rocio Carlos. ... She said that due to the fires, her classes at ArtCenter College of Design had all been moved online.” - Los Angeles Review of Books

“In modern reality, most media are streamed, digitized, and easily vaporized; not so much owned as leased; pockmarked with ads and often tweaked (or falsified) via AI. In modern fiction, meanwhile, vintage media have emerged as tactile objects that symbolize integrity.” - The Atlantic

"The National Endowment for the Arts said Thursday that it will alter its 2026 grant guidelines, eliminating a fund for underserved communities and prioritizing projects that honor the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence." - The Washington Post (MSN)

County commissioners on Wednesday rejected calls to undo their reduction of their arts and culture budget from the previous $3 million to $1.3 million. - Atlanta News First

The court concluded that a termination under US law applies globally – or, at least, in all the countries that participate in the Berne Convention, the international treaty that requires signatory countries to recognize copyrights created in other signatory countries. - Music Business Worldwide

The building has welcomed Mardi Gras parades, graduations, the Republican National Convention and Pope John Paul II. In the words of Doug Thornton, its longtime manager, the Superdome is “the city’s living room.” - The New York Times

The investigation is being overseen by the United States Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, as well as federal prosecutors in Manhattan. It has focused at least in part on possible visa fraud, some of the people said. - The New York Times

Leaders in the city's arts scene say that Commissioner Clinée Hedspeth has postponed meetings and has little communication with them. Meanwhile, about a quarter of her department's staff has resigned or been fired in the 11 months she's been in office. - Chicago Tribune (MSN)

A team of researchers in Mexico worked with 36 pregnant women, playing them "The Swan" from Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals and Arpa de oro ("Golden Harp") by Mexican composer Abundio Martínez. The result: the music instantly calmed fetal heartbeats. - Classic FM

That would be the late Pauline Oliveros, great American maverick and pioneer of "deep listening." The company: Long Beach Opera, for which an all-Oliveros season may be risky but is more or less on-brand. Mark Swed talks to LBO's leadership troika about how and why they're doing this. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

If vinyl is supposed to be the best-sounding format, then why are so many modern pressings disappointing right out of the sleeve? Many modern records are pressed on cheap, recycled vinyl, arriving warped, noisy, or even defective right out of the shrink wrap. - Headphonesty

Realize that some of the statistics you’ll see online are nonsense, and vinyl sales are likely much bigger than the announced estimates. Ignore the clickbait headlines. The RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) stated that 43.5 million records were shipped in 2023. This doesn't make any sense. - PS Audio

How we listen has shrunk. Not in every instance, but often enough to be worthy of attention. The culprit is the single speaker—as opposed to a pair of them, like your ears—and once you start looking for it, you might see it everywhere, an invasive species of flower fringing the highway. - The Atlantic

"The 82-year-old musician has been in failing health for some years, and in January 2023 resigned from his position as the general music director of the Berlin State Opera. Although increasingly frail, he has continued to make occasional appearances as a conductor." - The Guardian

The painting, which depicts the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, had been in the collection of the Romanian monarchy. The country's postwar government "allegedly" had "transferred" the work to the deposed King Michael, who sold it in 1976; Romania's current government maintains that it is still national property. - Artnet

A range of tiny galleries have opened in Downtown New York since the onset of Covid, filling basement spaces, dingy storefronts, and one-room units in office buildings. It feels like an experimental spirit has finally begun to return to a city whose scene has felt overly safe as of late. - ARTnews

They can't even bring paintings that size to the conservation studio; the studio has to be brought to the paintings. So the conservators are doing this enormous, strenuous job at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp in full view of visitors. And those visitors have opinions. - AP

It’s a subset of the architecture business that has surged in recent years. During the Covid pandemic, the demand for cloud-based online services from Zoom calls to streaming movies caused a spike in data center construction. “Now we’re seeing another jump in growth because of AI and machine learning coming on board.” - Fast...

The $144 million project was to rebuild the Great Mosque of Al-Nouri and other structures in Mosul's old city which were destroyed during the three-year occupation of the area by ISIS. - Deutsche Welle

The bequest by the late collectors Lynn and Phillip Straus includes two paintings and 62 prints — raising the total number of Munch works given over the years by the Strauses to Harvard to 117. - ARTnews

Musk’s latest attack—“Defund Wikipedia until balance is restored!” he posted on X last month—coincided with an update to his own Wikipedia page, one that described the Sieg heil–ish arm movement he’d made during an Inauguration Day speech. - The Atlantic

"Discovered in a filing cabinet next to the American writer’s desk after her death in 2021, Notes to John is addressed to Didion’s husband, John Gregory Dunne, who died in 2003. Its entries begin in December 1999, and recount sessions Didion was having with a psychiatrist at the time." - The Guardian

This papyrus, dating to roughly 130 CE, had been catalogued as written in Nabataean, the language once spoken at Petra. But researcher Hannah Cotton Paltiel determined that it was written in Greek; in fact, it's a prosecutor's notes for a tax fraud and forgery case. - Smithsonian Magazine

The Giller Foundation, which administers Canada's richest fiction prize, said its 20-year relationship with Scotiabank ended Monday. But organizers of the No Arms in the Arts campaign say their boycott of the literary institution will continue. - CBC

 The state’s HB 710, enacted last July 1, forbids anyone under 18 from accessing library books that contain “sexual content,” regardless of the work's literary or educational merit. - Publishers Weekly

"The Giller Prize has parted ways with its lead sponsor Scotiabank more than a year after members of the literary community began protesting the bank's ties to an Israeli arms manufacturer. The Giller Foundation, which administers Canada's richest fiction prize, said its 20-year relationship with Scotiabank ended Monday." - The Canadian Press (MSN)

Following criticism from Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard (who called Gascón "self-destructive"), she posted on Instagram, "I decided … to let the work talk for itself, hoping my silence will allow the film to be appreciated for what it is, a beautiful ode to love and difference." - Deadline

"Today’s Tedium ponders the screen saver, including how we got it and what it represents today. The toasters are flying." - Tedium

Trump’s 25 percent tariffs threat, while paused for 30 days, has left uncertainty looming over a domestic film and TV production sector inextricably tied to Hollywood and the U.S. economy. - The Hollywood Reporter

CNN will now have to prioritize growing its digital business while trying to maintain its traditional TV channel at a time when ratings are often driven by the tribal political preferences of the audience. - Los Angeles Times

"(Researchers) gathered a group of 15 to 20 people monthly for six months to talk about how they viewed news in general and the BBC in particular. They were starting from a low point: 'about 90% of the participants said they don’t trust the BBC to tell the truth.'" - Nieman Lab

Of that figure, Ampere claims that streaming services will spending $95 billion on content this year, a 39% share, while commercial broadcasters will comprise 37%. The rest of the spend will be made up by public broadcasters (9%), theatrical studios (8%) and pay-TV (7%). - Variety

"What doesn’t work anymore, (he) said, is what he has been doing for decades: sustaining a company of dancers through touring and grants." The Stephen Petronio Company's final performance will be at Jacob's Pillow in July. - The New York Times

You get Figures in Extinction, a trilogy which choreographer Pite and director McBurney have been creating for Nederlands Dans Theater. "The idea was to have me in the driver’s seat for part one, Simon for part two, then work jointly for part three," said Pite, but their roles quickly merged. - The Guardian

Back in 2014 in Munich, he and historian Doug Fullington did a full reconstruction of Petipa's 1881 version of the piece for the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg. This season at New York City Ballet, he's decided on a "new, freer approach." Here's why. - Playbill

If climate change is an integral part of your work, how do you write a proposal to an administration that is actively not wanting to draw attention to that science? I think we’re going to find that some of us are maybe more cautious about how we communicate. - Dance Magazine

“This one is a particularly huge, ambitious design—there’s probably close to 50 costumes in this ballet, and it’s a one-act ballet.” - GQ (MSN)

"Developed by Hangzhou Yushu Technology, also known as Unitree, the robots kept up with the beat of a Chinese folk dance and danced with red handkerchiefs. They spun the handkerchiefs in circles, tossed them into the air, and caught them again with precision, drawing applause from the audience." - Business Insider

What's more, the four Miller tragedies that usually get performed have some funny parts as well (at least if the production is good). Yet, writes on scholar, "critics and audiences just do not know how to accept or understand Miller the comedian." - JSTOR Daily

The Iranian-American playwright says she was inspired "by a lifetime of seeing people treat my parents, who speak English as a second language, as lesser-than because they had accents, and the way that they were perceived as less human and as people that don’t hold full personalities." - Variety

Just Stop Oil demonstration interrupted a performance of The Tempest at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Actor Sigourney Weaver sat aghast as protesters walked on stage and fired a confetti cannon, holding placards and announcing politely: “We’ll have to stop the show, ladies and gentlemen, sorry.” - The Conversation

The leaders of four London theatres, including the National Theatre and the Young Vic, along with theatres in Sheffield, Liverpool, and Wales, talk about their goals. - The Guardian

“Hell’s Kitchen, a coming-of-age show inspired by the adolescent experiences of Alicia Keys and fueled by her music, won a Grammy Award on Sunday for best musical theater album.” Keys is composer and lyricist for the songs on the album. - The New York Times

As commercial theatre recovers from the holidays, experimental theatre is amped up. "January is this incredible crush of everyone doing everything all the time, and by the seat of everyone’s pants." - The New York Times

In fact, he's already cancelled half a dozen West Coast tour dates. Imagine that. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Though he also sang with the great companies of London, Paris, Milan, Munich, San Francisco, and other cities, he's best known for his long association with the Met, where he gave 1,672 performances in 88 roles. - OperaWire

Hadi Matar faces attempted murder charges for repeatedly stabbing the author as he was onstage, about to give a public lecture, at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York state. Matar was subdued and arrested at the scene. - AP

While a CAA client from 2017 to 2020, President Biden published his #1 New York Times bestselling memoir, “Promise Me, Dad,” launched the 42-date “American Promise” tour, which sold more than 85,000 tickets nationwide, and headlined numerous speaking engagements. - Variety

Davis and his brother Dale opened the first Black-owned gallery in Los Angeles, “showing and selling works from Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, Betye Saar, Jacob Lawrence, Ruth Waddy, Doyle Lane, Charles White, John Outterbridge, and Noah Purifoy.” - Hyperallergic

“Dillon won the coveted O. Henry Award five times for her stories, but she devoted most of her writing career to the Bowleses — especially Jane, the neglected wife of the much better known Paul.” - The New York Times