“The Town has seen its homegrown talent reach new levels of success on the global stage, from figure skater Alysa Liu earning Olympic gold in Milan to filmmaker Ryan Coogler winning four Oscars for his blockbuster Sinners and R&B powerhouse Kehlani receiving two Grammy Awards.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Just in case you’ve missed multiple strains of philosophy, ethics, and “happiness studies” over the years, not to mention Buddhist thought, well: "When we encounter something new, we get a dopamine hit. … But sometimes novelty seduces us without offering anything meaningful.” - Fast Company

The prose - whether in a text or fiction submission - is “perfectly clean, without a stray comma; uniform in length, with evenly paced paragraphs and a distinctive tone that is simultaneously breezy and grandiose.” - The Atlantic

This seems to be especially true for students. A.I.’s smooth sentences, elegant transitions and rich vocabulary give the illusion of expansive creativity and individuality. But the underlying ideas often converge into a few homogenized categories. - The New York Times

It’s not the kind of knowledge that you gain from reading a textbook or listening to a lecture, nor is it the kind of knowledge that subjects report when they try to describe their experiences to others. It can’t be expressed in natural language – at least, not fully. - Psyche

Yes, we are standing to sound like LLMs in our writings. This may not be as bad if this was just restricted to how people write. This is now also impacting how people think! - 3 Quarks Daily

Secretary Burgum’s hedging came as Trump attacked the decision and the judge behind it on social media Friday and Saturday. - Time

Um, ouf? “He doubled down on his personal commitment to AI, noting that he still uses it every day. … I asked him whether he would rather stop writing than stop using AI in his writing process. ‘Yeah,’ he answered.” - Wired

“When the history of Trump’s second administration is written, the whole sorry Kennedy Center chapter will be key to understanding the chaos, cruelty and grotesque egotism of the president, as well as the bravery and determination of those who resisted and persevered.” - Washington Post (Yahoo)

And yes, we sure do mean the Kennedy Center. - The New York Times

Remember when Jonah Peretti of Buzzfeed seemed like a good guy? That was a long time ago, and we were all so much more innocent, including the creator of Good Advice Cupcake: "I trusted them, though naively, when they said they had no interest in continuing Cuppy without me." - Wired

Those belt buckles sure aren’t handmade. And: “Nearly all aspects of the accounts appear to be AI-generated — from the ‘person’ in the video to automated responses to comments, which in some cases attempt to mimic African American vernacular.” - The Verge

AI music has gone viral before and charted before, but song generators are now good and fast enough that they can flood the zone, creating tracks that slip past the safeguards of major streaming platforms and distributors. Spam-filtering systems can do only so much to stem the flow. - The Atlantic

OK: “The music giant said Pershing Square's $64.3bn (£48bn) takeover offer was ‘not in the best interests’ of the company, shareholders, artists, fans and other stakeholders.” - BBC

Why? "The possibility of generating year-round sustaining revenue for an orchestra.” - KC Studio

He’s also said he wants to headline it himself. But “a senior administration official described the rollout of the concerts as ‘a mess’ and suggested that someone would most likely be fired over how the invitations to the event had been handled.” - The New York Times

Kim Petras was not happy with her experience of “what can happen when the general corporate powers that be force you to sideline your artistry for the company line.” So, she left. - The Fader

Slowly, in front of star-studded crowds that included the rockers Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt and Boz Scaggs, Toussaint reinvented himself. - The New York Times

The trio were not only the most influential, but also the most gainfully employed—two factors that have everything to do with each other. - ARTnews

“The museum said it had also received what it described as ‘malicious communications’ before the evacuation.” - ARTnews

“Rather than an exit point, this new wave of merchandising is quickly turning museum gift shops into a desirable entry point. Curated edits ... are now beginning to treat them as a stand-alone shopping destination, marking a shift from cultural institution to cultural retailer.” - The Guardian (UK)

“For years, illustrators have been overlooked, seen as people who come in and do the decorating after the house has been built. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.” - The Guardian (UK)

Latchford’s success depended not just on criminal networks that supplied and transported these objects, but on the willingness of museums, dealers, collectors, and scholars to accept fragmented or problematic provenance so long as the objects themselves retained the aura of rarity and beauty. - Hyperallergic

Gehry Partners will design a variety of upgrades to the Getty Center — including a major revamp of its entry experience — during its upcoming year-long closure, the museum announced Thursday. - Los Angeles Times

Teaching people to read and building a world where they can do so are different problems. Throwing our phones in the lake can’t bring about that world, but designing the conditions for reading will. - The New York Times

Sarah Wynn-Williams, whose bestselling memoir, Careless People, details her years working at Facebook, was due to appear in conversation with the investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr and academic Tim Wu. Instead, Wynn-Williams sat on stage for the hour-long discussion without speaking or responding. She was unable even to nod or shake her head. - The Gaurdian

It’s not about the phones. Instead, as a society, we have to remove structural barriers - and build new libraries. "A democracy needs its people to read, and it is society’s job to make that possible.” - The New York Times

“You take yourself with you, right? The image becomes mirrored: Who you were and what you took from a book the first time is reflected in who you are and what you take from the book now.” - Reactor Mag

Lawrence Ferlinghetti explained, years ago, that “‘Howl’ knocked the sides out of things, just the way rock music in the '60s knocked the sides out of the old music world.” - NPR

“Williams is rarely spotted without a book in his hand. He’s now name-checked multiple Joan Didion titles in interviews, and was once photographed next to a copy of Knausgaard’s My Struggle. His personal motto comes from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables.” And his selections sell very well. - LitHub

Peacock and Paramount+ have high hopes. “Emmy success can still bring tangible benefits. Even the commitment to campaigning can move the needle, especially for two streamers looking to recruit more talent to their ranks.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

“The experience of watching so many movies over a twelve-day period coaxes your brain into a heightened state of pattern recognition, and you might begin to wonder if certain films have been programmed based on narrative and thematic similarities.” - The New Yorker

Well, not kids, but youth, YouTube youth. “The success of two YouTube-native filmmakers at the box office indicates the growing power of the platform — and online culture as a whole — in attracting audiences to cinemas.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

“It’ll be like Barbenheimer,” says one biographer of Paul and John of the new wave of movies coming out this year, including four by Sam Mendes, with one devoted to each band member. - The Guardian (UK)

So did the comedy series North of North. But Heated Rivalry, whoa: "The series entered the night riding on a red-hot winning streak after collecting 13 awards from its 18 nominations during Saturday night's gala for scripted television. It left with a total of 16 Screen Awards.” - CBC

These actors aren’t going to be nominated, but they (maybe!) should be. And some of us could at least watch their shows. - Vulture

Why so much dance on TV lately? “Where the goal is to quickly get and then hold the viewer’s attention, energetic movement is a straightforward strategy. Dance’s graphic elements immediately catch the eye, and they can make that gaze linger.” - Dance Magazine

“Maceo Harrison deftly designs routines that emphasize charisma over technical precision and spotlight the teams' natural showmen while camouflaging the players with two left feet. ... Sometimes he has mere hours to choreograph and just as little time to teach his routines to the players.” - ESPN

Alice Topp, a former principal dancer and choreographer-in-residence at the Australian Ballet, already had the idea of basing her first commission for Houston Ballet on the Finnish concept of sisu (stubbornly determined resilience). Then, this past January, came unhappy inspiration: bushfires struck her rural hometown 75 miles northwest of Melbourne. - Houston Chronicle (Yahoo!)

Despite reaching new artistic heights, Australia’s leading contemporary dance troupe has posted four annual deficits in a row, totaling $5.2 million (US$3.7 million) and attributable mostly to the higher running costs of its revamped headquarters. Luckily, paying students are flocking to SDC’s new classes. - Australian Financial Review

Ashley Ferro-Murray of the Doris Duke Foundation: I’m interested in … funding resilient models for the future as well as legacy models that ... value the labor of the artist. One way the Doris Duke Foundation is doing this is by combining our grant-making capacity with other resources like marketing and communications. - Dance...

What is the International Dance League? The N.B.A. of dance. The W.W.E. of dance. Formula 1 racing meets the TV show “America’s Best Dance Crew.” These are some of the analogies that came up in conversations with the league’s founders and participants. - The New York Times

Designed by award-winning architects Studio Gang, the 451-seat Scripps Theater Center — in Garrison, NY, 60 miles north of New York City — is a curved mass-timber structure with open sides, set on 98 landscaped acres overlooking the Hudson River. Year-round facilities will let the festival expand beyond a summer schedule. - Time Out...

“The Book of Mormon, one of Broadway’s biggest hits, resumed performances on Wednesday night after a three-week shutdown prompted by a damaging three-alarm electrical fire at the theater where the musical comedy has been running for 15 years.” - The New York Times

Arts Council England, the national funding body, gave the RSC £2 million for two large-scale Shakespeare tours in 2028 and 2030 to regional theatres in Blackpool, Norwich, Newcastle, Bradford-Leeds, Nottingham, Canterbury, Truro (Cornwall), and York. - British Theatre Guide

“What people don’t know about the process is that when the old cast is done, on their final day, usually a Sunday, the new cast comes in on a Tuesday,” director Carisa Barreca says. “That night, the new cast has to put up a show — the old show.” - WBEZ (Chicago)

“Mounting a play in the West End now requires between £1 million and £2 million pounds in upfront investment, while staging a musical requires between £3 million and £10 million. This is before weekly costs" — £120,000 to £200,000 before royalties for a play and £300,000 to £400,000 for a musical. - WhatsOnStage (UK)

“The new and sole artistic director is Lindsay Smiling, who has been one of the company’s three co-artistic directors for the past three years; … the other two, Yury Urnov and Morgan Green, are moving on to other roles and pursuits.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

“From the first day I met him, when I was going through a period of frustration, I knew we would make special films, that he would elevate me to another level. He pressed my acting button again.” - El País English

Bessy was "a graceful French ballet star whose firm hand at the helm of the Paris Opera Ballet School for three decades made it one of the world’s top dance institutions, though her rigorous methods eventually drew stinging criticism.” - The New York Times

Sheung was "deeply invested in crafting an image of female autonomy and audacity at a time when women’s lives were constrained by traditional expectations.” - The New York Times

Lucas not only co-edited the first movie and Return of the Jedi but also made various Spielberg, Scorsese, and many other movies far, far better through her mad skills. - The Hollywood Reporter

Harpo (né Arthur) developed his silent persona due to his own stage fright; in later years he said he didn’t want to “tear down a character it took me decades to build.”  On rare occasions, though, he did speak in public, though not when microphones were around — except for this one time. -...

“During her seven-year tenure (as executive director of the Municipal Art Society), she led pioneering campaigns to form historic landmark districts, renovate blighted blocks and rescue threatened edifices like Radio City Music Hall. … Saving Grand Central was her crowning achievement.” - The New York Times