You can thank the young ones: there’s “a gen Z-led wave fueling a fresh resurgence of indie movie houses.” - The Guardian (UK)

But how to search them up? Google won’t help as much (if at all) anymore, but there are ways. - Wired

Jean-Paul Sartre, for instance, insists that for humans ‘existence precedes essence’. We do not have an essence until we give ourselves an essence. In short, ‘man first exists: he materialises in the world, encounters himself, and only afterward defines himself.’ I define myself. - Psyche

This poorly argued case that it may be time to restrain the principles of academic freedom and faculty autonomy is not helping the situation. - Boston Review

Citizens can agree on verifiable facts and still inhabit different worlds, because facts do not interpret themselves. To see why, we need to look beyond narrow factual disagreements to the competing systems of interpretation through which people select, categorize, frame, connect, explain, and narrate facts. - Persuasion

When a tool reliably performs a cognitive operation, the internal capacity for that operation tends to weaken with disuse. People who know they can look up something on Google develop weaker memory for the information itself, and habitual GPS users show measurable decline in hippocampal-dependent spatial navigation. - Aeon

"A Turkish court on Friday ordered a comedian jailed pending trial on charges of insulting religious values and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after his stand‑up routine included references to him as a ‘dictator.’” (This is what the some might call Erdogan “not beating the charges.”) - Seattle Times (AP)

And Sony’s email to Playstation UK customers was simply a reminder of that uncomfortable, horrifying fact. - Wired

Financed by public subscription, powered by photography and P.R., the Statue of Liberty is now so identified with her adopted home that she has all but melted into symbol. - The New York Times

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday halted the ruling, which would have restored park materials that the administration says were purged as part of the administration’s effort to get rid of materials that “disparage” Americans. - The Hill

“The city government will give $323.8 million to (the Department of Cultural Affairs), which administers public funding to arts institutions throughout the city. The appropriation marks a nearly 7% increase from last year’s then-record $299.6 million investment.” - Hyperallergic

“Paris draws together communities from west, central and north Africa, as well as the Caribbean, and its density creates the conditions for encounters that aren’t as easy to manufacture elsewhere. What distinguishes Paris from other diaspora hubs … is the granularity of African identity it sustains.” - The Guardian

“America’s obsession with celebrity has morphed into this really weird, parasocial thing, where people feel incentivized to be deputized defenders of that person and are there to attack anybody who says anything at least a little bit negative about them.” - Washington Post

“People are drinking. They’re happy. They’re paying for music.” - NPR

In 1976, “the centerpiece was the National Endowment for the Arts Bicentennial Orchestra Commissioning Project. That funded America’s six top orchestras to each commission a major work that all six would play.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

Javid from Afghanistan “said the festival in the idyllic Bannau Brycheiniog national park had been his first ever experience of a music concert. Under the Taliban, he said, ‘There is no music, and it’s banned to listen to any music.’” - The Guardian (UK)

Doug Shadle: “As I listened to the symphony — a strange yet monumental work with a choral finale eclipsing Beethoven’s Ninth in scope — the sonic confluences that have given shape and vibrancy to our national culture for 250 years rushed at me for over an hour.” - Early Music America

Spotify has removed more than 500,000 registered streams from Malcolm Todd‘s Earrings, after the song’s rise to No. 1 on the platform’s daily US chart was tied to bets placed on the prediction market Kalshi. - MusicBusinessWorldwide

Did someone hit a big flashing “irony” button for our timeline? - The New York Times

“There is nothing emancipatory, nor original, about creating a luxury venue that privileges sensibility over scholarship, allure over accessibility, and fine dining over gallery square footage.” - E-Flux

“When you open these cardboard frames up and look at the edges of the paper and see they’re stained and old, you can really picture Beatrix Potter’s hand. … It’s such a privilege to be this close and be trusted.” - The New York Times

Across Europe, many Jewish museums have seen visitor numbers drop, patrons back away and security threats rise since the fall of 2023. The association’s members also reported online harassment, vandalism and acts of aggression against staff members. - The New York Times

Labeled Canada’s largest art fraud ever by investigators, the scheme has been the subject of a prolonged court battle that culminated last year in the conviction of Jeffrey Cowan, one of eight people arrested in 2023. He has been accused of taking part in an effort to sell 1,400 faked Morrisseau works. - ARTnews

“When tickets went on sale for the first time on Wednesday morning, … there were reports of 40,000 people queueing by mid-morning, with that figure ballooning to almost 80,000 by mid-afternoon.” - The Guardian

“Fandom communities are still mostly relying on vibes. Most fanfics aren’t judged by a tool like the AO3 skin, but by tells' that could include anything from specific sentence structures — like the notorious ‘it’s not X, it’s Y' — to overuse of flowery metaphors.” - The Verge (Archive Today)

In a phone interview on Tuesday afternoon, Jamir Nazir told me that he feels vindicated—and relieved. “Look, I didn’t use it!” he said about AI. Now that he has won the prize, Nazir said, he is free at last to explain his process and clear his name. - The Atlantic

“Though it was much maligned during its initial years, The American Spelling Book had a profound pedagogical effect throughout the young nation. ... ‘There iz no alternativ,’ implored Webster in 1790, ... ‘Every possible reezon that could ever be offered for altering the spelling of wurds, stil exists in full force.’” - Literary Hub

In 2002, the Black feminist writer and scholar bell hooks published a book titled “Communion,” which argues that women have been conditioned to search for love outside of themselves, and should focus on cultivating self-love in all stages of their lives.  - The New York Times

In every prize I’ve ever judged or heard firsthand reports of, everything else is up to the judges and their idiosyncrasies. There’s no input from anyone else. The heads of these organizations often learn the winner at the same moment the rest of the world does. - Rebecca Makkai

Theo of Golden is one of the bestselling books currently making all the lists right now, but its beginnings are a little unorthodox. It was written by a 70-year-old former judge who first went the self-publishing route before having his book distributed by a top-five publisher. - Book Riot

The actor, currently famous thanks to his project The Pitt, says he “missed out on roles in Saving Private Ryan and Good Night, and Good Luck because he couldn’t get out of filming” ER. - Variety

“I still don’t think anyone actually likes Euphoria, but it’s big and expensive and full of movie stars, and at this moment in time Hollywood needs all three of those things to remain viable.” - Vulture

There Will Be Blood “both celebrates American cinema and inverts it.” - The New York Times

But now? “More and more, the space of American cinema is defined by one word: fantasy. … The fantasy worlds where our movies increasingly take place add up, in both philosophy and sensation, to a kind of abstract no-man’s land.” - Variety

Over the last 15 years, as a filmmaker and professor of digital arts, I have seen extraordinary shorts and features made on smartphones. Many were created by early career filmmakers who would have struggled to access industry funding without a smartphone and a minimal crew. - The Conversation

The studios sued the AI image lab last year, accusing it of enabling massive infringement of their copyrighted characters. Midjourney has claimed “fair use” and has argued that the studios are engaged in the very same AI practices. - Variety

“Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre has been making movement magic in Atlanta for a decade. Artistic Director John Welker spoke to ArtsATL about its accomplishments so far and its vision for the future.” - ArtsATL

A photo journal of more than 30 teenage girls performing the Rejang dance for the Kuningan holiday, the close of a ten-day Balinese Hindu festival celebrating the triumph of good over evil. - AP

“Beading and sequins, silk bodices and boning, plus 10 layers of pleated net, all painstakingly cut and dyed by hand before being sewn together. ... ‘If you break it down to five days a week, 40 hours, it’s usually about two weeks. To make one tutu.’” - The i Paper

“A lot of the challenges that are happening right now are of the times. They’re reflecting what’s going on in our country, and I think it’s important that we all try to stick together through it and keep dancing.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

The movie certainly helped over the 26 years since it was released: there are noticeably more boys in ballet classes than there used to be — especially where there are boys-only classes. But they still face trouble from peers at school. - The Sunday Times (UK)

“Anyone who spends even a day with a professional dancer or a ballet troupe could likely come away and already have the core of a body horror flick ready just from seeing all the injuries strapped up and ignored, or hearing the stories of cut-throat auditions.” - Far Out

"Call it what you want: colonialism, toxic workplace culture, oppression, patriarchy, the result is the same: power in the hands of a few who extract all the benefit they can from the many while trying to convince us that we should be thankful for the honor of the extraction.” - Amy Wratchford

“Who are ‘our people,’ broadly defined? Can we even talk about a common American experience or identity, to which we can all attach a full-throated patriotism? We might look to the example of New York City’s Lincoln Center.” - American Theatre

“’Basil Biggs’ premieres this month in Philadelphia, written for the nation's 250th anniversary. The title character is her great-great-grandfather, a free Black man who became a … conductor of the Underground Railroad … and prominent figure at Gettysburg” who made Lincoln’s speech there possible. - NPR

Jason Moore, who has restaged and updated the show for London: “Once I revisited, I was like, ‘Oh, right, we made this in our 20s,’ and it's for people in their 20s. There's now a whole generation of people who ... know the show from a soundtrack, but never saw it.’” - People

The blaze broke out at the Belvoir St Theatre’s scenery shop on Monday, June 22 and burned well into the next day; at one point 80 firefighters were battling the flames. No one was injured, but tools, materials, and stored set elements were lost and the building is seriously damaged. - Limelight (Australia)

Antoni Cimolino, whose gentle stewardship of this juggernaut of a theater, especially during that existential COVID crisis, was as sure as it was self-effacing, leaves a great deal more. - Chicago Tribune (Yahoo)

“(He) often acted as a kind of Indiana Jones of song, as when he helped excavate a treasure trove of manuscripts by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and others that was found in a warehouse in Secaucus, N.J., in 1982. The hoard dated back to the advent of sound pictures.” - The New York Times

The four-time Emmy nominee, who received an honorary Oscar in 2022, says he was diagnosed with the disease three years ago. His 80th birthday is later this month. - AP

“Dunn appeared in more than 650 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, where she became one of the company’s leading dramatic mezzos. Although she portrayed a wide range of roles, she was most closely associated with Bizet’s Carmen, which she (sang) more than 400 times in opera houses around the world.” - Moto Perpetuo

“My problem arose when I discovered Duolingo’s competitive aspect, when I learned that it is essentially a game. ... This means forgoing any real learning, and earning easy points by simply reading sentences out loud.” An excerpt from his latest book, The Land and Its People. - The Guardian

My latest column, about the Ojai Music Festival, is my last. Although the musical scene exhilarates me more than ever — contemporary composition is eternally vital — I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome. - The Rest is Noise

“A three-judge panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal unanimously issued the decision, saying his trial judge did not violate the former movie magnate’s constitutional rights. … The decision came a day after prosecutors in New York decided Weinstein would not face a fourth trial there.” - AP