“In the fiction of Assassin’s Creed, humanity is descended from ancient aliens; ... world events influenced by a shadow war between two secret societies; the media exists to manipulate the public. This makes for an exciting series of video games” — but it echoes real-life conspiracy theories. - Slate

"Playing an instrument well is phenomenally difficult. It takes a lifetime of arduous work and can become all-consuming, making it easy to forget that technical mastery is a means to an expressive end, not the goal. … In and of itself, it is uninteresting.” - The New York Times

Sure, people didn’t have phones (or LEGO) 2,000 years ago, but even they knew the Earth was round. - Wired

Then the indie web might be for you. It’s “pushing back against algorithms and AI and calling for a more creative, personal internet.” - The Verge (Archive Today)

Ever since Descartes, who split mind from matter and linked thinking and being, we’ve drifted from the very thing that makes us human. We’ve separated ourselves from the natural world, physically and mentally. The mental separation enabled the physical one. We came to see ourselves inhabiting a world of things, ourselves the only conscious element within it. - Harper's

A study by the Singapore Management University found that frequent interruptions to check our devices lead to more attention and memory lapses. Unlike total screen time, the frequency of smartphone checks is a much stronger predictor of daily cognitive failures. - Washington Post

In Alison Bechdel’s newest book, “Communal systems of support and shared resources are positioned against the capitalist drive to isolate, hoard resources, and privatize.” - Los Angeles Review of Books

One person on the town council: “This is the direct result of ill-thought-out planning changes and poor decision making, which threaten to destroy our green spaces.” But hey, James Cameron supports it. - BBC

Rooney says that “UK legislation may mean she cannot be paid royalties by her British publisher or the BBC because it could leave both at risk of being accused of funding terrorism.” The Irish writer has said that she intends her royalties to support the group Palestine Action. - BBC

The case has been filed under the Elvis Act of Tennessee, made effective last year, which protects a person’s voice from exploitation without consent. - The Guardian

Culprit number one is lucre. For pop stars, Mr Marx argues, the idea of “selling out” has died out. The ultimate measure of value is financial success; distinct musical genres have been squished into “glossy, marketable pop”. - The Economist

Artists and cultural workers interviewed ahead of Colorado Creates said they worry about gentrification, burnout, lack of collaboration, the need to bring the younger generations into conversations and the cost of living in Denver. - Westword

Well, if not exorcised, at least accosted by crosses: “Thereminists appear to carve sound out of thin air, using their hands to prompt a distinct whir from its wooden, lectern-like body by manipulating the electromagnetic fields around its two antennae.” - The New York Times

“This year, the internet is uncharacteristically quiet during the period when Spotify Wrapped typically appears. The lack of anticipation comes ... as it faces backlash on such issues as artist compensation, AI-generated music and ICE recruitment ads.” - CBC

“Many of the performances on Friday focused on the fundamental strains of traditional country, bluegrass and gospel that helped shape what began as the WSM Barn Dance in 1925.” - The New York Times

After recently announcing major cuts to its youth orchestra, the L.A. Phil has secured additional donor funding to ensure the East L.A. branch of the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) program will continue at full capacity until the end of the school year. - Los Angeles Times

Conservatories made a comeback this year, with several returning to THR‘s annual list of the world’s best music schools. - The Hollywood Reporter

It’s no secret, too, that the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra is the orchestras’ orchestra; the ensemble that makes hardened pros go wobbly at the knees, and sends critics spiralling towards Pseud’s Corner.  - The Spectator

Getting beyond the tent walls means understanding just how much the Cuban diaspora means to the city. - The New York Times

“It got to the point where I had more art than walls. … I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool for a bunch of collectors to get together and create a space to show our work. Tell our story?’” - Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

“Grooms’s carousel illustrates the financial challenge of regional museums, which scrounge to raise funds and then have to decide whether to add a wing or spend the money on upkeep for their collections.” - The New York Times

“Constable’s paintings might not have the exciting steam trains, boats and burning Houses of Parliament of Turner’s, but they were radical too. Painting mill workers and bargemen was groundbreaking at a time when grandiose classical themes – favoured by Turner – were de rigueur.” - The Guardian (UK)

The DIA has achieved a rare feat with its presentations: making art history feel unexpected, and so, truer to life. What immediate change it chooses for its closest community—that’s a story Detroit won’t forget. - ARTnews

On Monday, Ross’ Cabin at Sunset, painted for a 1986 episode of PBS’ iconic “The Joy of Painting”, sold for roughly $1,044,000. - ARTnews

You know what clickbait is, right? Well, the word of the year is its anger-fueled cousin, rage bait, "manipulative tactics used to drive engagement online, with usage of it increasing threefold in the last 12 months.” - BBC

Tessa Hadley: "Storytelling was the most powerful magic I knew: it got expressed first in the games I played out with my friends. Written down though, words were puny for such a long time.” Then came Henry James. - The Guardian (UK)

Larry Reid, the man who owns and runs Seattle’s Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, says that comics have “a more immediate impact on culture than fine art.” - Seattle Times

Public libraries in Tennessee have begun to shut down as they carry out an order from state officials to remove children’s books containing LGBTQ+ themes or characters. - Common Dreams

39% of novelists reported that their income has already been negatively affected by GenAI. They cited a range of reasons, including competition from AI-generated books, sabotage of sales due to rip-off AI-generated imitations of books, and supplementary streams of income such as copywriting becoming scarce due to increased use of GenAI. - The Conversation

Bibliomania, the only hobby which is also a mental health affliction. The person with piles of titles on their nightstand, in their closet, in the trunk of their car. Books in front of books on their bookshelf. “With thought, patience, and discrimination, book passion becomes the signature of a person’s character.”  - LitHub

“People are sitting through one-to-two minute, out-of-order clips of TV shows and movies on social media, awkwardly cropped for the vertical format and often with terrible music blaring in the background.” Okaaaaaay. But the people who love them really love them. - Washington Post (MSN)

And it’s become, essentially, Netflix’s Star Wars, “that anchor series that drives customer acquisition and helps define the original programming.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

And what does that mean, anyway? Can an actor, or director, win on vibes alone? - Vulture

“Classic films, you may have noticed, concentrate practically all the energy in every facet of their production toward the expression of specific themes, stories, and characters; at their best, their every line, gesture, cut, and invention represents the tip of an artistic iceberg.” - Open Culture

“There is very little that compares to the adrenaline of chasing murder. … Going home to change the kid’s diapers and do the dishes and cook the meal falls away really quick when you are on a 24-7 investigation.” - The New York Times

To date, the most-watched game this regular season has been the Week 2 Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl rematch, which averaged 33.8 million viewers, marking one of the most-watched early season games ever. - Deadline

“As AI technologies proliferate and become an increasingly inescapable fact of modern life, choreographers are not only experimenting with AI tools, but they’re also creating works that grapple with the potential repercussions of artificial intelligence and the existential questions it raises.” - Dance Magazine

Toronto-based Ballet Jörgen had just begun its annual December tour of Ontario with the holiday favorite when the rental truck containing its sets and backdrops was stolen around 3:30 am Monday morning. - CBC

“Biosensors are devices designed to measure real-time processes and responses within the body, like a person’s heart rate, blood oxygen level, and sleep quality. … Here are a few ways biosensors have been used to expand research in dance medicine.” - Dance Magazine

As VR becomes more widespread, a growing number of dance artists and companies are exploring—and, in some cases, redefining—what this technology can do. - Dance Magazine

An exec at the firm Move AI insists that the combination of motion-capture and AI software isn’t to replace dance artists but to streamline the repetitive, tedious process of animation. (The dance artists are still nervous.) Meanwhile, other AI programs stand to make the work of dance historians and archivists easier. - Dance Magazine

Watching a dance rehearsal as a score-addicted musician is surreal. You can have 30 people in the room, and only two of them will have the score. What is fascinating is that the choreographer has imposed an entirely different, invisible form of notation on the form of their counting. - The Guardian

“We wrote something, you know, with very open hearts and no political agenda. We just wanted to tell this amazing story, and look what has happened.” - NPR

“He loved his words to the point of mania and yet fretted over their inadequacy, making the mere act of speech seem somehow both heroic and doomed. He caused words to explode like fireworks, dazzling us with their bright, multicolored patterns.” - The New York Times

“The British Theatre Consortium report, titled ‘British Theatre Before & After Covid’, examines 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, and 2023, the first full year after theatres reopened. It draws on anonymised data from 139 theatres across the UK.” - WhatsOnStage (UK)

The musical, based on a 2012 documentary about a Florida couple seeking to build a palatial home but stymied by an economic downturn, is yet another high-profile financial failure for Broadway: The show cost up to $22.5 million to capitalize. - The New York Times

The musical, starring Kristin Chenoweth (in her return to Broadway after ten years) and featuring Stephen Schwartz’s first Broadway score since Wicked, began previews in October and officially opened two weeks ago. The production was expected to run into next spring but, after negative reviews, will close on Jan. 4. - Entertainment Weekly

Pam MacKinnon will step down as artistic director of San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) at the close of the 2025-2026 season, ending an eight-year tenure with the company. MacKinnon was the theatre's fourth leader, joining in 2018. - Playbill

Woodrell was “a novelist known for prose as rugged and elemental as the igneous rock of the Ozark Mountains, his birthplace, which he returned to just as his artistic craftsmanship peaked.” - The New York Times

“Everyone else is so calm, and everyone’s working or researching or something. It’s almost like a movie set, and I have to pretend I’m working, too. Everyone should have a library card. It’s like a bicycle but for your brain.” - The New York Times

Stern “was the ultimate insider, … yet he seemed to enjoy tweaking the architectural establishment.” - Washington Post (MSN)

“One of a select band of writers from any discipline to earn his own adjective – ‘Stoppardian’ – in the Oxford English Dictionary, he delighted in the most improbable juxtapositions.” He also shared a co-writing Oscar for Shakespeare in Love. - The Guardian (UK)

Carl Rollyson: “After writing three biographies of Sylvia Plath, what more could I possibly say about her suicide? Yet … in Plath’s case, (there are) very different circumstances that separate her suicide attempt in 1953 from her second, fatal one nearly a decade later.” - The Hedgehog Review

“Thomas King, … the writer of books including 2003's The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative and 2012's The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, says he is reeling from recent news that he has no Cherokee ancestry.” - CBC