Remember that the brain itself is merely another object in the world. To talk about it at all is to have already accepted a level of objective existence which cannot be reduced to sensory experience. - 3 Quarks Daily

Even Google may not be too big to fail, as pessimism mounts about the possibility of Search ever again working the way it used to. - The New Yorker

It’s increasingly clear to me that we will not survive as a society without some seismic intervention that separates us from our screens, our algorithms, and our little simulacra of social life. - The New Yorker

Today, it’s evident that the word ‘equality’ means very different things to different people. What once seemed capable of providing common ground is now just another source of controversy. What explains this shift? - Aeon

"Is the value of my experience at Disney World undermined by the fact that it is, at the end of the day, a production of the Walt Disney Company? Can I trust a profit-hungry corporation to teach my children universal values? - Psyche

We usually assume that more of it must be better. But we can become so focused on improving one thing that we lose sight of the others. You can try to arrange your calendar so that every minute is accounted for, but you’ll soon start running over and end up behind.  - The Guardian

Universities should go back to traditional exams and in-person presentations to grade students after lecturers complained that AI has made it “close to impossible” to assess coursework, according to an investigation by England’s higher education regulator. - The Guardian

“Former Michigan state representative Donna Lasinski was announced Wednesday as the initiative’s inaugural president. … The project has been discussed in abstract for years but is now moving from idea to reality with the appointment of Lasinski, who has served as the Cultural Stadium’s senior adviser since April.” - WBEZ (Chicago)

“Art is the great democrat,” wrote Kennedy, “calling forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color.” He saw art as a means of transcending difference, as both a product of democracy and a contributor to its flourishing. - San Francisco Classical Voice

To understand where—and what—Aquaterra is, you have to think about how sea levels fall and rise during an ice age. As the planet cools, ocean water becomes locked up in continental ice sheets, and sea levels fall by hundreds of feet. - The Atlantic

It's not 100 percent clear who, exactly, will benefit. "There's little to no way to know whether, for example, a violin teacher or a filmmaker is more likely to be approved." - CBC

The rap artist wrote that after Ed Sheeran removed him from the Sheeran tour, his team reached out to arenas with available dates. "But once they found out these were my benefit shows for Palestine, ... those dates were suddenly off the table.” - The New York Times

“The tour … was striking in its ambitions: 17 days, four countries, 10 performances and an army of 147 musicians, backup conductors, sound technicians, librarians, stagehands, donors, executives and a tour doctor. They traveled on trains, bus caravans, and chartered and commercial airplanes.” - The New York Times

This broadcast—the first of its kind for the Met on YouTube—will support the company’s $1.5 billion Make the Met Forever fundraising campaign. Beginning November 20, the recording will be available on Met Opera on Demand through a range of paid viewing options. - TheatreMania

The Missy Mazzoli/Royce Vavrek adaptation of the George Saunders novel sold out most of its run, including the final performance on November 14. That performance will be streamed live on the Met’s YouTube channel. The video will remain available on YouTube until midnight NYC time on Wednesday, November 18. - Playbill

“The (non-binding ballot) measure, meant to gauge public interest, arrived after pushback in recent years from some Chicagoans who oppose privately run festivals taking place in the city’s public spaces, from Lollapalooza in Grant Park to Riot Fest in Douglass Park. But despite electoral support, there are no clear next steps.” - WBEZ (Chicago)

“After weeks of reaching out, nine major American arenas have turned us down,” he wrote. Macklemore went on to name the specific venues that have allegedly turned him and his team away, despite having availability in the coming months. - The Wrap

"Bloc voting, where countries award high scores to their neighbours, is a long-running tradition in Europe. Blecher says it is too early to know whether Asia will follow suit." - The Guardian (UK)

“We will exceptionally be extending a 20 percent reduction on booth fees to all galleries that participated in the Paris fair, in recognition of the closure,” on October 24–25, Art Basel chief executive Noah Horowitz told ARTnews in an interview. - ARTnews

“The Anima Mundi, formerly the Ethnological Museum, (is) home to around 80,000 objects from across the globe, many of which were ‘gifted’ to the Catholic church in Rome by Indigenous peoples at a time when its missionaries were powerful, and sometimes dubious, figures in their far-flung communities.” - The Guardian

One historian announced his authentication of a previously unattributed painting at a conference this past Saturday, while another revealed on Sunday that the original of a painting known only from copies had been located. - Artnet

“The sylvan landscape around the Lincoln Memorial is a mess, and it will only get worse. … A landscape that was meant to symbolize peace and reconciliation after the Civil War is becoming cluttered mainly with memorials devoted to war” — too many to fit in this one place. - The Washington Post (MSN)

The new challenges in recent weeks come at a time when Mr. Leribault has had to deal with everything in his brief tenure from the threat of staff strikes and a perennial shortage of visitor bathrooms to a whopping funding drive to finance the museum’s planned refurbishment and reorganization. - The Wall Street Journal

“The Bureau of Land Management announced on November 6 that it was investigating vandalism at two ancient rock-art sites near Moab, Utah, where someone carved names into petroglyphs, leaving damage that may be impossible to remove.” - Outside

Above the chaos is a question: Why did this novel, thematically rote and stylistically bland as it is, receive such acclaim in the first place? - The Atlantic

On its face, biography is the genre of the integral subject—a person interacting with others but distinct from them, not dissolving in a sea of substance. For Carlisle, though, the “metaphysical selfishness” of a world composed of discrete human beings “reinforces moral selfishness, and vice versa.” - The New Yorker

“A federal judge in Manhattan has ordered the pirate site WeLib to pay 13 publishers $19.5 million in statutory damages. Judge Victor Marrero also directed the companies that register and host its domains to take it offline, after the site’s operators failed to respond to the publishers’ copyright infringement suit.” - Publishers Weekly

The new budget released by the government of Canada last week permanently increased the Canada Book Fund by CDN $5 million annually. This increase, the first since 2001, will bring the Canada Book Fund’s total annual budget to approximately CDN $43.4 million starting in 2027–28. - Publishers Weekly

“Eighty-one-year-old M John Harrison has won the Booker Prize for The End of Everything, a postapocalyptic novel set on a near-future Kent coast, becoming the oldest winner in the award’s history." Booker Prize Foundation CEO Gaby Wood called it "the first Booker winner to have emerged from the bona fide SF world.” - The...

Especially since a lot of LLMs are trained on those authors' words already? Well, that's the hope - that's there's a way to prove a negative. - Wired

While it can seem like a daunting time for students to enter an industry grappling with contraction and AI-driven shifts, many educators who have embraced AI remain optimistic. They choose to focus on the emerging opportunities for the next generation of talent. - Los Angeles Times

At CNN, according to two of these people, buyouts were offered to people who were in vice president roles or levels below and had more than 15 years of service. - Variety

"Warner Bros film has underperformed this year and will weigh on Q4 results. We’ll apply the same playbook we did at Paramount: greenlighting more selectively, prioritizing profitable streaming growth over subscriber count, optimizing linear and driving efficiency through the cost structure.” - Deadline

“Nithya Raman's connections to Hollywood were a key part of the coalition that fueled her upset victory. … Now, they and hundreds of thousands of entertainment workers and business owners that rely on the film-and-TV industry will look to Raman to find a way to stop the decline in employment opportunities.” - TheWrap (MSN)

“A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Kari Lake and other Trump administration officials unlawfully attempted to fire Voice of America director Michael Abramowitz, upholding a lower court decision that blocked his removal without approval from an independent oversight board.” - TheWrap

The international demand for anime is certainly big enough, and the struggling Japanese economy could really use the extra earnings from abroad. But the country’s corporate culture is not exactly known for nimbleness, and it may not be able to reallocate resources quickly enough to meet demand with supply. - The New York Times

“The Company's final year will feature Memory Palace, a retrospective project (beginning) with a two-week festival at New York Live Arts in March 2027, followed by a final tour through December 2027. Beyond the Company's conclusion, Memory Palace will continue to evolve through exhibitions and the creation of a legacy film.” - BroadwayWorld

“Let’s dispel the myth about BalletBoyz — it’s not an all-male company and never has been. There were women in their first shows 25 years ago, in this show and others in between, while the ensemble’s lineup can change every year.” Founders William Trevitt and Michael Nunn never liked the name, anyway. - The...

"They realized that they wanted to create their own model, in which artists — who often cobble together a living over multiple part-time jobs and punishing rehearsal schedules — could earn a salary that reflected the labor they were putting in. ... East Coast Contemporary Ballet was born." - Hartford Courant

The immersive video company Cosm filmed multiple New York City Ballet performances, using 13 cameras shooting from 84 positions. The footage was edited to produce what Cosm calls shared reality (“virtual reality without the clunky glasses”). The result will be shown this year in Detroit, Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles. - The New York...

Said ex-director is Benjamin Millepied, also known as a former New York City Ballet star, founder-director of L.A. Dance Project, choreographer for the movie Black Swan, and Natalie Portman’s ex-husband. He’s staging three shows, each built on the music of great singer-songwriters, at the Folies this month. - The Times (UK)

In the early years, Darius James said he would cover the word "ballet" on the van they took to do community workshops because he feared it would put people off before trying. - BBC

Some of the first Black theater companies in the country were in South Side Chicago, and the scene flourished into the 1970s. Then, for economic and systemic reasons, the drama mostly dried up. Now, with some fresh talent and an influx of grant money, a revival is tentatively emerging. - WBEZ (Chicago)

A non-Equity production of The Music Man is currently running at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre, and quite a bit of SoCal’s theater community is unhappy about that. But a cast member says they’re treated well, and CTG artistic director Snehal Desai he didn’t have much choice in this case. - Los Angeles Times...

I would argue that everything you need to know about life can be found in “The Sound of Music.” Quite an expansive claim, but I have good credentials for making it. As a child actress, I played the bookish Brigitta von Trapp for three years in a touring production of the musical. - Washington...

The Debut doesn't come out until December 11. But there are many others in the "subgenre of theater-centric movies in which the characters are mostly amateurs creating stage magic (they hope)." - The New York Times

“The musical, inspired by the titular Cuban band, took home five Tony Awards in 2025, including a special Tony for its onstage band. While the show is closing in January, producers say it is on track to recoup before closure. … In 2027, the musical will open in London’s West End.” - The Hollywood...

Director Milo Rau’s documentary staging of the trial of Pelicot’s husband, who repeatedly drugged her and invited men to rape her, will be produced and livestreamed by the Young Vic, with a cast including Kate Winslet, Brian Cox, Indira Varma, Tobias Menzies, Rosie O'Donnell, Suzy Eddie Izzard, Juliet Stevenson, and others. - WhatsOnStage (UK)

“Fisketjon stayed with Knopf for 29 years, where he worked with many of the novelists who would come to define the American literary canon of the late 20th century” — among them Don DeLillo, Donna Tartt, Cormac McCarthy, Annie Dillard, Bret Easton Ellis, Patricia Highsmith, and Tobias Wolff. - Publishers Weekly

“Though he was considered a preeminent interpreter of Shakespeare and a favorite of such legendary directors as John Huston, Keach was indelibly linked with his take on the hard-boiled Mike Hammer, the fictitious TV private detective created by crime novelist Mickey Spillane.” - AP

“Paul McCartney has joined the ranks of the world’s billionaires. Forbes has valued the former Beatle’s net worth at $1.4bn (£1.04bn), making him the world’s third richest musician behind Jay-Z at $2.8bn (£2.01bn) and Taylor Swift at $2bn (£1.49bn).” - The Guardian

The Chilean director's final film was last year's The Wave. He said, "Making a film is like a gift you leave somewhere – you then hide and see what happens." - The Guardian (UK)

"My friend said, ‘Take acting, it’s like gym. Nobody flunks. You know, the worst you can get in gym is a C.'" - Today Show

"Adams, 73, is attracted to extremes. The more awe-inspiring, the better. It’s what has nourished his singular sound, which doesn’t so much represent as become the natural world." - The New York Times