During the exam, students were pulling out phones and taking photographs of the test to submit to LLMs before copying down machine-written responses into their blue books. - The New Critic

Prodigy is among a bevy of gamified tools that have gained a foothold in classrooms across the country by promising to make learning fun. (As Prodigy’s website puts it: “Kids no longer have to choose between homework and playtime.”) - The Atlantic

Every great artist needs a nemesis - fictional or not! - in order to stand out. - Salon

“Musicians, artists and writers generally possess something AI does not, which is the lived human experience out of which they create. That experience includes the accidents, serendipities and epiphanies that shape our arts.” - KC Studio

I’ve written previously that one of AI’s enduring cultural impacts is to make people feel like they’re losing their mind. But lately, I believe, it’s the accelerated nature of the AI boom that’s driving people everywhere mad. - The Atlantic

There are no such stable beliefs and desires “inside” us that can be observed and reported. Instead, the human mind is a wonderfully fluent, but profoundly deceptive, improviser: spinning stories justifying our thoughts and actions as fast as we ask questions. And these invented explanations are vague, inconsistent, and often provably wrong. - IAI News

The head of France’s biggest film producer, Canal+, has said the group will no longer work with hundreds of cinema figures who signed a petition voicing concern over the growing influence of the rightwing billionaire owner Vincent Bolloré. - The Guardian

Stanford has always been a haven for aspiring techies, but recent events have taken the school into uncharted territory. A.I. is everything. We talk about it at the dining halls and in history classes, on dates and while smoking with friends, at the gym and in communal dorm bathrooms. - The New York Times

As it turns out, tech jobs may be drying up after years of students rushing to computer science. Who needs to code? AI does that for you. What AI can’t do – yet – is the stuff that makes us human: empathy, emotion, psychology, critical thinking. - Irish Times

"In the new wall text accompanying a portrait of Mr. Trump, the impeachments are mentioned in a list of important events from the president’s first term.” - The New York Times

The head of one viral marketing firm says 90 percent of what we see online is advertising. And of course, “the point of this kind of marketing is that nobody is supposed to notice it. But lately, the machinery has started to show.” - Vulture

"Every time I see a video on Instagram that’s like, ‘Hollywood is cooked,’ what follows is the most stupid dog shit I’ve ever seen in my life.” - Variety

“I should leave when I cannot do the job properly or when the board doesn’t want me to be here. I’m a workaholic, I’ve always worked. I don’t enjoy free time. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about work. I need work. My life would be empty without work.” -...

So what can motivate tech barons to give money to opera? How do we convince them that, with their help, they can be a part of imagining a new, mind-blowing, future for opera, just as they have transformed the way we think and live with their innovations? We need to answer those questions if...

“Gelb, who is paid $1.2 million annually, oversees a $326 million budget. … Beyond the often caustic scrutiny of opera critics and patrons, Gelb must reckon with the demands of 3,000 full- and part-time employees, 15 labor unions and a 144-member board of directors.” - The New York Times

Well, why not? "For me, it’s more about singing the music and just communicating it and making that as accessible as possible in the moment to the audience.” - The New York Times

“That sprint of a succession of high notes in such a short time is legendary, which adds a layer of difficulty not only to singing the role but finding a reliable queen.” - The New York Times

The opera, which announced it was severing its relations with the Kennedy Center as President Trump sought to put his imprint on the institution, said it would produce five full-length operas — including a world premiere based on the life of Georgia O’Keeffe — and three smaller-scale works on five stages across the region. - The...

The San Francisco sky was lit Friday night with dozens of colored lasers beaming from the Transamerica Pyramid toward Coit Tower and One Sansome Street. - ABC7

The “living museum” will present a continuously evolving immersive, audiovisual experience based on millions of images, sounds and scents from nature. As an indication of what it will be like, Dataland’s website presents phantasmagorical images of ecological wonder and awe.

“Across TikTok and Instagram, videos centred on Rothko’s work are accumulating hundreds of thousands of views. One creator has begun styling outfits inspired by individual Rothko canvases; another assigns Rothko works to personality archetypes.” - The Guardian (UK)

What should it do with them, and all of the material therein? - El País English

“A spark from one of the torch-cutters likely ignited debris that had accumulated in one of the fountain’s tubes during the last year of its dormancy, sending flames and smoke shooting into the air over a structure that once pumped 30,000 gallons of water.” - The Guardian (UK)

The massive whale mural is “'gone forever,’ Wyland told me, ... sounding at turns shattered and furious.” But why? Could be for some sports marketing, of course, since the men’s World Cup is coming soon. - Dallas Morning News

Stacey Levine’s Mice 1961, published by a very small press in Oregon, is "a deeply weird book, a kind-of coming-of-age comedy with no easy takeaway, full of twangy dialogue that reads like an alien in a human suit going ‘hello fellow Earthlings.’”  - LitHub

Was Greek literature a “cheat code” to the afterlife for Egyptian royals of Roman-era Egypt? - The New York Times

“Prior to the discovery of the Rome manuscript, the earliest one was from the early 12th century. So this is three centuries earlier than that. And so it attests to the importance that was already being attached to the English in the early 9th century.” - Seattle Times (AP)

Try returning to some things you cared about as a kid. - The Atlantic

If you do look closely at the history, biography, memoir, and general-nonfiction honors, a noticeable pattern emerges. The picks typically share a particular quality. - The Atlantic

The Wellcome Collection is ceding ownership of more than 2,000 documents, dating from the 15th to 19th centuries, bought from a Jain temple in present-day Pakistan in 1919. Now deeming the purchase of the manuscripts “unethical,” the museum is turning them over to the UK-based Institute of Jainology. - The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)

“The open letter, published earlier this week to coincide with the opening of the Cannes film festival, was signed by more than 600 figures, including ... Juliette Binoche.” Now the head of Canal+ says the organization will no longer work with any of the signers. - The Guardian (UK)

“For decades, elected officials have not had to focus on the film and TV business, let alone turn it into a campaign issue. It was simply a given that local production would continue to play a dominant role in the city’s economy.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

“The documentary centres on a cocktail party Greaves hosted at Duke Ellington’s townhouse in Harlem in August 1972 – an attempt to capture the voices of artists, writers, musicians and organisers whose work had transformed Black American culture in the 1920s.” - The Guardian (UK)

Basically? It can’t take the heat: “In theory, attending Cannes should be a no-brainer for major U.S. studios. Talent loves it because of the glamour and global exposure. … This year, however, multiple high level sources said the conglomerates are particularly thin-skinned about the scathing Cannes critics.” - Variety

Wait, Lupita Nyong’o is not beautiful enough for some? Sounds like a them problem. Or, as Claire Willett said on Bluesky, “Woman: *Minds her own business while being beautiful* The worst men in the world: This is an attack on me personally. Summon the fleet.” - Salon

“The second century of European public media looks less certain than its first as its original competition – from private broadcasters – is eclipsed by heated rivalry from deep-pocketed streaming platforms.” - Irish Times

“Ballet can be a pretty conservative artform, with many companies trundling out Swan Lakes, Nutcrackers, and Cinderellas year after year. Every now and again, though, someone like Rojo comes along and truly shakes things up – even if that has meant ruffling tutus in the process.” - NPR

“For nearly three decades Cuba’s Danza Voluminosa regularly filled prestigious venues like the 2,000-seat National Theater. Directed by Juan Miguel Mas, the troupe pioneered a new movement by working exclusively with larger-bodied dancers. ... (Now) Mas’s daily life has been upended by persistent blackouts, water outages, soaring costs and a lack of transportation.” -...

LubDub is the fourth and final piece of Barton’s three years as Hubbard Street’s resident choreographer. “Asked to discuss the movement vocabulary she employs here, Barton demurred. But when the descriptor 'unruly' was suggested, she was quick to embrace it. …  (And) there are plenty of quirky, unexpected sights in the piece.” - WBEZ...

It’s not just a matter of advertising in the playbills; that’s been happening for decades. Van Cleef and Arpels has directly funded dance festivals in six cities on three continents, while Chanel sponsors a large biennial award to (among others) choreographers. But are there serious ethical issues tied to this money? - Dance Magazine

“I think the public’s relationship with dance has changed, to the point where for the generation coming up, dance is associated more heavily with TikTok than with the Royal Ballet. I think that is what has really opened up the doors and taken away the stigma.” - The Guardian

The women “infused African, Caribbean, and modern dance rhythms into traditional ballet practices and integral in shaping Philadelphia’s dance community. They inspired young Black girls who faced immense gatekeeping.” - Philadelphia Inquirer

“Every number is a homage to at least one classic musical, and often two or three. Here, the hills are alive with the sound of pastiche; the plains and the valleys too.” - The New York Times

At least, according to The New York Times’s Helen Shaw. For instance: “When I think about the sheer old-fashioned ebullience of Cinco Paul’s Schmigadoon! — its compositional invention and depth of talent — I find myself hoping the voters will give it the laurel.” - The New York Times

This Tony-nominated actor is finding more theatrical work - and, let’s face it, likely better pay - as a member of the Savannah Bananas, playing a relief pitcher who comes on dressed as, and singing, the Phantom of the Opera. - The New York Times

Aleshea Harris: "It felt natural and inevitable because I am a very particular playwright. … I already have strong ideas and impulses about not just writing the thing, but helping people to understand.”  - The New York Times

Daniel Radcliffe, Every Brilliant Thing: “My ideal version is that the play starts without you noticing.” Ana Gasteyer, Schmigadoon!: “People from my particular background, which is Saturday Night Live, which is sketch, work very quickly. There is no process.” - The New York Times

“It’s a $46 million project built within the shell of a historic storage warehouse that was built by the W.C. Reebie and Brother Company in the 1910s, and the big vertical sign is easily visible to anyone traveling past.” - Chicago Tribune (Yahoo!)

“Lindstrom, until the end of his life, was committed to portraying stories of trauma overcome. Though he possessed an exceptional grasp of cinema’s tools from cinematography to editing, Lindstrom’s greatest artistic gift was his blend of empathy and curiosity.” - Oregon ArtsWatch

The Twomblys’ granddaughter, Maia, discovered the negatives - and she has a new appreciation of the photographer: “I remember her now not as an 80-year-old woman, but as a 30-year-old. It’s like she is no longer my grandmother but my friend.” - The New York Times

“The estranged husband of a prominent New York City art dealer said he wished his spouse was dead before the co-owner of a contemporary art gallery was found stabbed to death in his Brazilian townhouse, a witness testified Tuesday as a murder-for-hire trial got underway in Manhattan.” - AP

“The French-born singer, actress and ex-wife of Andy Williams was at the center of a scandalous 1976 trial and media circus after she fatally shot her boyfriend, Olympic skier Spider Sabich.” - The Hollywood Reporter

Paata Burchuladze, who had a very successful career as a bass before returning home to participate in the struggle against an increasingly authoritarian government, was convicted of “organization and leadership of group violence,” and “incitement to change the constitutional order of Georgia through violence” for organizing a large election-day protest last October. - OperaWire

The disgraced movie mogul was first tried for the alleged assault of Jessica Mann in 2020; he was convicted of third-degree rape, but the verdict was overturned in 2024 over prosecutors' missteps. Weinstein’s 2025 retrial had a hung jury, and the current retrial is drawing little interest from media or spectators. - Vulture (MSN)