AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- The Machine Can’t Do Marilyn
Good Morning,
Today’s stories ask the question: when machines can make something, what’s left that only people can make? Start with the flop. A commissioned AI attempt to turn Dakota Johnson into Marilyn Monroe didn’t work, and Maggie Gyllenhaal isn’t sorry it failed (Vulture). Meanwhile the Anthropic settlement, sold as a win for authors, has become a fight among publishers, authors, and third parties over who actually gets paid (The New York Times). Money is easier to extract than to distribute.
Bigger picture: The Atlantic asks whether the internet is already dead, with bots texting bots all the way down (The Atlantic). Readers seem to have noticed. CD sales are booming alongside vinyl and cassettes, not as a revolt against streaming but as a market for objects you can hold (The Verge). And in a North Carolina town hollowed out after Helene, a new center is teaching fiber arts and clay as survival skills, not nostalgia (The New York Times).
Which makes the Boston Globe‘s case against Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey more pointed: Homer’s poem is about waiting, and the movie refuses to do it (Boston Globe).
Europe’s empty churches, it turns out, make fine concert halls. Also pickleball courts (The New York Times).
All of our stories below.
- Was Renoir Actually A Fairly Bad Painter?
The age-old question returns. “Surely Renoir would at least have benefitted from being slightly less prolific.” – Artnet
- At Crystal Bridges, Renovation And Expansion Are The Order Of The Day
Of course, “while the museum and the Walton family espouse natural connections between art, community and general well-being (see also recent major investments in healthcare), the urge to collect continues apace.” – KC Studio
- The Wealthy Friends Interfering In Mexico’s Frida Kahlo Legacy
“If it were not so tragic for Mexican art, the story would make an excellent detective novel. All the characters and ingredients are there.” – Le Monde English
- Another Long Dive On How The Bayeux Tapestry Made It Back To England
“Among the French, the mood is anxious. The tapestry’s early life is shrouded in mystery, but it seems to have led a fameless existence in Bayeux for hundreds of years.” – The New Yorker
ISSUES
- Was Renoir Actually A Fairly Bad Painter?
The age-old question returns. “Surely Renoir would at least have benefitted from being slightly less prolific.” – Artnet
- At Crystal Bridges, Renovation And Expansion Are The Order Of The Day
Of course, “while the museum and the Walton family espouse natural connections between art, community and general well-being (see also recent major investments in healthcare), the urge to collect continues apace.” – KC Studio
- Another Long Dive On How The Bayeux Tapestry Made It Back To England
“Among the French, the mood is anxious. The tapestry’s early life is shrouded in mystery, but it seems to have led a fameless existence in Bayeux for hundreds of years.” – The New Yorker
- Court In Argentina Rules In Favor Of Jewish Art Dealer’s Heir
“Portrait of a Lady by Italian baroque painter Giuseppe Ghislandi was missing for eight decades before being photographed in 2025 hanging in the home of the daughter of a senior Nazi officer who had fled to Argentina after the second world war.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Maurizio “Banana Taped To The Wall” Cattelan Insists He’s Serious (And He’s Probably Right)
The art world’s merriest prankster; the guy who duct-taped a banana to a gallery wall, called it “Comedian,” and saw it get eaten, sold for $6.2 million, and then eaten again — he says “My work has always been serious. The problem is people often stop at the joke.” – The Guardian
MEDIA
- The Wealthy Friends Interfering In Mexico’s Frida Kahlo Legacy
“If it were not so tragic for Mexican art, the story would make an excellent detective novel. All the characters and ingredients are there.” – Le Monde English
- Is The Internet Dead?
“It’s no longer strange to think that AI might be everywhere, edging out all forms of human interaction: bots talking to bots, all the way down.” This is … not great. – The Atlantic
- Grim New Video Games Are Out, From The Governing Party Of The United States
The games, reflecting the political goals of the president, resemble gaming classics. Tetris is unhappy with “Build the Wall,” a little too close to Tetris itself. Then there’s one like Snake, where gamers “patrol the Rio Grande and capture figures representing migrants.” – Salon
- Trying To Revitalize A Tiny ‘Lost’ Town With Traditional Arts In North Carolina
“In the wake of Helene and the subsequent inland migration, the [Lost Province Center for Cultural Arts] is teaching so-called Old World skills — like fiber arts and clay throwing — as essential tools in the modern age.” – The New York Times
- How City Arts Funding In Chicago Stacks Up Against That Of Other Big U.S. Cities
“Across the country’s five largest cities, Chicago was the only one to cut the funding for its local arts agency during its most recent budget cycle. And while its spending dwarfs that of the larger Los Angeles, and trails only behind New York per capita, the pressure is mounting to do more.” – WBEZ (Chicago)
MUSIC
- In A World With Awards For Writing Badly About Sex, LitHub Has Tips For Doing The Opposite
“Even if you’re writing about stereotypically bad sex, your language should be fresh and surprising.” – LitHub
- The Anthropic Settlement Is Turning Into Yet More Struggle For Authors Whose Works Were Stolen
Publishers and authors are wrangling, and third parties are getting into it, and in general, this isn’t great. – The New York Times
- Remembering Gloria Steinem As A Writer
As she said, “It’s one of the ironies of trying to be a writer and an activist at the same time that just when you feel you have the most to write about, you have the least time in which to write it.” – The New York Times
- This May Not Be The Great American Novel, But It’s Got To Be The Great American Manuscript
That would be the 120-foot scroll of architectural tracing paper on which Jack Kerouac typed — single-spaced — his original draft of On the Road. He produced the whole megillah in three very caffeinated weeks. – AP
- Why There Are Fewer English Majors In Universities Today
The decline of the English major offers a lesson in what young people want. Teenagers in the 2020s have a spiritual thirst that is unmet by a curriculum without order and greatness and charm. A field without a bible like the Norton doesn’t satisfy them. – Portico Quarterly
PEOPLE
- The Machine Can’t Do Marilyn
Good Morning,
Today’s stories ask the question: when machines can make something, what’s left that only people can make? Start with the flop. A commissioned AI attempt to turn Dakota Johnson into Marilyn Monroe didn’t work, and Maggie Gyllenhaal isn’t sorry it failed (Vulture). Meanwhile the Anthropic settlement, sold as a win for authors, has become a fight among publishers, authors, and third parties over who actually gets paid (The New York Times). Money is easier to extract than to distribute.
Bigger picture: The Atlantic asks whether the internet is already dead, with bots texting bots all the way down (The Atlantic). Readers seem to have noticed. CD sales are booming alongside vinyl and cassettes, not as a revolt against streaming but as a market for objects you can hold (The Verge). And in a North Carolina town hollowed out after Helene, a new center is teaching fiber arts and clay as survival skills, not nostalgia (The New York Times).
Which makes the Boston Globe‘s case against Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey more pointed: Homer’s poem is about waiting, and the movie refuses to do it (Boston Globe).
Europe’s empty churches, it turns out, make fine concert halls. Also pickleball courts (The New York Times).
All of our stories below.
- Was Renoir Actually A Fairly Bad Painter?
The age-old question returns. “Surely Renoir would at least have benefitted from being slightly less prolific.” – Artnet
- At Crystal Bridges, Renovation And Expansion Are The Order Of The Day
Of course, “while the museum and the Walton family espouse natural connections between art, community and general well-being (see also recent major investments in healthcare), the urge to collect continues apace.” – KC Studio
- The Wealthy Friends Interfering In Mexico’s Frida Kahlo Legacy
“If it were not so tragic for Mexican art, the story would make an excellent detective novel. All the characters and ingredients are there.” – Le Monde English
- Another Long Dive On How The Bayeux Tapestry Made It Back To England
“Among the French, the mood is anxious. The tapestry’s early life is shrouded in mystery, but it seems to have led a fameless existence in Bayeux for hundreds of years.” – The New Yorker
PEOPLE
- The Machine Can’t Do Marilyn
Good Morning,
Today’s stories ask the question: when machines can make something, what’s left that only people can make? Start with the flop. A commissioned AI attempt to turn Dakota Johnson into Marilyn Monroe didn’t work, and Maggie Gyllenhaal isn’t sorry it failed (Vulture). Meanwhile the Anthropic settlement, sold as a win for authors, has become a fight among publishers, authors, and third parties over who actually gets paid (The New York Times). Money is easier to extract than to distribute.
Bigger picture: The Atlantic asks whether the internet is already dead, with bots texting bots all the way down (The Atlantic). Readers seem to have noticed. CD sales are booming alongside vinyl and cassettes, not as a revolt against streaming but as a market for objects you can hold (The Verge). And in a North Carolina town hollowed out after Helene, a new center is teaching fiber arts and clay as survival skills, not nostalgia (The New York Times).
Which makes the Boston Globe‘s case against Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey more pointed: Homer’s poem is about waiting, and the movie refuses to do it (Boston Globe).
Europe’s empty churches, it turns out, make fine concert halls. Also pickleball courts (The New York Times).
All of our stories below.
- Was Renoir Actually A Fairly Bad Painter?
The age-old question returns. “Surely Renoir would at least have benefitted from being slightly less prolific.” – Artnet
- At Crystal Bridges, Renovation And Expansion Are The Order Of The Day
Of course, “while the museum and the Walton family espouse natural connections between art, community and general well-being (see also recent major investments in healthcare), the urge to collect continues apace.” – KC Studio
- The Wealthy Friends Interfering In Mexico’s Frida Kahlo Legacy
“If it were not so tragic for Mexican art, the story would make an excellent detective novel. All the characters and ingredients are there.” – Le Monde English
- Another Long Dive On How The Bayeux Tapestry Made It Back To England
“Among the French, the mood is anxious. The tapestry’s early life is shrouded in mystery, but it seems to have led a fameless existence in Bayeux for hundreds of years.” – The New Yorker
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Why Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey Is Destined To Be Forgotten
It’s “a nearly three-hour barn burner, racing from event to event with whirlwind kinetic energy. … Nolan’s reluctance to take a pause should, actually, give us pause. After all, Homer’s poem doesn’t just involve a lot of waiting. It is a postwar tale about waiting.” – Boston Globe
- What To Do With All Of Europe’s Empty Churches?
Sure, indoor pickleball courts can work, but there are many arts options. – The New York Times
- Have We Wrecked Childhood?
This doesn’t sound like a very nice life, does it? It’s an existence in which you’re micromanaged and surveilled, given almost no freedom or privacy, and put under constant pressure while, at the same time, being seen as incompetent and lazy. – The New Yorker
- Twilight Of The Oxford Dons
These same dons disdained Britain’s provincial universities—known pejoratively as Redbrick—as well as academics in the U.S., whom they scorned for going about their business with “woefully unnecessary seriousness.” A don, by contrast, was effortlessly successful. – The Wall Street Journal
- There’s A Difference Between Celebrating Innovation and Trying To Understand It
Journalist Nicholas Carr called the online world “the shallows” for the way it erodes concentration. But the paradox is that its depthlessness arrives as immersion. – The Walrus