AJ Four Ways:
Text Only (by date) | headlines only
- An Idea To Spur More Indie Production In Hollywood?
This week, a new organization called the American Entertainment Alliance will begin publicly pushing for legislation to force the biggest entertainment and streaming companies — including Netflix, Disney, Amazon Prime Video and Skydance — to allocate half of their original content budgets to shows and movies from independent producers in the United States. – The New York Times
- After The Watts Rebellion, Two Brothers Opened The First Black-Owned Gallery In Los Angeles
“‘As soon as we opened we were aware of the lack of opportunity for the entire minority community,’ said Dale, 80, in a recent interview. ‘It was definitely the mission.’” – Los Angeles Times (MSN)
- For Now, Art Basel Miami Beach Won’t Move To Las Vegas
“The sticking point, as discussed by city officials at a public meeting last Wednesday before a vote on a revised contract, was Art Basel’s demand to essentially halve the nearly $1 million annual rent the fair had previously paid to Miami Beach.” – The New York Times
- What If Climate Fiction And Movies Have Been Hitting The Wrong Buttons?
Fear spreads its message more quickly – but it also paralyzes most people to inaction, exactly not what most writers of climate fiction would prefer. – The Guardian (UK)
- Toledo Still Wants To Be The City Of Glass
“Toledo’s art scene has long been tied to its glass industry. In 1962 … local workers created the studio glass art movement here.” – NPR
- We’ve Never Seen Numbers Like This Before
That is to say, Netflix is reporting box office numbers, for the very first time, for La Bola Negra. – Los Angeles Times
- The Tyranny Of Those Who Hate Colorful Buildings Made The Guggenheim White
“Pink was precisely the color Frank Lloyd Wright envisioned for this museum in his plans, and it’s the color we would see across the street from Central Park today had prejudices not stood in the way.” – El País English
- Will Humans Still Know How To Clean It Up When AI Flubs Major Tasks?
“As people become less involved in a task, they can become less prepared to step in when needed. Researchers have called this the out-of-the-loop performance problem.” – The Conversation
- Saturday Night Live UK Ripped Into US SNL For Shane Gillis’s Blithering Misogyny
“A representative for [Lorne] Michaels did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.” – The New York Times
- The Fine Art Of Literary Adaptation
Though some books are more easily adapted than others, “the quality of the source is irrelevant.” – The Guardian (UK)
- For Those Currently Obsessed With ‘You Can See Everything,’ Who Is The Film’s Antagonist?
By now, anyone at all online knows it’s Billy Evans – but who is he? – The New York Times
- Three Recent Films Demonstrate How We See Poetry – And Poets
Ouf. “Is it wistful or cruel, the movies looking at poets only to find them pitiable, even or especially when they’re howling at the moon? The last artists who can’t make money, who have a pressing and practical concern about old books and what’s in them.” – LitHub
- How The Music Of ‘Traitors’ Manipulates Our Emotions
Composer Sam Watts: “I knew it was going to be a bit camp and high drama and all the glorious things. … So I just went with that – dark but fun.” – BBC
- Let’s Talk About Why ‘John Proctor Is The Villain’ Is So Massively Popular
Basically? “It’s a two-hour whirlwind of pop music-infused teen joy, thoughtful discussion of cultural revisionism, complex young characters, and dynamic performances.” – KC Studio
- John Berger Is The Antidote To The Scroll
“It’s his essays about art and artists that matter most to me now. Reading them, you often feel you’re standing next to him in the museum or even looking through his eyes at a painting or a sculpture. You pay attention to his attention.” – The New York Times
- Two Land Art Turf Swaps Reveal How Urban London And Rural Wales Are Doing, Ecologically Speaking
It’s not great news for the rural life, but urban London is looking pretty good. – The Guardian (UK)
- Isabel Allende Entered Herself in a Contest under a Pseudonym
Good Morning,
Isabel Allende, 84, won Spain’s €1 million Premio Planeta by submitting a sequel to The House of the Spirits under the name Luz Ventura, with the title Los que faltan. She told those at the ceremony she had never entered a contest before because she didn’t want to come last (The Guardian).
Ana Mota, a senior at South Grand Prairie High in Texas, was cast as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors until the school board swapped in Frozen, citing the 2025 anti-DEI law, Senate Bill 12. Nobody has explained how a girl playing a male role violates it (Downstage Center, a theatre Substack).
TikTok permanently suspended the ad account of Bleecker Street, distributor of Alex Gibney’s documentary Musk, for “political content” just as the film expanded to 470 screens. It restored the account Sunday morning and called the suspension an error (The Hollywood Reporter).
Billy Joel, 77, is auctioning more than 70 of his motorcycles because his neurologist says every show he gives is like getting a concussion (The Hollywood Reporter).
Catharina van Hemessen, a sixteenth-century Flemish painter, signed her work, which kept it from being filed under her father’s name (The New York Times).
NBC’s The Sound of Music Live drew more than 18 million viewers in 2013, against an internal hope of 10 million (Variety).
All of today’s stories below.
- A New Collective In Portland Would Really Like To Provide A Living Wage To Theatre Workers
Possible? Maybe: “Davidson found sources for Puddletown’s business structure by looking backward, to the kind of cooperative arrangements used by first traveling commedia dell’arte companies to Shakespeare’s players, on down to late 19th and early [20th] century repertory troupes.” Its first show is free. – Oregon ArtsWatch
- The Art Bird News Outrage Cycle Continues, But Why?
If you have miraculously missed most of the Kelly Clarkson/small business/rudeness cycle, it’s back. The art bird at the center of the Brooklyn storm, once tagged at $15,000, now retails for $15 million. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
- Recreating The Mona Lisa, By Plane
“Pilots looking to clock in flight hours and practice tricky turns can have a bit of fun by tracing the shapes of animals, words, phrases, or in Mr. McDaniel’s case, world-class art. Mr. McDaniel’s Instagram moniker is Pilot Picasso.” – The New York Times
- Lessons about Value and AI from the Digital Revolution
Twenty-five years ago the digital revolution rewrote the ways culture gets found, valued and paid for. The battles were fought in a series of skirmishes over disruptive technologies that remade the ways creative marketplaces were organized. AI is poised to do the same. So… lessons? - If We Force Chatbots Into Third Person, Will People Stop Thinking Of Them As Sentient?
Sherry Turkle: An AI is “really not afraid of death, it’s not afraid of illness, it’s not afraid of pain, it doesn’t love its children, and it doesn’t care if you kill yourself or make dinner.” – Wired
- Is It Possible To ‘Do Jane Austen Justice’ With Movie Costumes?
Says the new Sense and Sensibility‘s costume designer, “It was an amazing experience to try and fight those two sides, making historic accuracy marry up with how I wanted to give us a more modern take in the film.” – Variety
- Peter Nagy, Artist Turned Influential Art Dealer In India, Has Died At 66
Nagy was “a prescient artist turned canny art dealer who brought the New York gallery system to India and contemporary Indian art to the world.” – The New York Times
- Playing A Rock Concert Is Like Giving Yourself A Concussion, Doctors Tell Billy Joel
His neurologist says performing is out for now. “He describes the combination of extreme sound volume, lighting, stress and energy as the concern. Further testing, he adds, will help determine whether he can return.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- Creating Art In A Time Of International And Creative Crisis
Elif Shafak’s latest book “arose out of our own historical moment, which Shafak has dubbed ‘The age of three As: Angst, Anger and AI.’” – The Guardian (UK)
- It’s A Good Thing This Artist Signed Her Paintings
Otherwise, they likely would have been described as her father’s work, or taken as simply someone from his atelier. – The New York Times
- Remounting A Rarely Seen Balanchine Gives A Window Into The 1960s
“Pithoprakta is a wrenching, urgent work that pushes ballet’s otherworldly quality to a darker dimension, both uncanny and mystical. This is no place for chiffon. It’s not polite.” – The New York Times
- Isabel Allende, Writing Under A Pseudonym, Wins A Major Literary Prize In Spain
“The prize is open to unpublished manuscripts, with the option of submitting under a pseudonym, and Allende entered under the name Luz Ventura, with the fictional title Los que faltan.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Does Frankfurt Have The Best Book Parties Of The Year?
It’s definitely got big, not to mention packed and chatty, fêtes. “In an era when book auctions are held regularly over email, it’s that sense of community that keeps the publishers coming back.” – The New York Times
- How – And Why – NBC Brought Back Live Musicals On TV
Nobody quite knew what they had when 2011’s first revival started. But “Sound of Music Live delivered an astounding 18 million-plus viewers — well past the hope internally that it would reach at least 10 million.” – Variety
- Texas School Board Say That It’s Not An Anti-Drag Law, But An Anti-DEI Law, Stopping Little Shop Of Horrors
“However, there was no explanation given of exactly how a girl performing as a male character runs afoul of the more recent SB12, leaving only the implication that perhaps gender equality has been nixed under its provisions.” – Downstage Center
- During And After Protests, Gangs Spread Fires Across France
In Limoges, the city hall burned. At the actual protests, demonstrators “complained about inflation sent soaring over 3% by the war in the Middle East. Others slammed perceived police brutality in student protests that have gripped France over the past four weeks.” – Le Monde English
- TikTok Has Banned The Musk Documentary Advertiser From The Platform
Hunh: “Distributor Bleecker Street was informed Friday afternoon a ‘permanent suspension’ was coming regarding any ads it tried to buy, and the company was unable to do so shortly after.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- Ice Dancing Champion Tessa Virtue Makes Her Professional Debut Dancing On Dry Land
“In the studio, Virtue has found new freedom in the ‘ability to get grounded with the floor,’ she says. ‘I’m not just gliding across the surface, but I’m actually using the floor as an impetus to step and move and turn.’” – Dance Magazine