“Pick a film from either current releases or a curated archive, select a drink package for an extra $50 each, choose a 12-13 course gourmet meal off a seasonal menu for another $100 a head, and you have a ritzy night at the movies.” - The Guardian (UK)
That’s a big jump. “Some customers are starting to get fed up with having to subscribe to multiple streaming platforms just to get all of their favorite shows and sports. That has driven some people back into the arms of pay-TV.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
“Three in 10 advertisers relied on ideological appeals — emphasizing ‘pro-life,’ Christian, pro-gun, ‘America first,’ or pro-military themes, or attacking Democrats, gender identity or policies they described as liberal. Roughly a quarter promoted the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ agenda.” - Bloomberg (Archive Today)
A security guard (now suspended from his job) was not at his post. “That allowed the two protesters to walk on a narrow ledge along the wall of the left side of the orchestra pit and make their way on to the stage.” - The New York Times
“Many participants reported that their work had already been used without their permission to train large language models, and more than a third (39%) said their income had fallen as a result of generative AI. A large majority also expected their earnings to decline further.” - The Guardian (UK)
One of the organizers: “It’s a way to get folks to know or get used to what might look like. … What their rights are as bystanders, as citizens, as noncitizens, as folks who are documented, undocumented.” - Wired
For each of this weekend’s three performances of Philip Glass’s La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast, set to Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film), Fort Worth Opera has 100 tickets available for $1 or whatever price the purchaser names. - NBC 5 (Dallas-Fort Worth)
First, they repeatedly play a little melody on a glockenspiel or dinner chime or marimba as they stroll through the lobbies. Then, says one longtime usher at the Metropolitan Opera, “We have to push them, kind of like moving cattle.” - The New York Times
“As a sports obsessive and avid theatergoer, I’ve always found the communal experiences staggeringly similar. Either way, we root and cheer and gasp in unison. Worship-worthy idols emerge — and nothing beats seeing them ply their trade in person.” - Washington Post (Yahoo)
Bob Iger knows it’s, uh, interesting to be suing some AI companies while courting others. “'It's obviously imperative for us to protect our IP with this new technology,’ Iger said.” - NPR
Disgusting. “What you have here is 50,000 tracks a day that are competing with human musicians. You have a new, hyperscalable competitor and, moreover, this competitor that was built by exploitation.” - The Guardian (UK)
“The institution has announced an experimental art lending program that coincides with its new exhibition ‘Letters for the Future,’ created in collaboration with the artist-organized group Department of Transformation, which opened earlier this month.” The effort mirrors an art lending initiative the library had in the 1950s and ‘60s. - Artnet
“(The house) is selling tickets for Siegfried, the third instalment of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle, for up to £415 ($546). This is the priciest known ticket offered for sale in Britain by any publicly subsidised performing arts organisation. RBO receives a state subsidy of over £22 million each year.” - The Times (UK)
“The day before a fall show, Minnesota Orchestra musicians rushed through the stage door for rehearsal. At the bottom of the stairs was the orchestra’s social media manager with an iPhone … to record their most anxiety-inducing performance stories.” - The Minnesota Star Tribune (MSN)
