"The news presenter has a deeply uncanny air as he delivers a partisan and pejorative message in Mandarin: Taiwan’s outgoing president, Tsai Ing-wen, is as effective as limp spinach, her period in office beset by economic under performance, social problems and protests." - The Guardian
Just like with the plumbing in our house, public radio can’t wait any longer to take action on the leaks in its foundation. They aren’t going to disappear. In fact, more critical systems will fail if we allow the problems to fester. - Current
Trump spokesperson: "We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers. This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies." Director Ali Abbasi: "Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people. They don’t talk about his success rate, though." - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
The actress, who voiced the title character of the Spike Jonze movie about a guy falling in love with a chatbot, says OpenAI approached her last fall asking permission to use her voice for one of their bots. She declined, but says the company created one that sounds "eerily similar." - AP
Netflix and Prime joined broadcast channels for the traditional week of wooing advertisers - and for good reason: “Streaming video now makes up 37% of U.S. television viewing, better than either broadcast or cable TV, according to Nielsen data.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
Some writers and actors feel a sense of community and empowerment; some are noting that the slowdown that began with the pandemic is more full-scale after last year’s slowdown. And, of course, the streamers are still in trouble. - The Guardian (UK)
“If the aesthetic interest in nuns is an enduring one, it’s also true that every few years, like fashion trends or viral flus, nuns have a particularly concentrated cultural moment. We’re living in one now.” - The New York Times
Stunt workers’ tough situation: “Their work is often flashy, which has contributed over time to the misconception of them as daredevils, making it hard for them to be taken seriously. And they’re often in the spotlight only when something goes wrong. They’re otherwise supposed to remain invisible." - The Atlantic
For one thing, “the U.K. is notoriously more favorable to libel plaintiffs than the U.S., where the First Amendment protects a broad range of insulting and offensive speech." - Variety
Netflix isn’t about flicks anymore. Nor are most of the other streaming services. Instead, they're all about shows - scripted, reality, and live. - Wired
By rejecting the distinction between observer and observed, subject and author (at least to a degree, and more so in the arts and culture back of the paper rather than the newsy, investigative front of it), the Voice was a dispatch from a world unknown to most, penned by writers who were themselves characters in it. - Jacobin
You see a lot of this on TikTok now: videos that describe ordinary life using the language of television. Scroll through, and you’ll find users charting the different “seasons” of their lives or highlighting the emergence of plot “arcs.” - The New York Times
Contrary to the walkback last week by Apple marketing communications vice president Tor Myhren — “We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry” — the commercial for the new iPad Pro hit a much tougher mark by being both terrible and honest about Apple’s vision of the future. - Chicago Tribune
Many of the network's reporters believe that this extra layer, called the "Backstop," was put in place only because of right-wing pressure over allegations of bias and will only cause bottlenecks in the reporting process. They're even more concerned because the execs won't say who's paying for it. - The New York Times
