The Jerry Springer show had many iconic sounds, but one of its best-known "was added in post-production: the 1,000 hertz censor bleep, which became more prevalent as the behavior on the show grew more profane." - Fast Company
"The concept was inspired by the banyan trees that guard the entrance to many villages in Guangdong, where many early Chinese immigrants to Los Angeles originated. Except these trees will not be living. Instead, they will be fabricated in a petrified state." - Los Angeles Times
Asghar's When We Were Sisters "follows three orphaned Muslim-American siblings left to raise one another in the aftermath of their parents' death. The prize jury wrote that Asghar 'weaves narrative threads as exacting and spare as luminous poems.'" - NPR
But the years melted away in a very special Sweeney Todd and Hamilton mashup on Friday: "The entire cast of the current Sondheim revival joined Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast of Broadway's Hamilton to perform a special mash-up of songs from the two shows' scores." - Playbill
Her foundation helped many a theatre in New York and beyond. "There were rules: Productions had to be run by accredited nonprofit theaters; a full script, along with a 500-word statement, had to be submitted; and musicals need not apply." - The New York Times
"When someone says we ought to separate the art from the artist, they’re saying: 'Remove the stain.' Let the work be unstained. But that’s not how stains work. We watch the glass fall to the floor; we don’t get to decide whether the wine will spread." - The Guardian (UK)
"If we all know that the largest children’s publisher in the country, the one with the most access to schools, is capitulating behind closed doors and asking authors to change their works ... there’s no way you as a marginalized author can find an audience." - The New York Times
As we await Monday's prize announcements, here's a look back at Jennifer Egan, Colson Whitehead, Louise Erdrich, Colson Whitehead (again), Cormac McCarthy, Elizabeth Strout, Marilynne Robinson, and many more. - LitHub
Maybe this isn't great timing - for the streamers, anyway. For instance: "On Friday, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav announced that the company’s streaming division, including HBO Max (soon known as Max), made $50 million in profits during the first quarter of 2023." - HuffPost
As The NYT elegantly puts it, "the art and antiquities market had for too long been a 'no-questions-asked' environment." Now, those questions are being asked - often by prosecutors. - The New York Times
The Bradford Literature Festival used AI to generate its marketing images this year. Illustrator "Chris Mould was due to hold a masterclass at the event, but now says: 'How can I stand under their roof and tell people they can go to art school?'"- BBC
You wouldn't know it from Adele, true, but "according to acoustic scientists at the University of Oldenburg in Germany, lead singers have been getting quieter over the years." - NPR
Says one expert, "I was very startled by the degree to which the two sides are apart. ... It was really shocking to see how far apart they were, and how many issues the studios refused to even engage on. So in my view, this is going to be a long strike." - Vice
"Asco was known for its glam looks and outrageous conceptual antics and for redefining what Chicano art could be," but as former members fihgt about credit for the artworks, its history is starting to crumble. - Los Angeles Times
