"Since the last ferry operators left to run a more lucrative water taxi in Lake Como, no one has bid to take over the 4,500-euro-a-year concession, even though the town has thrown in a mountain bike rental as a deal sweetener." - The New York Times
The book world is salivating. "Imagine the post-modernist-Austenite novel that would have been! Imagine the Mantel treatment being given to poor Charlotte Lucas, not-quite-good-enough-and-not-rich-enough and doomed to serve as vessel for the world’s most boring man." - LitHub
"It’s a very distinct color, it’s a distinct design. Paramount and Prime are a little bit on the lighter side, Disney+ has more of a gradient. But Max has a little bit more of a dark richness into the blue, which was deliberate." Sure, OK. - Vulture
The news "sent shockwaves through the Burbank-based company, is unfolding days ahead of Comcast reporting its first quarter results on Thursday, including a conference call with Wall Street analysts. It’s also shaking out weeks before the TV industry’s annual upfront ad sales season." - Variety
"We’re firmly enjoying some new period of appreciation for the pioneering but once-overlooked work of this Black queer composer and multi-instrumentalist; archival recordings and new interpretations are widely available, and the art world more broadly has taken an enthusiastic interest in him." - The New York Times
It's always the libraries. "Three national and state libraries, including the National Scientific Medical Library of Ukraine, as well as some 25 university libraries, have been severely damaged or destroyed, the most shocking statistics relate to public libraries."- The Atlantic
Turns out they're low quality and not reparable, and, three years later, that's not turning out to be so great for the schools or their students. - The Verge
In Shrewsbury, a town of 40,000 a few miles east of the Welsh border, "the organisers of an ambitious arts trail in the Shropshire town are celebrating an unexpected coup. Three pieces made by Dalí are to play a starring role in this year’s trail." - The Observer (UK)
Just, like, wow. That is extremely cool. And: "'It’s people like you who give us hope, because you’re the next generation and you’re who’s going to be most affected it,' Blume told the teenager." - Variety
The National Gallery in London and the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow both have a new show up - "After Impressionism." Back in the halcyon days before Russia invaded Ukraine, this was supposed to be one bigger, traveling show. No longer. - The New York Times
"The rush to track down people who used to be famous does seem to have picked up some speed lately. And, as far as I can tell, it seems to be rooted in a mixture of confusion and entitlement." - The Guardian (UK)
"Most of Buho's books are secondhand or donated, costing around $10 to keep them accessible. Literacy rates in the region are some of the lowest in the country, and Hernandez sees his store is something that can only help." - NPR
The legacy: "I remember being at barre on the first day, in Studio 3 with the beautiful red brick, and not having ever experienced seeing a multitude of beautiful Black and brown skin, I was like, 'Oh, this is different.'" - The New York Times
And yet, whether they're classical or pop or rock or whatever Coachella is, we fall for them. "As festivalgoers we untether, if only for a moment. Hypnotized by the performer, drifting through a music- (and, for many, drug-) induced haze." - NPR
