The internet is flooded with what some call 'sadbait'. It gets far less attention, but some of today's most successful online content is melancholy and melodramatic. - BBC
"The Ghanaian-British architect first revealed designs for the National Cathedral of Ghana in 2018. In the years since, the cathedral has been fiercely debated among Ghanaian politicians, who have raised questions about its (cost and) funding" — more so now that construction appeared to have halted. - ARTnews
"Netflix revealed it has now reached 301.63 million subscribers globally when it reported its fourth-quarter 2024 earnings Tuesday. … (The company) smashed expectations by adding a record-breaking 18.91 million subscribers, a year-over-year increase of 15.9%." - Variety
"It’s scrappy, sure, with its rock’n’roll energy but theatermakers here are resourceful and don’t fit in boxes. … There's a palpable hunger to make theater against the odds, locals who can keep it viable are ready for it and artists enjoy the freedom of straddling aesthetic and artistic worlds." - The New York Times
"De Groft became director of the Orlando Museum of Art in 2021 and set out to bring more attention to the museum by programming exhibitions featuring big names in the art world. The museum soon was making headlines, but not in the way De Groft wanted." - Orlando Sentinel (MSN)
"Surveying 2,000 people, the 2022 report shows that 65 percent of people aged 18–34 listen to orchestral music regularly, compared to 57 percent of people aged 55+ and 56 percent for those aged 35–54." However, "older people are more likely to listen to orchestral music in a concert hall." - Limelight (Australia)
"Fully one-fifth of respondents indicated that censorship is 'a very big problem.' Nearly three-quarters judged it 'somewhat of a problem,' and 55 percent say that, compared to 10 years ago, censorship is a 'much bigger problem for museums today.' … (Yet) "90 percent of respondents do not have a written censorship policy." - Artnet
"While acknowledgment of the platform’s marketing and publicity power is overwhelming, many also assert that any concern over a drop in sales is overblown … (and) that another social media platform would come along to fill any BookTok-sized hole." - Publishers Weekly
"(He had) a long history of provocative offerings including Les Valseuses (Going Places), Tenue de Soirée (Evening Dress) and Trop Belle Pour Toi (Too Beautiful for You). … His greatest successes in the 70s and '80s (were) a series of outrage-baiting films, many featuring Gérard Depardieu, ... exposing wounded male machismo." - The Guardian
Even if you're unmoved by the idea that we're losing touch with a physical human practice thousands of years old, there are measurable cognitive skills which are strengthened by writing by hand and weakened in those who never learn to do it. - The Guardian
Survey participants placed the value of online reviews above price, free shipping, brand, and recommendations from family and friends. The survey found 94 percent of customers ranked it as the single most important factor, and four out of five said they won’t shop on a website unless it has customer reviews. - The Walrus
Plowright was “perhaps the greatest Anglophone actor of the 20th century”, in Variety’s words. She was certainly a leading pioneer in post-war British theatre’s modernisation – particularly in terms of her theatrical style, as well as her geographic and class origins. - The Conversation
"Her centennial is this year — she died in 2013, at 88 — and she remains widely regarded as America’s first prima ballerina. … Her legacy rests ... in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s — a series of revelations about what ballet could be and what a ballerina could look like." - The New York Times
What is fiction in the first place? Despite common usage, philosophers agree that we can’t equate ‘fiction’ with ‘false content’. On the one hand, the inclusion of falsity isn’t enough to render a work fiction. - Aeon
While threats to funding for arts and humanities organizations are one big worry, the primary ethical concern for most in the book business is free expression. - Publishers Weekly
