The judge eviscerated one of the federal government’s core arguments, that Facebook holds a monopoly over social networking, saying prosecutors had failed to provide enough facts to back up that claim. - The New York Times
Tayari Jones: "The miracle of Sapphire's gift is that she weaves her sharp social commentary and critique into the fabric of this story without shredding its fibres. This is a novel about people and their problems, not problems and their people.." - The Guardian
Once upon a time, kids, NPR was to have taken its place among other national broadcasters around the world to become the standard for music, and yeah, news. But, to paraphrase, stuff happens. - Current
Before the pandemic, the award-winning hit played in two parts running a total of more than five hours. As theaters reopen, Cursed Child will remain as it was in Europe and Australia, but in North America it will be reduced to a single part, length as yet undetermined. - The New York Times
The 6,000-seat performance venue at the Hollywood Park sports and entertainment complex in Inglewood, Calif., will be called “YouTube Theater.” - Variety
"He departed from the 'confessional' style of self-lacerating poetry and considered himself instead a 'meditative' or observational poet. Writing in a plain, unfussy style that often sounded like prose with the reins loosened, he addressed the ways ordinary experience can be fraught with emotional complexity, sadness and humor." - MSN (Washington Post)
Artistic director Chris Fields: "We've had a very simple system at the Echo. We read a play every week amongst ourselves and talk about it. If we respond, we'll do a public reading. … Actors would invite other actors, many of them new transplants to L.A., and so we really started to develop our network. And that really trickled...
A study undertaken over the past season by the Utah Symphony and University of Utah researchers found that a new seating arrangement could reduce the spread of aerosols by a factor of 100. The key principle? The equivalent of making a smoker sit by the window. - Smithsonian Magazine
The dance festival in the Berkshires is coming back from last summer's cancellation, the first in its 89-year history, and the destruction of its Doris Duke Theater by fire last November, while its other theater, the Ted Shawn, is under renovation. - MSN (Washington Post)
Picasso's Head of a Woman and Mondrian's Stammer Windmill, taken from the National Gallery of Greece in 2012 in a seven-minute robbery, were seized in Keratea, a country town outside Athens. A suspect has been arrested and has reportedly confessed. - BBC
The Adoration of the Magi hanging in a country house near Rome was assumed to be a copy. But, five years ago, the owners sent it to restorer Antonella di Francesco after it suffered an "accidental trauma" — and, as she worked on the canvas, she gradually realized that it was the real thing. - CNN
About six weeks after announcing that, as a COVID safety measure, it would eliminate intermissions when it resumes live performances — and just over a month after critic Chris Jones issued the cry "Let the people pee without missing a note!" — the company has reversed course. - Yahoo! (Chicago Tribune)
"Penn Live Arts is the new moniker for the group and series long known as the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. The switch comes as the major arts presenter evolves to become more closely integrated with Penn students, faculty, and curriculum, and as it plans to increase the number of presentations it does in locations beyond its campus...
Wanting to copy the happiest people in the world is an understandable impulse, but it distracts from a key message of the happiness rankings—that equitable, balanced societies make for happier residents. - The Atlantic
