“Tarr became internationally in the ‘90s and ‘00s as his films” — among them Sátántangó and Werckmeister Harmonies — “were shown more widely, partly because of their inordinate length and partly because of what appeared to be his definitive expression of middle-European black-and-white miserablism.” Yet he insisted his movies were comedies. - The Guardian
“The incident occurred on Monday morning, when the man approached the monument in Paris’s 8th arrondissement — with Joan of Arc dramatically riding a horse in mid-gallop — and committed a crime captured by a security camera.” - ARTnews
“The nonprofit charged by Congress with allocating funds to NPR, PBS and other US public radio and television stations … announced on Monday that its board of directors had voted to dissolve the organization after nearly 60 years in operation.” - The Guardian
“A bipartisan spending package released Monday by House Speaker Mike Johnson includes $32 million for operating expenses at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through Sept. 30, 2027.” - AP
“The strike initially launched last month was suspended over the festive period, but staff have now voted overwhelmingly to walkout over working conditions leaving the world's most visited museum partially open.” - Euronews
Truth and trust are often treated as virtues, but they function as conditions: the prerequisites for coherent societies, functional institutions, and stable international systems. Without them, even the most advanced technologies fail to deliver progress. - Time
It was not long before people began poking holes in Joan Lowell’s story. But the book didn’t sink—it was a great success, in part for reasons new to her era and familiar to ours. - The New Yorker
A trio of prominent museum openings is expected in Los Angeles in 2026. Perhaps the most anticipated is the expansion of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. - The Art Newspaper
Movie theaters in the United States and Canada sold an estimated $8.9 billion in tickets in 2025, a 2 percent increase compared with a year earlier. - The New York Times
Despite the reported skepticism of higher education, enrollment in four-year colleges and universities is growing. These institutions awarded 2 million bachelor’s degrees in 2023, compared with 1.6 million in 2010, and the fraction of 25-year-olds with a bachelor’s degree has steadily increased for the past 15 years. - The Atlantic
If boomers and Gen X are puzzled by the fact that many youngsters are not required to endure the same painstaking labor of mastering cursive that they were, they might be even more surprised — perhaps, even delighted — to hear that some are learning the craft entirely for fun. - Washington Post
It's not like the frog boiling in the water. It's a dramatic drop-off. It happened very suddenly. Broadly speaking, in LA, if you're involved in the entertainment industry, this has been a very rough two years. Very, very rough. - The Wall Street Journal
Since Fidesz came to power, governmental actors have gained control of universities, galleries and popular media outlets. The national cultural fund, chaired by the culture and innovation minister, has redirected money from independent unions and periodicals to pro-government journalists and writers. - The Guardian
“Beyond the loss of tangibles (job, income), I think what we’re collectively grieving most is a sense of hope. Los Angeles runs on hope the way Boston runs on Dunkin.” - Vulture
