The venue is in the city's top conference center/shopping mall; the cast includes Asmik Grigorian and Brian Jagde; José Cura is conducting; top tickets cost nearly $700. But hours before curtain time, director Davide Livermore stormed away and producers reconfigured the hall to remove 2,800 seats. - The Korea Herald
As with so many innovations, the first Christmas card, sent out in 1843, was devised by a guy trying to avoid a big, tedious task. Reaction was mixed, and the temperance society was particularly upset. - BBC
Dozens of students from Nairobi's Kibera Ballet School, which provides free instruction to impoverished children and teens, donned Santa hats and sequined outfits to perform holiday choreography they had practiced for months. - AP
"CBS executives thought the 25-minute program was too slow, too serious and too different from the upbeat spectacles they imagined audiences wanted. A cartoon about a depressed kid seeking psychiatric advice? No laugh track? Humble, lo-fi animation? And was that a Bible verse?" - The Conversation
The ultimate reason is the wave of anti-monarchism that swept the country after Napoleon III's fall and the foundation of the Third Republic. Why New Jersey? Because of a certain Charles Lewis Tiffany. - The New York Times
"Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey withdrew the appeal of a July decision at trial to dismiss the (involuntary manslaughter) charge against Baldwin in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on set for the movie Rust outside Santa Fe in October 2021." - AP
"Klint family members say that a proposed deal between Zwirner, who is one of the biggest gallerists in the world, and the foundation’s board would open the door to the 'commercialisation' of the artist’s work, which they say directly contravenes her wishes and the statutes of the foundation." - The Guardian
While Jimmy Kimmel cries and Jon Stewart rants, the right wing in the U.S. has successfully depicted itself as the new home for free speech and cutting edge comedy. - The Conversation
"PW looks back at the major contractions in the independent book distribution space, an explosion of artificial intelligence tools and businesses, turmoil over freedom of expression in multiple sectors, and more that defined the book business landscape throughout the year." - Publishers Weekly
This is a moment that philosophers have warned us about for years. Before his death, philosopher and neuroscientist Daniel Dennett wrote that we face a grave peril from AI systems that emulate people: “These counterfeit people are the most dangerous artifacts in human history … distracting and confusing us. - Wired
I’ve set out to perform the annual ritual of assessing and unpacking the year gone by through the objects that captured our attention. Here, then, is the year in objects—the good, the unsettling, and the hard to explain.
Darius Kuolys who was the first culture minister after a 1990 declaration of independence, said it was obvious that the Kremlin often exploited culture for political ends. But he added, “It never occurred to me as a minister to tell people what to watch or listen to.” - The New York Times
The Citizens Theatre is returning to its historic playhouse next September after a seven-year renovation, the first overhaul the facility has had since it opened as a working theatre in 1878. - The Guardian
Botto is a decentralized semi-autonomous artistic agent created in 2021 by the German artist Mario Klingemann; Simon Hudson, a media entrepreneur; and Ziv Epstein, a computer scientist and designer. - Wired
