The Ukrainian-born dancer, who has three tattoos of Putin (despite the Russian military's near-obliteration of his hometown, Kherson), now says "My time in Russia ran out a long time ago … I've fulfilled my mission here." Last week he posted a message calling for peace negotiations and promptly lost his job. - CBS News
Rousseau was, in effect, the diagnostician of despair who captured the affliction of alienation in all of its dimensions. The source of our affliction was the very thing we thought made us better: civilization. - The American Scholar
So far this year, Bloom has landed 23 books and two series on the New York Times best-seller list. Last year, it surpassed $100 million in gross sales, and its 2024 sales are up 58 percent. - The New York Times
"While the 14,909 jobs lost by mid-December this year offered an improvement on the 21,417 jobs cut in 2023, it would be unwise to consider this year a 'comeback' by any stretch. Combined, the number of jobs lost between 2023-24 more than quadrupled the amount lost between 2021-22." - TheWrap (MSN)
“It is going to be a space you can choose where to be and how to listen,” Fisk said. “We want people to lose themselves in this music and to be swallowed up by the experience of being part of nature.” - Charlotte Observer (MSN)
"Every Christmas, I ask myself this question, because accidentally I — a Jewish composer — have also written something of a Christmas classic: the little match girl passion. Cynics may think that these artists make Christmas music because they’re chasing the market. I believe there is something deeper at work." - The New York Times
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Wyoming federal court, Alexander Rienzie and Connor Burkesmith challenge the constitutionality of federal permit and fee requirements on First Amendment grounds. They accuse National Park Services of censoring speech by requiring advance permission to film commercial content. - The Hollywood Reporter
Like the drama series about the Post Office scandal aired a year ago, “Mr Bates vs The Post Office,” dramatizations of the news can often draw more attention to an event. They can also build public pressure for injustices to be addressed.
"We saw booksellers, publishers, and others in the industry step up to aid stores that sustained extensive hurricane damage, call for greater rights and representation for people with diverse identities, and more." - Publishers Weekly
"(A) series of listening sessions, held this past summer, helped the (NEA theater) team to learn more about evolving challenges, successful strategies, and potential pathways to future sustainability of the field. Those conversations have now been distilled and analyzed in a new report." - National Endowment for the Arts
"Dead Outlaw, a rambunctious musical that tells the hard-to-believe-it’s-true story of a bandit’s corpse that became a spectacle in early-20th-century America, will open on Broadway next spring. The show … will be the first developed by Audible to make it to Broadway." - The New York Times
The organ in the old Wanamaker's department store, right across from City Hall, is a Philadelphia icon. Yet the store, currently a Macy's, is shrinking just like other department stores; the building is in receivership as upper-floor office space remains vacant post-COVID; and Macy's lease expires in 2027. - The Conversation
"Writers, publishers, musicians, photographers, movie producers and newspapers have rejected the Labour government’s plan to create a copyright exemption to help artificial intelligence companies train their algorithms." - The Guardian
Three years ago, the only author on Bloom Books' list was E.L. James (the Fifty Shades of Grey series). Now it publishes over 40 authors, many previously self-published, will have well over $150 million in gross sales this year, and has nearly one-quarter of the lucrative romance market. - The New York Times
"Eungie Joo, who served as head curator of contemporary art at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for seven years, was fired after what the museum described as a violation of its workplace conduct policy. … No further details were given." - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
