"Even as the Malaysian government lauds local films that win praise and prizes abroad, some of the most-celebrated ones are either not shown in domestic theaters or are heavily censored." - The New York Times
"Sales of science fiction and fantasy books rocketed last year, with their value increasing by 41.3% between 2023 and 2024. The booming popularity of romantasy – the subgenre blending elements of fantasy and romance that is a favourite of TikTok’s BookTok community – helped drive the rise." - The Guardian
The art/architecture/engineering school, which owns the land under the midtown Manhattan landmark 35 blocks uptown, had been leasing the building to real estate developer RFR Holdings, which fell $21 million behind on the rent. - Curbed (MSN)
"Terra Hall at Broad and Walnut Streets, just a few blocks from (Philadelphia's) City Hall, is the second UArts building to complete the sales process through the (bankruptcy) court." Temple, located in North Philadelphia, intends to make Terra Hall its Center City campus. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
The LMI Group spent years using high-teach chemical and data analysis to produce a 431-page report arguing that the portrait of a fisherman is a late van Gogh painting. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam promptly dismissed LMI's argument, while other observers pointed to someone else as the likely artist. - ARTnews
Hadi Matar faces attempted murder charges for repeatedly stabbing the author as he was onstage, about to give a public lecture, at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York state. Matar was subdued and arrested at the scene. - AP
Christophe Ruggia was found guilty of sexually assaulting actress Adèle Haenel, starting when she was the 12-year-old lead in his film The Devils. - BBC
While a CAA client from 2017 to 2020, President Biden published his #1 New York Times bestselling memoir, “Promise Me, Dad,” launched the 42-date “American Promise” tour, which sold more than 85,000 tickets nationwide, and headlined numerous speaking engagements. - Variety
The Grammys’ handling of the city’s ongoing trauma felt more performative than profound: The fires became a prop and backdrop to the night’s honors, losing the human depth and unimaginable scale of the tragedy in the process. - Los Angeles Times
If climate change is an integral part of your work, how do you write a proposal to an administration that is actively not wanting to draw attention to that science? I think we’re going to find that some of us are maybe more cautious about how we communicate. - Dance Magazine
“In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.” - Washington Post
The Copyright Office insisted that the AI copyright debate was settled in 1965 after commercial computer technology started advancing quickly and "difficult questions of authorship" were first raised. That was the first time officials had to ponder how much involvement human creators had in works created using computers. - Ars Technica
“Outside of Dune: Part Two's occasional experimentation, there's not much you could point to as groundbreaking. There is Nickel Boys and The Brutalist: your-mileage-may-vary sociopolitical commentaries that, at best, blow the socks off half as many audience members as they put to sleep.” - CBC
As Capella Romana was planning concerts in Portland and Seattle, their NEA grant funding was suddenly frozen. Donations have poured in, but the concert, “by bringing together Black and European musical and culture traditions, … may very well raise a warning flag in the new administration." - Oregon ArtsWatch
A truly sickening number of studios, equipment, instruments, and reliquaries of precious artifacts, mementos, and material memories from so many lifetimes in music are now nothing but ash. - Symphony
