"Consuming culture is good for your health and wellbeing – and generates £8bn a year worth of improvements in people’s quality of life and higher productivity. That is the conclusion of the first major UK research to quantify the impact the arts and heritage can have on physical and mental health." - The Guardian
The initial versions of characters Popeye and Tintin (though not yet their most famous versions) are becoming available, as are key novels by Faulkner, Hemingway and Steinbeck; early sound films by Hitchcock, De Mille, and the Marx brothers; and hit songs by Cole Porter and Fats Waller. - AP
Or, to put it another way, the show is having to take too many breaks. Tennant, Cush Jumbo, and their colleagues have had to leave the stage mid-show twice this week: once due to an audience disturbance and once because a colleague lost her voice. - The Standard (London)
The injunction requires Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music to stop distributing Adele's "Million Years Ago" in any and every format during an ongoing plagiarism claim by a Brazilian composer. The Brazilian subsidiaries of the labels will be fined $8,000 "per act of non-compliance." - AFP (Yahoo!)
"Prosecutors accused the former cable news commentator and host of playing a leading role in a scheme to deceive Ozy investors and lenders by inflating revenue numbers, touting deals and offers that were nonexistent or not finalized, and flashing other false indications of Ozy’s success." - AP
"O’Grady developed a loyal following for artworks that often proved unclassifiable. She produced photographs, collages, and performances, and wrote frequently. … Her art critiqued racism, misogyny, and privilege, but it did so using methods that were ambiguous and occasionally even tough to interpret." - ARTnews
"Love ‘em or hate ’em, formulaic meet-cute holiday flicks have become as tied to the yuletide as ugly sweaters and hot chocolate. Theater directors say the movies have universal appeal since most audiences can recognize the story beats. Judging by the high ticket sales, these parodies are gaining a holly-jolly reception." - AP
Premier David Eby said the Production Services Tax Credit — which goes to international productions — will increase from 28% to 36%. The domestic credit will also increase from 35% to 36%. - Variety
"'Investigations of a Dog' presents a brilliant and sometimes hilarious parody of the world of knowledge production, what the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan called 'the university discourse.' And the contemporary academy might easily be qualified as Kafkaesque," - The MIT Press Reader
I’m worried about pop culture — worried that the relationship between art and commerce isn’t working as it should, worried that even if the rest of American society starts moving, our storytelling is still going to be stuck. - The New York Times
“Wicked” went even bigger, teaming up with over 400 brands to ensure a saturation that would be, in the words of Universal Pictures’ chief marketing officer, Michael Moses, “just short of obnoxious.” It’s just the latest example of how the culture industry has come to rely on collaborations. - The New York Times
YouTube’s increasing incursion into the living room highlights just how ubiquitous the platform has become. After all, it is the world’s second-biggest search engine, behind Google. - Fast Company
"A construction worker turning up a nude marble deity hidden some 1,600 years ago, an art historian spotting a missing painting on his social media feed, an amateur excavator digging up a confounding ancient Roman object. Experts … locating the earliest known cave paintings in South America and the oldest lipstick scientifically documented." - CNN
Since Meloni came to power more than two years ago, there has been debate in Italy over whether her government is meddling in the cultural sphere. Some observers say that Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party is elbowing for cultural space to make up for decades on the outskirts of political power. - The New York Times
“I have my opinions, but I will not tell you. I didn’t want to take part in the search, so I was completely out of it. As I should be. So I didn’t even know the person that they chose. No, because I do not keep up with what happens here or there with other orchestras in Oslo or...
