An employee said, “Decades worth of taxpayer-funded reports and analysis gone in an instant. … We have no idea what is happening behind the scenes or what will be back, when, and in what form.” - Wired
“‘Anyone can make a smart frock,’ she said. … 'It’s much more difficult to make people from the past who are wearing ordinary clothes look real.’” - The New York Times
“Alone among the Oscar categories, International Film puts people who are not in the Academy in charge of what Academy members can and cannot nominate. This has been an especially hot topic the past three seasons.” - Vulture
"Developed by Hangzhou Yushu Technology, also known as Unitree, the robots kept up with the beat of a Chinese folk dance and danced with red handkerchiefs. They spun the handkerchiefs in circles, tossed them into the air, and caught them again with precision, drawing applause from the audience." - Business Insider
The Royal Ballet School (RBS) has reached a financial settlement with a former student, who said the body-shaming she experienced while at the elite institution has left her with lifelong psychological damage. - BBC
"In addition to being the most compelling conflict between France and Mexico since the Battle of Puebla, Johanne Sacreblu is the critique of shallow Hollywood representation I’ve been waiting for. .. (It) also models what media criticism can look like when there’s general fatigue with 'call-out culture.'" - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
Both Sashas are exceptional virtuosos. Neither is particularly demonstrative. But Malofeev, now 23, can become a keyboard demon. Kantorow, on the other hand, is more a genius of the genteel. He keeps his cool in a downpour; he keeps his cool with Rachmaninoff. - Los Angeles Times
To some in Hollywood, today’s rhetoric reflects a throwback to the epoch of the backlist decades ago. Those who publicly defied the mandates of that moment faced job loss and even exile. “If you’re red, you’re dead,” said Dalton Trumbo, the great screenwriter whose career was terminated by his suspected politics. - Deadline
Apparently, we’ve been thinking about wholesale termination at least since about 1800 B.C., the date ascribed to the myth of Atrahasis, a Mesopotamian creation story that predates Biblical writings by several hundred years and features a world-cleansing flood. - The New Yorker
Much to the owners' surprise, business has soared at Philly Typewriter since the pandemic. Now they sell machines, train repairers, and host a Type-In. And at Philly Tech Week, there's "AI on one side of us, robotics on the other side, and yet our table is still flooded." - Broad Street Review (Philadelphia)
Netflix and the other streaming giants are reshaping media systems across Europe. An audience survey in four European countries (Denmark, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands) of 1,813 respondents aged between 16 and 34 revealed that Netflix was by far the most popular destination for long-form content such as films. - The Conversation
A psychologically rich life is one filled with diverse, unusual and interesting experiences that change your perspective; a life with twists and turns; a dramatic, eventful life instead of a simple and straightforward one; a life with multiplicity and complexity. - The Guardian
A traditional story forgoes psychological realism in favor of a universality that can be integrated into the lives of its listeners. The novel, on the other hand, offers vicarious experiences that are often psychologically relatable and even cathartic but bear more on the cultivation of feeling than on the guidance of action. - Hedgehog Review
"The initiative, called 'Human Authored,' will allow authors to log on to the portal and register their book. They will then be able to use a specially designed logo on book covers and promotional materials to show that their work has been created without AI." - The Guardian
ACT, founded in 1965, has a fiscal year 2025 operating budget of $6.8 million while Seattle Shakespeare Company, founded in 1991, has a current operating budget of $2.5 million. The new company’s fiscal year 2026 budget is still in development. - Seattle Times
