The master of the Tex-Mex accordion Leonardo "Flaco" Jimenez, whose tradition-drenched sound came to define conjunto or Tejano music of South Texas, has died. - NPR
As Netflix and YouTube vie for the eyeballs on TV sets, Netflix (and other streamers) are increasingly using YouTube to test the waters for the kind of content viewers will flock to. - CBC
A group of anti-gentrification protesters vandalized the contemporary art museum of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) as demonstrations against rising housing prices and the growing displacement of local residents continue across the city. - Hyperallergic
These investors were granted rights to use or access their seats for the term of the hall's 999-year lease, according to the venue's website. Some 1,268 seats, out of the hall's total possible capacity of 5,272, remain in the private ownership of 316 people. - BBC
Looking back, it becomes clear that the process only really starts after severe damage has been wreaked to the fundamental concept of justice—and once the minimal morality you didn’t know you depended on has been destroyed. It is this exhausting, terrifying immorality that forces you to look for a somewhere else. - The Walrus
“When I was sixteen or seventeen, and getting into the adult category, I started trying to play different repertoire,” she said. “I’d get instantly shut down, or at least comments like ‘Oh, you might get a prize if you play better tunes.’ ” - The New Yorker
Netflix’s generative AI approach marks a fundamental shift. Instead of building digital scenes piece by piece, artists simply describe what they want and algorithms generate full sequences instantly. This turns a slow, laborious craft into something more like a creative conversation. But it also raises tough questions. - The Conversation
When technology mediates contact, this can strengthen familiar forms of scepticism about love – for example, about whether or not the other person is really who they seem to be. We want sincerity and depth of feeling. Not just a pleasing response. - The Conversation
The Mona Lisa represents an impossible ideal—palpable, yet clearly beyond reach. The Scream, on the other hand, arguably speaks to a much more ancient, existential state, connecting to the fears—psychological and physical—that have haunted mankind from its beginnings. - ARTnews
Your own emoji habit might not extend beyond the occasional text message. But anyone who’s ever caught a whiff of the teen spirit surrounding, say, the ‘drop’ of an exclusive trainer won’t need much persuading that the debut of an emoji is met with near hysteria in some quarters. - Literary Review
The fiction gap makes me sad. A man staring into a phone is not sexy. But a man with a book has become so rare, such an object of fantasy, that there’s a popular Instagram account called “Hot Dudes Reading.” - The New York Times
Nearly two years later, to drive around Lahaina town is to encounter ghost gas stations, mailboxes without houses and rogue bougainvillea enlivening piles of rubble. - The New York Times
CPB informed employees that the majority of staff positions will be eliminated with the close of the fiscal year on September 30, 2025. It said a small team would remain until January to "focus on compliance, fiscal distributions, and resolution of long-term financial obligations including ensuring continuity for music rights and royalties. - NPR
Many readers (especially on Reddit) think that the regular use of em dashes and relatively unusual vocabulary (“delves” or “crucial”) is a big sign flashing “Chat-GPT”. But it isn’t — experienced writers use those things, too. So, are there better ways to distinguish text produced by humans from text produced by AI? - The Conversation
