Stories

Netflix Is Using Generative AI To Make Movies. It’s A Fundamental Shift

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

How Technology (Dating Apps Anyone?) Lessens The Power Of Relationships

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

Was Munch’s “The Scream” The First Modern Painting?

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

Emojis — Scourge Of Communication Or Historically Meaningful?

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

Maureen Dowd: Why Should Men Read Books? It’s Sexy!

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

The Fight To Save Hawaiian Culture Lost In The Maui Fires

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

Corporation For Public Broadcasting Will Shut Down After Republicans Zero Out Funding

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

How Do You Spot Text Written By AI Bots?  It’s Not Just About The Em Dashes …

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

Smithsonian Removes Trump Impeachment From History Museum Exhibit

“In reviewing our legacy content recently, it became clear that the ‘Limits of Presidential Power’ section in The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden exhibition needed to be addressed,” the spokesperson said in a statement. - Washington Post

Dance And Science Have Been Intersecting For Around 200 Years Now

“The nineteenth century (was) this tumultuous period of emergence in the arts, sciences, in education, politically, culturally. … Something that came to the fore was the issue of systematization: putting information into classifications, and various kinds of taxonomies. … You can see this also in dance in the period, particularly in ballet.” - JSTOR Daily

Why Some Musicians Are Leaving Spotify

“It didn’t take us long to decide as a band that if Daniel Ek is going harder on AI warfare, we should get off Spotify. It’s not even that big of a sacrifice in our case.” - Los Angeles Times

The Fight To Preserve Monet’s Beloved Giverny Gardens

A week with this invisible group of virtuoso gardeners in their run-up to a new season reveals how, sitting at the intersection of art and science, they manage with near-religious fervor to conjure from the dirt some of the most famous flowers in art. - The Wall Street Journal

How Some Of Syria’s Cultural Heritage Was Secretly Saved

 7,400 artefacts were smuggled into Rmelan from dozens of dig sites. The items have now come to light—literally—as the heritage NGOs responsible for Rmelan believe the security situation has stabilised enough for them to be transferred to local museums. - The Art Newspaper

New York State’s $400M Broadway Tax Credit Has Already Run Out Of Money

“Tax credits ran out quickly this year, both due to demand, and as productions had been conditionally approved for the credit before the (law was signed). This meant there was already a line of shows ready to receive the funding once it was approved in May, and it went quickly.” - The Hollywood Reporter

France Proposes New Law To Return Colonial Art

If approved, the law would make it easier for the country to return cultural goods in France's national collection "originating from states that, due to illicit appropriation, were deprived of them" between 1815 and 1972, said the culture ministry. - France24

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