Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, and the Netherlands have all withdrawn from the 2026 competition. The Dutch broadcaster: "After weighing all perspectives, Avrotros concludes that, under the current circumstances, participation cannot be reconciled with the public values that are fundamental to our organisation.” - The Guardian (UK)
The book is not only made up of words but also concerns words. The author, who co-wrote the screenplay: "To make a 400-page novel into a 100-page script, there’s a lot of stripping back.” But then they had to add in more Shakespeare. - The New York Times
Youn Yuh-jung, Oscar winner for Minari, doesn’t want to be seen as an icon, however. “In Korea, they usually say, ‘Is there any message for the younger generation?’ So I usually say, I’m not the Pope, I don’t have any message.” - Variety
The deal with Warner Bros. “gives the streaming giant an identity it didn’t have before and a back catalog that will rival that of Disney+. It could also transform the streaming giant into something far more akin to a traditional movie and TV studio—if that’s what it wants to be.” - Wired
Well, good, anyway. “Staffers at the company are taking comfort in what Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said about HBO on a call with Wall Street analysts just after the deal was announced. … ‘They are saying all the right things,’ the WBD insider said, somewhat hopefully.” - Vulture
Rather than construct an imagined past as a universal tradition, as with conventional monuments... contemporary artists understand ambivalence and impermanence as key conditions of resistance, whether in the form of ephemeral materials, representations that flit across binaries, or speculative propositions for the future that challenge linear readings of history. - Hyperallergic
Stuck at home in Palo Alto with two parents who teach in Stanford’s music department, Ezra Costanza created the drag character Obsidienne Obsurd, a genderless Chinese-American genderless drag musician with an exuberant wardrobe, makeup palette, and playlist. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
Gehry, who arrived in L.A. as an aimless teenager just after World War II and went on to become the most famous and one of the most influential architects in the world over a prolific six-decade career, died Friday at his home in Santa Monica following a brief respiratory illness. - Los Angeles Times
The suspicion that Americans are becoming more illiterate has long been irresistible to the educated class. In the present day, this happens to be objectively true. But across time and cultures, we hear the alarm of declinism. - The Atlantic
The sheer amount of structural steel – 95,000 tonnes in total – is obscene for a building that contains just 60 storeys in its 423-metre height, half the number of floors you might expect in such a colossus. It uses 60% more steel than the Empire State Building, which is taller and has more square footage. - The Guardian
Jane Raleigh: “There was definitely an overarching feeling of waiting for the shoe to drop. I was committed to staying until I was removed, (but) I did believe from the beginning that everyone would be fired at some point. … Basically every payday Friday was mass firings day.” - Forward
The researchers found a significant negative effect for fantastical content. Children who watched programs featuring impossible events tended to perform worse on attention and executive function tasks immediately afterward. - PsyPost
