This is a golden age for parks, with cities sprucing up waterfronts, transforming abandoned industrial sites and bringing some green space to neighborhoods where treeless cracked-asphalt sports courts are the rule. - The New York Times
"Veen Bosch & Keuning (VBK) – the largest publisher in the Netherlands, acquired by Simon & Schuster earlier this year – is 'using AI to assist in the translation of a limited number of books. … This project contains less than 10 titles – all commercial fiction.'" - The Guardian
"The proliferation of true-crime entertainment like Netflix’s docudrama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is effecting real-life changes for their subjects and in society. At their best, (they) help expose injustices and right wrongs. But because many of these products prioritize entertainment and profit, they also can have negative consequences." - AP
Following heavy pushback over the (since-reversed) decision to do only a partial dimming in memory of Gavin Creel, who died in September at 48, the League has turned over all such announcements to an outside press spokesperson for the separate Broadway Theatre Owners Committee." - Gothamist
"A federal jury in Tampa, Florida, recently found the cocreator of the 'UndeadApes' and 'Undead Lady Apes' NFT collections" — not to be confused with the better-known Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs — "guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering." - ARTnews
Three suspects have been charged for allegedly making threats and spraying anti-Semitic graffiti on the homes of museum director Anne Pasternak, a board member, and the board chairman. The three were protesting what they assumed was the victims' support for the Israelis in the Gaza War. - Brooklyn Eagle
She was reported missing this past Saturday, and on Monday her body was found on the tracks of the London Underground. Police said her death "is not thought to be suspicious." - ARTnews
"As the orchestra’s temporary contract extension ran out on Oct. 31, (management and the musicians' union) have settled on another extension, one longer-range and slightly modifying the current terms. The agreement is good through May 30, 2025, just before the company’s summer season begins on June 3." - San Francisco Classical Voice
Augustin Arteaga is set to leave the museum while it is undertaking an expansion—an unusual move, given that most directors of art institutions stay on until those plans are realized. - ARTnews
As California Shakespeare Theater has started to liquidate its assets, The Chronicle talked to artists worked there over its 50-year history. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
Part of the neglect has to do with the fact that craggy patriarchs are no longer in fashion, particularly ones who were prone to misogynistic and homophobic rhetoric, as Ives was. But the deeper problem is that American musical organizations have grown perilously risk-averse. - The New Yorker
"Some film-makers are explicit in their intention to affect election outcomes. ... Others come from the opposite direction, reckoning that an election year is the perfect time to draw attention. ... The Guardian chose films from each election year of the 21st century and interviewed the people who made them." - The Guardian
Since the nineteen-sixties, much of American public life has become automated, driven by computers and predictive algorithms that can do the political work of rallying support, running campaigns, communicating with constituents, and even crafting policy. - The New Yorker
Figuring out how to relate to minds of unconventional origin — not just AI and robotics but also cells, organs, hybrots, cyborgs and many others — is an existential-level task for humanity as it matures. - Noema
"A noted Belarusian film director and dissident who was held in Serbia for a year while Belarus sought his extradition has been released and gone to Germany. ... Belarus issued an international warrant for Andrei Hniot on charges of tax evasion, which he claims are false." - AP
