We make something more likely, more widely believed, by saying and repeating it. Our rhetoric encourages or discourages. Which is why sports teams chant a version of “I believe we will win.” - LitHub
"Just as modern-day government workers suffer neck and spinal injuries from sitting at desks and arching forward to stare at screens, ancient Egyptian scribes endured comparable physical stresses from hunching over papyrus for prolonged sessions." Scribe skeletons show evidence of serious osteoarthritis in the neck, collarbone, arm, thigh, and spine. - Artnet
The previous record holder was a lifesize picture of a wild pig believed to be created at least 45,500 years ago in a cave at Leang Tedongnge. - The Guardian
Once a promising teenage soccer player, Pål Enger decided he was a better criminal than athlete and began a career of art and jewelry thefts interspersed with prison sentences. On opening day of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Enger took Munch's Scream from Norway's National Gallery in Oslo. - AP
"Until now, Grégory Milan wryly considered his life to be 'a series of failures of sorts.' When he turned to gymnastics choreography full-time, in 2017, he was in debt, having started a dance company that never took off, and still reeling from a tumultuous career in ballet." - The New York Times
While each example in the litany of headlines of late is unique, taken together, the drumbeat of bad news raises serious questions about nonprofit governance, and ought to shine a light on government’s increasing reliance on outsourcing vital services to unaccountable entities. - Philadelphia Citizen
Bean's The Amorous Prince, or The Curious Husband was considered "too radical, too shocking" in its day, says director Natalie Cox. "Some of the things it made fun of, such as masculinity, were not au fait with what should have been on stage at that point. It just fell into obscurity." - BBC
"Tarmo Peltokoski was hired Thursday to succeed Jaap van Zweden as music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Peltokoski, at 24 far younger than most music directors, will start a four-year term in the 2026-27 season after serving as music director designate in 2025-26." - AP
Slovo Patsana: Krov na Asphalte (roughly, "The Boy's Word: Blood on the Asphalt") "is a warning about what happens when our ability for moral reasoning becomes so impoverished that the most straightforward response to any situation is to punch somebody in the face." - The New York Times Magazine
"(Researchers) studied songs placed in the top five of the US Billboard year-end singles music chart each year between 1950 and 2022. … The results revealed the average complexity of melodies had fallen over time, with two big drops in 1975 and 2000, as well as a smaller drop in 1996." - The Guardian
The Venetian master's Rest On The Flight Into Egypt (1510) was looted by Napoleon's soldiers in 1809 and returned at bayonet-point after Waterloo; it was stolen again in England in 1995 and found in a plastic carrier in London in 2002. At Christie's it sold for £17.6 million, a record for Titian. - CNN
"Incoming UK prime minister Keir Starmer will need to appoint a new secretary of state for culture, media and sport (CMS) after shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire lost her seat (in the newly-created district Bristol Central) in the general election." - Screen Daily
As UK Equity summed it up, "We’ll be pressing ... for UK arts funding to reach the European average, ... to make Universal Credit fairer for freelancers, to ensure public subsidy only supports work on decent union terms and to fight for better rights in the video games and TV commercials sector." - Variety
Media heavyweights are likely due to endure more pain as the year goes on. The political and regulatory environment for mergers and acquisitions is so volatile that there’s little hope of getting a horizontal combination in any form among Paramount, WBD or Comcast/NBCUniversal approved. - Variety
