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Smithsonian Staff Are Worried About A Clampdown On LGBTQIA Content

At a GOP hearing in December, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch told representatives that he didn’t think having children at drag shows was “appropriate.” Since then, one drag performer has been scheduled, canceled, rescheduled, canceled … and LGBTQIA+ staff members are alarmed. - Washington Post

Marvel Star Chris Pratt And His Wife Demolished An Architecturally Significant Los Angeles House

The Zimmerman House was designed by architect Craig Ellwood in 1950, and was - before Pratt and his wife, Kathryn Schwarzenegger, had it torn down, a fine example of mid-century modern architecture. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Blue Denim, A Painting Seems To Show, Is Centuries Older Than Levi’s

An Italian gallery "is appealing for further research to help identify an anonymous painter who specialised in street scenes that often depict poor people in northern Italy wearing what looks like blue denim.” The gallery calls the painter, “Master of the Blue Jeans.” - The Observer (UK)

At The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, Winners Support Ousted USC Valedictorian

"Tananarive Due, who won ... for her novel The Reformatory, used her speech to add: ‘As we face the horrors in our cities, in Gaza and elsewhere, and witness true-life racism, homophobia, Islamophobia and antisemitism, let us honor the courage of young people.’" - Los Angeles Times

The Tips And Tricks Of A 23-Year-Old Crossword-Solving Champion

The young speedster says, Ttraining your eye to move back and forth from clues to grid without losing your place, remembering clues when you can, really helps." - The Atlantic

The Original Star Trek Enterprise Model, Missing For Decades, Has Surfaced At Sotheby’s

"For die-hard Trekkies, the model’s disappearance had become the subject of folklore, so an eBay listing last fall, with a starting bid of $1,000, didn’t go unnoticed." - The New York Times

Why Is Caravaggio Everywhere On The Cultural Scene?

"This is, after all, the guy who changed it all by introducing emotional intensity and identifiable humanity into the business of representing biblical stories." - The Observer (UK)

Lourdes Portillo, Director Of ‘The Devil Never Sleeps’ And A Visual Artist, Has Died At 80

The documentary filmmaker " ocused her work on writing, directing and producing film and videos that centered the emotions and circumstances of Latin American, Mexican and Chicano experiences,” including Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo. - Variety

Netflix Gets Caught Using AI-Generated Images Of A Murder Victim In A True-Crime Documentary

"This isn't inventing a fictional narrative for the sake of entertainment — this is tinkering with the fabric of reality itself to manipulate a true story that actually happened.” (There’s more at the subscription-only 404 Media.) - Futurism

The Very Dark Side Of The Rare Book World

That is, the side where some books are bound in human skin. - The New York Times

Google’s AI Results Are A Disaster For Publishing

"According to ad sales company Raptive, Google’s Search Generative Experience could lead to a drop in search traffic ranging from 20% to 60%, a potential hit of up to $2 billion in global ad revenue." - The Present Age

Wait, The Actors From Blair Witch Project Have Never Gotten Residuals?

The actors improvised the script and shot most of the footage. "The film was bought by Artisan Entertainment for $1 million, after which the actors were paid a $300,000 buyout of their ownership points on the film. They were also listed as 'missing, presumed dead' on IMDb." - Vulture

Fifteen People Were Injured In A Tram Crash At California’s Universal Studios

The injuries were minor, but this isn’t great. "Universal Studios tour is one of the theme park’s most popular attractions, taking riders on a one-hour backlot tour to see behind the scenes where some of Hollywood’s most memorable films and television shows were filmed." - The Hollywood Reporter

The Argument To Pay A Lot More Attention To Tiny Art

That is, to miniature art and the museums that collect it. "Miniatures imitate life but have no clear practical purpose. They can be harder to make than their full-size counterparts. But they are portable.” - which makes them easy to carry as governments fall and empires shift. - The Atlantic

The Jazz Detective

To Zev Feldman, “solving a case means discovering a concert recording that has been gathering dust in an archive for decades, or studio sessions that were once thought to be lost and gone forever.” - El País English

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