"Any attempt to look at the company’s finances suggests a long history of issues at the very top. … Sources described a corporate culture with no discernible strategy and little of the necessary financial infrastructure or discipline. … While Vice execs were spending opulently, the newsroom struggled to pay its bills." - The Verge
"As part of a multi-year licensing deal, … The Independent will take over BuzzFeed’s sub-brands in the UK, including food vertical Tasty UK, black British identity brand Seasoned and HuffPost UK." - Press Gazette (UK)
"The financial crisis (is) so dire that the leadership is willing to take this huge public black eye (Salonen's departure) rather than let it go on a minute longer. … The perception that the (orchestra) is an organization in decline is likely to become a self-fulfilling prophecy." - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
"Puccini’s universalism was sincerely felt, even if it’s unfashionable today, and it deserves to be appreciated rather than cynically apologized for — as some opera companies seem to do while continuing to reap the ticket-selling benefits of his popularity." - The New York Times
The Mill at Limetz (1888) is expected to sell for between $18 million and $25 million at Christie's next month. The Nelson-Atkins owns only a two-thirds interest in the painting, and the heirs of the late owner of the remaining third chose not to donate it to the museum. - Artnet
The Guadeloupe-born writer didn't publish her first book until age 40, and she came to international prominence in her 80s: in 2018, she won the New Academy Prize, which Sweden instituted when the Nobel for Literature was suspended due to an internal scandal. - AFP (Yahoo!)
"The information watchdog is investigating the British Museum over claims it has been overly secretive about some of the most sensitive items in its collection – a group of sacred Ethiopian altar tablets that have been hidden from view at the museum for more than 150 years." - The Guardian
One in six live music venues closed in the past year, according to figures from the Music Venue Trust. But amid the gloom, there are venues opening, too – albeit with a broader remit than focusing solely on club nights or gigs. - The Guardian
Classics is no longer sleepy. The legacies of ancient Greece and Rome have reemerged as key cultural battlefields fought over by everyone from left-wing scholars to gun rights advocates. - LA Review of Books
Time was the problem, I assumed: There was enough of it; I just wasn’t using it right. Or maybe the problem was my attention span. I couldn’t focus. - Esquire
Speed. That’s what you hear, over and over again, as the real benefit of Gen AI imaging. By eliminating the friction of time-consuming tasks and collaborative translation fails, it lets an idea move swiftly from a creative’s head to something that others can see. - IndieWire
Voice Engine can recreate a person’s voice from a 15-second recording. If you upload a recording of yourself and a paragraph of text, it can read the text using a synthetic voice that sounds like yours. - The New York Times
We talked to a few super-readers, who routinely finish hundreds of books a year, about their habits and goals — and asked them about what tips they have for the rest of us. - Washington Post
Over the last twenty years, the number of independent book publishers has grown by over 21 percent, with independent publishing now making up over 35 percent of the market. For publishers like Borucki, the Pandemic years felt rife with opportunity. - LitHub
Philbrick’s ascent paralleled a historic moment that Artnet writer Eileen Kinsella has called “the financialization of the art market.” Today, art is no longer merely displayed for admiration and pleasure but often tucked away in storage facilities from New York to Hong Kong. - Vanity Fair
