Kings, popes, and doges all found themselves gasping for air under a deluge of memorandums and correspondence. Philip II of Spain was frequently driven to despair by ‘these devils, my papers’, with up to 16,000 separate petitions sent to his desk over the course of a single year. - Engelsberg Ideas
Why? Well - there are a lot of eligible musicals, for one thing. And while Merrily We Roll Along is looking like a lock for Best Musical Revival, some other categories are hotly contested. - The New York Times
Hundreds of artists signed a letter objecting to the out of control secondary market for tickets, which is bad for fans. On the other hand, there’s actually good news: "Live music sales are booming.” - CBC
C. Pam Zhang and Safiya Noble, who were scheduled to speak at the USC Rossier ceremony, have withdrawn. "Zhang and Noble condemned the college administration for refusing to engage in meaningful dialogue with a group of peaceful student protestors … and for censoring valedictorian Asna Tabassu.” - LitHub
And not just reopen, but “one of the first productions to play the Taper after its 16-month pause will be the world premiere of Fake It Until You Make It, … the commissioned play by Larissa FastHorse that was halted just weeks before opening last year." - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo News)
"Can an organization that sees itself as above politics, that sees itself straightforwardly as a support system for an open society, be allowed to exist anymore? For the protesting writers, this lofty mission represents an unforgivable moral abdication at a moment of crisis." - The Atlantic
Nobody tell Challengers (or Saltburn) that some theories say Gen-Z doesn’t like sex in movies. The movies’ box office numbers tell a different story. - The New York Times
Did you know Ernest Hemingway came up with the word for byline (though he spelled it by-line). "Signed articles could occasionally be found before 1926, but they were not the standard practice they would become a century later." - The Smart Set
Well, why not? People’s moods improve when they receive stamped letters - and “stamps provide 'an amazing body of material to study the history of communication, art, design, but also humanity.’” - The Atlantic
The changes since 2004 have been dramatic. "It has created, in its 50 new and restored buildings, about 1,700 homes, more than 40% of them affordable, 30 bars and restaurants, 10 new public parks and squares, 4.25m sq ft of offices and capacity for 30,000 office jobs." - The Observer (UK)
Young women, whose bodies are at risk in the post-Dobbs United States, get this version, where Sally "doesn’t sing, dance or exist to please others—including, it should be said, us in the audience. Instead, we see a woman who in spite of everything, has chosen herself." - Variety
It’s going fine, just fine: "Meta’s automated ad platform has been blowing through budgets and failing to deliver sales. Small businesses have seen their ad dollars get wiped out and wasted as a result, and some have said the bouts of overspending are driving them from Meta’s platforms." - The Verge
