Barred from high school and college, they attend online classes, learn foreign languages with chatbots and e-books, and trade cryptocurrencies hoping for financial independence. They try to make up for closed cinemas and women's gyms and banned music with YouTube’s comedy shows, fitness classes and music videos. - The Washington Post (MSN)
As the conservative kingdom loosened up, Abdulaziz Almuzaini's show Masameer (often likened to South Park) got a fan base and he was feted as a star of Saudi Arabia's nascent entertainment industry. Yet he was convicted of promoting the very extremism that the series satirizes. - The New York Times
"The Devan era had its shortcomings. … But (they) shouldn’t overshadow (his) central accomplishment: He took an undernourished, traditional opera company, set in motion a period of artistic experimentation and financial growth, learned important lessons, got through the pandemic, and delivered it all to his successor in one piece." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
"The Biennale’s theater department was founded in 1934, following the establishment of its art, music and cinema branches. Its previous directors include Renato Simoni, Luca Ronconi, Franco Quadri, Carmelo Bene and Lluís Pasqual, and it is programmed yearly alongside major cultural events like the Venice Film Festival." - Variety
"Neumeier is 85, which might seem like a decent age to retire. But choosing to go was difficult for him. 'It was a rational decision, not an emotional one. … When I started approaching 50 years here, I thought, I don’t want a downward slide.” - The New York Times
Located at the historic Emigrant Savings Bank building in Manhattan’s Financial District, the HdL has begun hosting non-art events, including puppy yoga, pilates, and an immersive whiskey tasting with Irish storytellers. - ARTnews
Apparently, the struggle to find the right word is real and has been for some time, because the Oxford English Dictionary has its own category for these terms, labelled “thing or person whose name is forgotten or unknown”. - The Conversation
First, each team member — no exceptions — brings an outstanding capability that complements the capabilities of other team members. Top percentile analytical capacity is certainly a factor, even a prerequisite, but these team members also bring virtuosity, expertise, tenacity, mental agility, and communications skills, just to name a few. - Harvard Business Review
As the first week of the festival unfolded, the spotlight shone repeatedly on amateurs and artists from countries rarely represented on the biggest European stages. - The New York Times
I think a lot of my aesthetics were shaped by the Broadway shows that my mom took us to in Baltimore. Those old-school shows like “Fiddler on the Roof,” which start off funny and then get more serious, and then, by the end, they’re tragedies about something big and sad. - The New Yorker
I leave elite academe with doubts and foreboding that I would not have anticipated when I completed my formal education in 1982. Watching the travails of Harvard—where I received my degrees and served as an assistant professor and assistant dean—has been particularly painful. - The Atlantic
By taking a similar look at "excess word usage" after LLM writing tools became widely available in late 2022, the researchers found that "the appearance of LLMs led to an abrupt increase in the frequency of certain style words" that was "unprecedented in both quality and quantity." - Ars Technica
The brain tags experiences worth remembering by repeatedly sending out sudden and powerful high-frequency brain waves. Known as “sharp wave ripples,” these waves, kicked up by the firing of many thousands of neurons within milliseconds of one another, are “like a fireworks show in the brain.” - Wired
Then there’s “showcasing.” And many, many more: “A number of words that were extremely uncommon in these scientific abstracts before 2023 ... suddenly surged in popularity after LLMs were introduced.” - Wired
“For decades, the sculpture gallery has had mostly blindingly white marble works, which were exclusively of white people. Now it does not. The intervention is part of a community-led project exploring the gallery’s links to slavery, colonialism and empire, of which there are many.” - The Guardian (UK)
