"It is bleak on so many levels, first and foremost the job losses during a straitened time for media. Pitchfork was one of the last stable music outlets going – where else are the former staff, and the site’s hundreds of freelancers, meant to work now?" - The Guardian (UK)
"The list identifies what UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization, calls 'fragile' nonphysical elements that play a crucial role in 'maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalization.'" - The New York Times
The Great Wave Of Consolidation is coming for all of our favorite streamers. Why? "Investment bankers are wishin’ and hopin’ for more of these deals in 2024, and marriages seem likely." - Wired
"Prague doesn’t want to be put into anyone’s story; so many people have come and tried to make it part of this or that empire, and it hasn’t worked. ... I felt almost at my limit with how much and how rapidly I was inventing." - The Guardian (UK)
Users create lyrics, and then TikTok "pairs the lyrics with the pre-saved music, based on three genres: pop, hip-hop, and EDM." (Results aren't great so far, but it's early days.) - The Verge
Why did the Parliament Building need so much work? "Earlier attempts at restoration work had used different materials – sometimes even concrete – to patch up the stonework, which in part had been held together by wire, coat hangers and in one section a car aerial." - The Guardian (UK)
The board chair "said that in an effort to cut its legal costs, the institution would focus its case solely on its former executive director, Aaron De Groft, whom he said had been responsible for 'handpicking' the paintings." - The New York Times
Baldwin was originally cleared of charges in April of 2023 because of testimony that claimed he didn't need to pull the trigger for the gun to go off, but the "grand jury was convened following retesting on the gun’s trigger" proving he had needed to pull it. - Vulture
Rie Kudan "won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize this week for her sci-fi novel Tokyo-to Dojo-to (Tokyo Sympathy Tower), which centers around a high-rise prison tower and contains themes surrounding AI." The reaction to her news has not been positive. - Vice
"Divisions in the art world over the biennial’s choice of Iwona Blazwick, a British curator, to oversee the event had made it 'impossible' for the show to open as planned in September." Blazwick had been on the hiring committee, and her selection caused a furor. - The New York Times
Myriad factors influence variations among American accents and dialects, including waves of settlement in a region, geographic location and class differences. - Smithsonian
The Royal Court says it' seeking to "find new business models to sustain the theatre", while Hampstead has said 2022/23 turned out to be "one of the most challenging" in its history. The Young Vic has warned that "cost inflation and soaring energy bills" contributed to a deficit that went "way beyond budget. - The Stage
The "report, published Friday and looking at scripted TV seasons being ordered in the U.S., noted that the volume of U.S. series has nearly halved since 2019. The number of series titles fell to 481 last year, down sharply from the 633 releases in 2022 and 2021." - The Hollywood Reporter
The connections between mathematics and music have been celebrated since at least as far back as the Pythagoreans. However, though there has been writing and academic research about specific books, authors or genres, I hadn’t seen a book for a general audience about the broader connections between mathematics and literature. - Quanta
