Edward Teller? John von Neumann? Herman Kahn? Wernher von Braun? "Despite all the speculation, Kubrick never clarified the character's origins. So did he base Strangelove on one of them, all of them, or none of them? … The most compelling candidate ... is the only one who sounded nothing like him." - BBC
Rather than ceasing to exist, the museum will continue on as a spaceless institution that provides long-term loans and as an organization that will facilitate research. - ARTnews
"The trumpet soloist materialized in different parts of the virtual room … Flutists appeared and vanished. … At one point, when I tried giving one of the cellists a needed shoulder massage, the virtual musician seemed to standoffishly crumble in my hands. (The project's mastermind) shrugged. 'Well, he is German.'" - Classical Voice North America
Dance sells everything from Nike to Pepto Bismol, and now we have TikTok. But concert dance as an art form is a hard sell. Yet when new audiences get the opportunity to experience dance, they often fall in love. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"London-based ballad publishers commissioned, bought and distributed songs which were performed in ale houses, markets and town squares, hoping that people would buy the song sheets." Says historian Christopher Marsh, "It was the first time in history that people tried to publish songs to make money, to make hits." - The Guardian
"Amr al-Madani, the chief executive officer of the Royal Commission of AlUla, … is accused of personally benefiting from contracts (worth $55 million) given from King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, a (Saudi) scientific research agency, for the company he co-owns." - ARTnews
"Hallmark rose from the sixth-most-watched cable network at the top of October to the third-most-watched the week of Nov. 20, when it won out over CNN and MSNBC in total eyeballs. … It’s time to admit that Hallmark movies are actually just Hollywood movies — and specifically rom-coms." - The New York Times Magazine
"No critic since Kenneth Tynan was better able to capture in vivid, richly metaphoric language the unique brilliance of a stage performance." Charles McNulty pays tribute to his professor/colleague/friend, who was a longtime professor at Yale's School of Drama and wrote for, among others, The Village Voice. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
"The Alabama Public Library Service has voted not to renew its American Library Association membership. This comes after some in the state have accused the ALA … of promoting Marxism, supporting keeping sexual content in libraries, and discriminating against religious organizations." - Book Riot
"Following legislation introduced in states like Massachusetts, Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico, legislators in New Jersey introduced a newly revised Freedom to Read Act into the (state) Senate." - Book Riot
"(The museum dedicated to Himalayan Buddhist art) will close Oct. 6, when its last exhibition ends, before the institution transitions to a skeleton crew that will process long-term loans and research inquiries and help with fund-raising. Nearly 40 percent of its employees will lose their jobs." - The New York Times
Her goal is to figure out why contemporary art attracts so much money, status and (occasionally) talent. She spent several years taking entry-level jobs in galleries and artist studios so she could vividly capture the new class hierarchies in American culture and the subtle cues that mark cultural distinction. - Washington Post (MSN)
A spokesperson for the Swedish tech giant said users have listened to more than 90,000 individual titles from the platform’s catalogue of more than 200,000 audiobooks, and that the catalogue continues to grow month after month. - The Bookseller
After residents on the Upper East Side of Manhattan claimed they were blindsided by the Frick Collection’s plans to serve liquor from 17 bars inside the newly renovated museum, the institution has reached a concession with the neighborhood for just 14 bars. - Artnet
Live-events company Fever is one such disruptor. Founded by Ignacio Bachiller Ströhlein, a McKinsey & Company alum, and Francisco Hein, creator of city guide Secret Media Network, the company touts its data-driven approach to “democratiz access to culture and entertainment in real life.” - San Francisco Classical Voice
