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How Amazon’s Pilot Season Broke TV And Became A Bridge To Streaming Culture

Streaming was offered as an alternative to the traditional TV business model, which had remained largely unchanged for decades. The streamer could also act as the production company and distributor, eliminating the need to spend months or years arranging financing. - Los Angeles Times

The Royal Tapestry Factory That Worked With Francisco Goya Is Still Weaving Today

"The factory was opened in 1721 by Spain’s King Felipe V. He brought in Catholic craftsmen from Flanders, which had been part of Spain’s empire, to get it started. … Some of the original wooden machines are still in use." - AP

Theatre People Who Passed Away In 2023

The ephemeral nature of the stage is part of its power. Prospero in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” compares actors to “spirits” who melt into “thin air” once the revels are ended. - Los Angeles Times

“I’m Under No Delusions That I’m Suddenly A Broadway Playwright,” Says Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

"This is really fun, and I'm super honored. But I feel like I'm under no delusions that my life is different. I'm still going to probably do my next play in a little basement downtown. And that's okay because that's what I signed up to do." - Broadway.com

A Billion Birds A Year In America Die Crashing Into Buildings. Architects Are Working To Fix The Problem

This year, at least 1,000 birds died in one day from colliding with a single glass-covered building. In New York, which lies along the Atlantic Flyway, hundreds of species traverse the skyline and tens of thousands die each year. - The Guardian

Meet Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” For 2024

"Electric performances, thought-provoking choreography, buzzy bodies of work — the artists on our annual list of dancers, choreographers, directors, and companies poised for a breakout share an uncanny knack for arresting attention, … turning heads while turning what’s expected — in a performance, from a career trajectory — on its head." - Dance Magazine

Open To Change: A Critic Goes Back To A Show And Has An Entirely Different Reaction

In 2014, I couldn’t tolerate a play that mixed hilarity and monstrousness so shamelessly. But time and history have altered that in me.  - The New York Times

This Village Girl From A Distant Russian Republic Could Be The Met’s Next Superstar Mezzo

"It hasn’t been an easy journey from (Bashkortostan) to New York. Along the way, (Aigul) Akhmetshina had to overcome multiple setbacks, including failures in vocal competitions, an auto accident that left her unable to sing for months, then (being) told by a conservatory that she wasn’t good enough for a scholarship." - AP

A Stat That Shows How The US Music Market Is Changing

This year, a record 98 Spanish-language songs made Billboard’s list, and six made it into the top 10. - CNN

With Superhero Movies Now Losing Big Money, Where Can Hollywood Turn For Big Box Office Hits?

"The rosiest spin you can put on this sudden collapse is that it’s the equivalent of a stock-market correction. … But it’s not clear that the industry has a backup plan. … Barbenheimer’s might was a light in the darkness, … (and) Hollywood loves nothing more than copying success, but what is Barbenheimer’s takeaway?" - Slate

I Tried To Be A North Korean Novelist. I Failed. Repeatedly.

One of the Japan-born ethnic Koreans who emigrated to North Korea in the 1970s, Kim Ju-sŏng lived there for 28 years, working as a novelist for the Korean Workers' Party's propaganda department (the only permitted career path) and getting lousy evaluations before escaping to the South. - The Guardian

With This Year’s Muddy Debacle, Was Burning Man Defeated By Its Own Success?

Having grown from about 4,000 attendees in 1991, the festival now caps attendance at 80,000, many of whom are just too damn rich. Having (barely) managed to clean up this year's mess by the six-week limit in the land use permit, Burners don't expect major changes for 2024. But later? - AP

Greece Will “Fill The Void” If Britain Returns The Parthenon Marbles, Says Culture Minister

"Lina Mendoni promised that the London institution’s revered Greek galleries would never go empty. 'Our position is clear,' she said. 'Should the sculptures be reunited in Athens, Greece is prepared to organise rotating exhibitions of important antiquities that would fill the void.'" - The Guardian

Poland’s New Government Puts State TV And Radio Into Liquidation

This doesn't mean the outlets will stop operating, as the term "liquidation" would mean in English-speaking countries. The move is one of the few legal means available for the administration of prime minister Donald Tusk's government to start undoing the thorough politicization of the broadcaster under the Law and Justice Party. - BBC

Artist Pope.L Has Died At 67

"Across the past four decades, (his works) alluded to the condition of Black Americans without outright stating what they were trying to communicate. (His) sculptures, installations, performances, and conceptual artworks … were often provocative and sad — and, more often than not, funny, too, in ways that could be shocking." - ARTnews

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