At these 80th-birthday concerts for Michael Tilson Thomas, who has suffered a recurrence of an aggressive brain cancer, the musicians distributed leaflets to the audience demanding “a fair contract” and accusing SFS management of budget cuts which “jeopardize the world-renowned status Michael helped build.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
“Editor-in-chief and major shareholder James Harding set out his stall in the first issue under its new Tortoise ownership on Sunday, (saying) the paper was leaning into traditions of liberalism and editorial independence which date back to its foundation in 1791.” - Press Gazette (UK)
“The public wasn't given a chance to testify on the 11th-hour change, quietly added to the 220-page budget bill just one day before lawmakers plan to vote on it and wrap up the 2025 legislative session.” - The Indianapolis Star (Yahoo!)
"I don't judge people in any way about how much they know about music. In fact, when I'm writing, I think, "Well, let's pretend that no one in the room has ever heard classical music. Will this speak to them?" - NPR
Independent bookstores and users on BookTok are expressing their frustration with Amazon while encouraging readers to stay off of the online shopping site and instead make the trek to their local bookstore for the day. - Fast Company
The Kennedy Center is more than a venue, it’s a “living monument” — a place where the story of American culture plays out onstage. Whatever happens at the Kennedy Center becomes part of the history it exists to preserve. That’s the part that worries me. - Washington Post
The consensus is that AI is an extremely potent technology and already very, very good at creating content, however, you are somehow a villain if you use it. - Entrepreneur
“Wikipedia is permitting information manipulation on its platform, including the rewriting of key, historical events and biographical information of current and previous American leaders, as well as other matters implicating the national security and the interests of the United States." - Washington Post
What is the consumer trying to tell us? That they’d like to watch movies at home, thank you. The studios and the theaters are duking it out over trying to preserve this 45-day window that is completely out of step with the consumer experience of just loving a movie.” - Variety
Vargas Llosa “has replaced Gabriel García Márquez” as the South American novelist North American readers must catch up on, Updike wrote in 1986, four years after García Márquez received the Nobel Prize in Literature and 24 years before Vargas Llosa himself would. - The New York Times
I can hold a tailored conversation on any of the topics I care about with a system that has effectively achieved Ph.D.-level competence across all of them. I can construct the “book” I want in real time—responsive to my questions, customized to my focus, tuned to the spirit of my inquiry. - The New Yorker
Riefenstahl, who was full member of the Nazi propaganda machine, spent her entire very long post-WWII life using every tool she had “to deflect from her ideological affinity with nazism.” - The Guardian (UK)
“Putting a camera in the audience POV of a dance show is only a reminder that the real thing is probably way better. Putting a camera in the wings, on stage, up close and personal ... in a way that no one can experience in an auditorium — that’s worth watching.” - IndieWire