One Restaurant Decided To Replace Its Workers With QR Codes, And Then It Found...
Oops. The Walker Art Center is not happy: "Cardamom is slated to shutter within the next 60 to 90 days. The museum is now...
Authors Are Leaving This Venerable French Publisher In Droves, All Together
“In an open letter, the ‘resigning’ authors explain that they refuse 'to allow our ideas and our work’ to become the property of the ultraconservative billionaire ,...
It’s Getting Harder To Spot AI In Contemporary Publishing
And, frankly, it’s a labor issue: “The more time an editor has to edit a particular book, the more care they can put into it.” ...
Very Short Concerts Aren’t A Scam
OK: “The beauty of the less-than-an-hour show is that it ends before 10. You can get a drink or even dinner or hustle home.”...
Chains Dominate Retail, But Indie Bookstore Numbers Are Way Up
“About 422 new indie bookshops opened in 2025, according to the American Booksellers Association, a 31% rise from 2024.” What the heck? - The...
It Is Physically Painful To Write This, But Hollywood Is ‘Screenmaxxing’ Now
“Screenmaxxing is big business for an imperiled theatrical exhibition industry. … PLF screens seem to be an effective way to lure them out of...
All The Science Fiction And Fantasy Novels Reimagining China’s Past May Be Doing Weird...
“Web novels have become a massive and highly profitable industry in China, and many titles have been adapted into blockbuster movies and TV series...
An Author’s Main Characters Might Resemble Her Demographically, But That Doesn’t Mean They’re The...
“Writing for Ms. Riley is both straightforward and a little bit mysterious. ‘Animal instinct, honestly,’ she said.” - The New York Times
Every Town, Including Every Refugee Camp, Needs A Theatre
“As migrants faced uncertainty, displacement and made frequent attempts to cross into the United Kingdom, a robust arts community began to take shape inside...
This RAM Shortage Thing Isn’t Going Away
Yikes: “Everything from phones and laptops, to VR headsets and gaming handhelds have seen price increases due to the RAM shortage.” - The Verge
Isa Briones Gets Her Time, On The Pitt And On Broadway
The actor who plays Santos - the abrasive, competitive, smart young resident on The Pitt - is also a dab hand at karaoke, a...
The V&A East Is Just One Example Of How England, And The Entire UK,...
Make the United Kingdom truly good again - with culture. - The Guardian (UK)
The Film About France During WWII That Is Very, Alarmingly Relevant To Several Other...
Yes, you need to watch The Sorrow and the Pity, and you need to do it right now. Why? Because “Ophuls’s film is illuminating...
Some Companies You Probably Love Are Taking Trademarks Too Far
"If you have a granola group, seed society, cherry circle, or risotto ring, and a lawyer league owns a trademark on one of them,...
Television And Theatre Aren’t Oil And Water, But They Don’t Mix Well, Either
“Despite so much practice, television still manages to get a few things wrong, specifically the process, the product and the people. (It occasionally manages...
Reed Hastings Is Leaving Netflix, But Is It Because They Didn’t Get Warner Bros.,...
Bizarrely, Netflix would up in a much stronger place: “The company did not say how it plans to spend the $2.8-billion US termination fee...
It Takes Many Artisans To Create A Lady Gaga-Level, But Fake, Pop Star
The Mother Mary gang has been finding out over the past couple of years. - Variety
How Do You Secure A Museum From Heists Without Closing It Off Entirely?
“Transparency, porousness — all the buzzwords of architecture today are antithetical to security. It’s a paradox implicit to museum design today.” - The New...
We Are Weirdly Quick To Believe That Actors Simply Improvise In Movies
“Audiences clearly crave these stories – but why? Isn’t a movie more impressive if it’s so well rehearsed that it seems real? Isn’t it...
Is Pop Star Rosalia Leading A Surge In Affection For Opera As An Art...
Yes, and then there’s this: “Pinterest said ‘opera aesthetics' - a trend which it said encapsulated ‘dramatic, opulent and theatrical styles’ - was one of its...
Children’s Author Jon Klassen Is The First Canadian To Win This Huge Children’s Literature...
“The Winnipeg-born children's book author and illustrator of I Want My Hat Back, has won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, which is worth nearly $750,00”...
How A Few Simple TikToks Or A Viral Insta Reel Can Lead To A...
“A century ago, the democratization of poetry was only a dream. Today, everyone can be a poet thanks to social media.” - Los Angeles...
A bend in the culture
This Week's Highlights:
The question running through this week's stories isn't whether cultural institutions are in trouble. It's who gets to decide what they're for....
AJ Chronicles: This Week — Perils of the Algorithmic Culture
The threat isn't that AI replaces artists. It's subtler and more coercive: that an algorithmically saturated environment erodes the capacity for the kind of thinking that we like to think art requires. Tolerance for ambiguity. Patience with difficulty. The willingness to be bored before a breakthrough.
Anna Weber shares the importance of collaborative partnerships
Anna Weber, General Manager for Artistic and Operations at Carnegie Hall, shares the depth of their festival programming and focus on collaborative partnerships.
