"Now, it can make or break them — with implications for how films are perceived, released, marketed, and possibly even green-lit. The Tomatometer may be the most important metric in entertainment, yet it's also erratic, reductive, and easily hacked." Here's how it got that way. - New York Magazine
It’s not just that some of us believe we might have to rethink the standard model of cosmology; we might also have to change the way we think about some of the most basic features of our universe — a conceptual revolution that would have implications far beyond the world of science. - The New York Times
The Nevada businessman who sold the baskets in the early 1900s said they were made by a Washoe princess named Dat So La Lee. In fact, she preferred her English name, Louisa Keyser, and the backstories told by the salesman about her were mostly made up. - The New York Times
At the British Museum, flat funding from the Conservatives has meant a real-terms cut in revenue grant-in-aid of 37% between 2009-10, under Labour, and now, under the Tories. - The Guardian
"Steppenwolf Theatre Company, one of Chicago's most storied arts institutions and long a crucial part of the city's identity, said Thursday that it was laying off 12% of its staff, effective immediately." - MSN (Chicago Tribune)
"Starting this year, the center of gravity in my classroom is not teaching writing as an “essential skill” that all students need to master; it’s teaching reading. Last year, I predicted that ChatGPT would mark the end of high-school English. Instead, we might already be witnessing its rebirth." - The Atlantic
"Replace charismatic leadership with technocratic good manners and the whole edifice comes tumbling down," wrote one London critic. Responds Michael Brodeur, "This brings us to the myth of the bully maestro, which isn't really a myth so much as a problem we've worked diligently for decades to mythologize." - MSN (The Washington Post)
"How can developers appease locals worried about supposedly industrial wind farms taking over their idyllic landscapes? If other forms of infrastructure offer any clues, the answer might be trying to hide the fact that they're wind farms at all." - Curbed
Vicente Lusitano had been dimly remembered, largely by music historians, for "a notorious dispute which he won, then lost, but is now winning again." Scholar Garrett Schuman explains what's now known about Lusitano, why he fell into obscurity, and the revival of his (often gorgeous) works this decade. - Early Music America
"Subscribers were long the lifeblood of many performing arts organizations — a reliable income stream, and a guarantee that many seats would be filled. The pandemic hastened their disappearance for a number of reasons." - The New York Times
Two separate developments are driving the trend: the advent of computer-controlled robots which can drill ornate designs quickly, precisely, and relatively cheaply; and the impetus to return to traditional building materials which are less carbon-intensive than steel, cement, and curtain-wall glass. - Slate
Given the vast difference in agency prevailing between artists and patrons, is an intellectual, artistic, ethical discussion on equal terms even possible? - 3 Quarks Daily
It was a big surprise when word came down that not only had Sondheim finished his long-rumored adaptation of two Luís Buñuel films, he had authorized a production. Here's an extended conversation between Rich, playwright Davd Ives, and director Joe Mantello about how Here We Are came together. - New York Magazine
Players who succeed at solving the game's levels are "rewarded by a dozen or so pieces scrolling together to create one of the impressionist master’s full works." - Washington Post
Social media companies are receding from their role as watchdogs against political misinformation, abandoning their most aggressive efforts to police online falsehoods in a trend expected to profoundly affect the 2024 presidential election. An array of circumstances is fueling the retreat. - Washington Post
The 36-year-old music director of the Louisville Orchestra has largely eschewed the touring-guest-conductor circuit many of his peers use to build careers. He stays put in Kentucky, putting time and attention into involving himself and the orchestra in the community of the city and the state. - The New York Times
The discrepancy between the way digital download storefronts like iTunes and streaming platforms like Spotify value the worth of a song is going to be hard to reconcile in a satisfying way. - The New Inquiry
The Wildensteins' business goes back five generations and 150 years; family members have always been secretive, even by art-world standards. But a lawsuit by a disinherited widow has uncovered what a prosecutor alleged is "the longest and most sophisticated tax fraud" in modern French history. - The New York Times Magazine
"Developed by the Philadelphia-based company Music: Not Impossible, the device consists of two ankle bands, two wrist bands and a backpack that fastens with double straps over the rib cage. ... (These) suits are unique because the devices turn individual notes of music into specific vibrations." - The New York Times
