Arts news

• HBO Undoes The Rebranding Mistake Of A Generation

  19-05-2025 19:26 via theconversation.com
  
  Dropping “HBO,” a label linked to award-winning dramas for decades, removed a trusted shortcut and left viewers asking whether the service had changed its focus. – The Conversation
  
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• Republicans Go After Philanthropies For Taxes

  19-05-2025 19:02 via newrepublic.com
  The House tax bill increases taxes on philanthropies. It was news to me that philanthropies pay any taxes at all; I always thought nonprofit status shielded these groups entirely from taxation. That’s not correct. – The New Republic
  
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• What NEA Cuts Mean To Small Book Publishers

  19-05-2025 18:40 via lareviewofbooks.org
  Without the NEA, today’s most treasured literary organizations might not have survived their infancy as far back as the 1960s. Without these endowments, what holes will be torn in the fabric of American culture? – LA Review of Books
  
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• A History Of Free Speech: How Haphazard It Has Been

  19-05-2025 18:20 via lrb.co.uk
  What repeatedly surprises about the history of free speech is its incurably accidental nature – reforms undertaken for one set of reasons generate unforeseen and quite different consequences – and, also, the cobbled-together quality of the debate. – London Review of Books
  
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• Why We Won’t Get Artificial General Intelligence Any Time Soon

  19-05-2025 18:01 via nytimes.com
  Opinions differ in part because scientists cannot even agree on a way of defining human intelligence, arguing endlessly over the merits and flaws of I.Q. tests and other benchmarks. Comparing our own brains to machines is even more subjective. – The New York Times
  
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• Podcasters Protest Spotify’s Decision To Post How Many Plays They Get

  19-05-2025 17:44 via theverge.com
   The chief complaint was that some podcasters actually don’t want listeners to know how many people are listening to their podcast, because it might have the opposite effect: it could turn people off to know a show only has a few dozen plays. – The Verge
  
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• Can PBS Survive?

  19-05-2025 17:31 via nytimes.com
  This is unusual because it’s coming from so many different places. That was not the case during the first Trump administration. It was not what I feel like this is: an all-out effort to take us out. The F.C.C., DOGE, I mean it’s just a whole different environment than anything I’ve seen before. – The New York Times
  
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• This Book Group Has Been Reading The Same Book For 12 Years

  19-05-2025 17:15 via texasstandard.org
  “We’re only reading one page at a time,” said Peter Quadrino, founder and organizer of the Finnegans Wake Reading Group of Austin, TX. Every other week, Quadrino hosts a Zoom call where people from around the world gather and attempt to understand one of the most infamous books in English literature. – Texas Standard
  
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• Miniatures Started Going Viral During The Early Days Of The Pandemic

  19-05-2025 16:30 via npr.org
  And now they’re hotter than ever, with miniature artists-in-residence at museums, TikToks going viral, and more. Why? “In our distraction-filled world, … getting to watch someone painstakingly craft the scenes is mesmerizing.” – NPR
  
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• Kristin Stewart Has Been Talking About Directing For Her Entire, Lengthy Acting Life

  19-05-2025 16:00 via seattletimes.com
  “It’s really not fair for people to think it’s hard to make a movie insofar as you need to know things before going into it. There are technical directors, but, Jesus Christ, you hire a crew. You just have a perspective and trust it.” – Seattle Times (AP)
  
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• Hanging In, She’d Rather Not

  19-05-2025 15:51 via artsjournal.com
  Drawing © 2025 by Gerard Bellaart.Just
  turned
  97
  she’s
  stillhanging
  inbutcursed
  
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• How The All In The Family Theme Song Broke The Mold And Remade The Modern Sitcom

  19-05-2025 15:45 via yahoo.com
  “So it was that an old Broadway hand changed television forever by injecting a bit of kitchen-sink realism into the opening credits of a sitcom, of all things. You were solidly hooked.” – Washington Post (Yahoo)
  
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• Who’s Hurt Most By Threatened Cuts To PBS?

  19-05-2025 15:30 via salon.com
  “Since PBS reaches an estimated 99% of the country’s broadcast viewers, that gives every child free access to high-quality educational content.” When that goes, rich kids in cities won’t be so hurt – but poorer and more rural kids sure will. – Salon
  
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• Betty Buckley Is Definitely Still Alive, And She’s Hoping She Can Appeal To Her Most Powerful Fan

  19-05-2025 15:15 via nytimes.com
  Trump adores her performance of “Memory” from 1982. She felt “a glimmer of hope that wouldn’t it be great if he could allow us, as theater artists, to share with him that which we know in storytelling to assist him to see things a bit differently.” – The New York Times
  
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• Oregon, Other States Sue Doge, NEH Over Funding Cuts

  19-05-2025 15:00 via orartswatch.org
  “Congress approved $65 million for these councils in the 2025 fiscal year, which means that DOGE or any other member of the executive branch spending that money on anything else is doing so under an illegal process called ‘impoundment.’” – Oregon ArtsWatch
  
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• Universal Is Trying To Take The Disney Crown

  19-05-2025 14:45 via latimes.com
  At least on the theme park front, in Florida, anyway. – Los Angeles Times
  
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• How Bristol Randomly Forgot Its Huge IMAX Cinema – And Found It Again

  19-05-2025 14:30 via lithub.com
  “The Bristol Imax, boasting a 19 metre by 15 metre screen, was once regarded as the future of cinema in south-west England. The projector was the size of a small car and needed to be cooled with water pumped up from the harbour.” – The Guardian (UK)
  
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• Gearing Up For A Publishing ‘Hot Labor Summer’ With Another Publisher Unionizing

  19-05-2025 14:15 via lithub.com
  The organizers say that even before the votes are counted, “they’ve already noticed more camaraderie at Abrams, which is a rare medium-sized publisher with around 150 employees.” – LitHub
  
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• What Could Desi Arnaz Teach Hollywood Today?

  19-05-2025 14:00 via nytimes.com
  “Arnaz heard ‘no’ a lot in his career but he never took it as a final answer.” – The New York Times
  
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• Elton John Calls The UK Government ‘Absolute Losers’ Over AI Plans

  19-05-2025 13:45 via bbc.com
  “He said if ministers go ahead with plans to allow AI firms to use artists’ content without paying, they would be ‘committing theft, thievery on a high scale.’” – BBC
  
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• For Mexico, Trump’s Desired Tariffs Threaten A Flourishing Film Collaboration

  19-05-2025 13:30 via english.elpais.com
  “The United States is the country with which Mexico has co-produced the most films. In 2024, at least 21 films featured collaborations with artists from both countries” – but tariffs definitely threaten that number. – El País
  
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• The Los Angeles Book Fair Provides A Treasure Trove Of Art Prints, If You’re Looking

  19-05-2025 13:15 via hyperallergic.com
  “More than 300 exhibitors from around the world use letterpress, risograph, or Xerox machines to produce an array of printed matter running the gamut from the personal to the political, from limited edition art books to mass-produced pamphlets.” – Hyperallergic
  
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