Arts news

• What Do We Need Hobbies For?

  04-11-2025 17:44 via newyorker.com
  
  Although many have outward-facing aspects, a hobby is ultimately a form of self-cultivation, pursued for reasons of personal satisfaction. Our society values publicity and productivity: perhaps that’s one reason that hobbies seem like they’re in decline. – The New Yorker
  
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• Merry Christmas

  24-12-2025 23:25 via artsjournal.com
  Today’s highlights: The traditional art market is facing a reckoning as 2025 comes to a close. There was a flood of gallery closures and downsizings this year, marking a period of “endings more than beginnings” as the industry searches for a more sustainable model (ARTnews ). In the publishing world, the mass-market paperback is–shockingly– about to disappear from the U.S. market following a major distributor’s decision to halt operations (Publishers Weekly ).
  
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• “Nothing Is Too Extravagant For Christ” — This May Be America’s Most Over-The-Top Christmas Pageant

  24-12-2025 20:50 via texasmonthly.com
  The 17,000 costume pieces are the least extravagant feature of The Gift of Christmas, the annual spectacular presented by Prestonwood Baptist Church near Dallas. On the 300-foot stage are LED screens, lasers, fireworks, trapezing elves, flying angels, and 21 animals. (And yes, shepherds, three kings, and the Holy Family. And Santa.) – Texas Monthly
  
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• Why Did So Many Art Galleries Close This Year?

  24-12-2025 20:31 via artnews.com
  Overall, when it came to galleries, the dominant vibe was one of endings more than beginnings—and it continued a building drumbeat. Those who closed or significantly downsized in 2025, after all, joined others that have expired in previous years. – ARTnews
  
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• Archaeologist Discovers A Pharaoh’s “Valley Temple”

  24-12-2025 20:02 via news.artnet.com
  “Nyuserra’s sun temple, which is located in Abu Ghurab about 10 miles south of Cairo, was composed of two parts: the previously excavated upper temple and the valley temple (alongside the Nile), which Massimiliano Nuzzolo began work on in 2024.” – Artnet
  
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• Are Our Grandparents Being Captured By Their Phones?

  24-12-2025 19:44 via theatlantic.com
  “I am constantly begging my mom to put her phone down, every time I see her she is just mindlessly scrolling. I swear her attention span is GONE,” one person wrote. – The Atlantic
  
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• Disney Has Had Its Best Box Office Year Since Before The Pandemic

  24-12-2025 19:31 via deadline.com
  Disney is the first and only studio to cross $6B this year, the next best major is Warner Bros with $4.3B. 2025 repped Disney’s biggest year at the B.O. since 2019 when it earned an all-time $13.1B ($11.1B from Disney titles alone, the rest being 20th Century Studios and Searchlight). – Deadline
  
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• AI Voice Clones Are Amazing. But Also Troublesome In Defining Identity

  24-12-2025 19:30 via theconversation.com
  Technology may blur boundaries, but it also reveals who holds the power. When male creators use AI to simulate female voices and personas, are they expanding artistic possibilities or perpetuating a new form of gender appropriation, ventriloquism and misogyny? – The Conversation
  
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• The “Godfather” Of Asian-American Media, Robert Nakamura, Has Died At 88

  24-12-2025 19:03 via nytimes.com
  “As an independent filmmaker, photographer, teacher and activist, he explored issues of justice, identity, memory and racism. He was a founder of Visual Communications, the oldest community-based organization of Asian-American and Pacific Islander filmmakers and media artists in the United States.” – The New York Times
  
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• We Know So Little About How Our Senses Interact. Why Does Music Make Food Taste Different?

  24-12-2025 18:44 via nautil.us
  When we sit down for a meal, all of our senses come to the table, and some of them have unexpected effects. Heavier cutlery, for example, makes a meal more pleasurable, he has found, and flavors in space are often duller. Foods that sound better taste better, too. – Nautilus
  
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• 2025 Was A Very Tough Year For Libraries. These Are The Top Stories

  24-12-2025 18:44 via publishersweekly.com
  Federal funding, the freedom to read, perpetual or temporary access to print and digital collections, and AI innovations saw new and unpredictable developments on a weekly basis. – Publishers Weekly
  
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• Authors Sue AI Companies Over Copyright (Again)

  24-12-2025 18:30 via publishersweekly.com
  The group of authors, which includes two-time Pulitzer Prize winner John Carreyrou, are among those who opted out of the proposed $1.5 billion settlement of the lawsuit against Anthropic, announced in September. – Publishers Weekly
  
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• Movie Extras Are An Endangered Species

  24-12-2025 18:15 via latimes.com
  Central Casting — now so eponymous that its name has become a cultural phrase — celebrated its 100th anniversary earlier this month. Remember the long lines for casting calls? No more. – Los Angeles Times
  
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• Conductor Lorenzo Viotti Will Be Zurich Opera House’s Next Music Director

  24-12-2025 18:01 via moto-perpetuo.com
  The Lausanne-born maestro will take up the position in August 2028 for two seasons; the short contract term aligns him with that of the house’s superintendent, Mathias Schulz. Viotti will succeed Gianandrea Noseda, who will remain at the company through the 2027-28 season. – Moto Perpetuo
  
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• Philadelphia Art Museum Doubles Down On Fired Director

  24-12-2025 17:44 via msn.com
  “Arbitration clauses are interpreted literally, but not foolishly,” the new filing argues. It asks the court to enter an order compelling Suda to submit to arbitration, and to stay legal proceedings until the matter is resolved in arbitration. – Philadelphia Inquirer
  
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• British Museum’s Longterm Loans Program Doesn’t Remediate Colonial Looting

  24-12-2025 17:15 via hyperallergic.com
  Long-term loans are not restitution. They do not acknowledge historical wrongdoing, nor do they restore agency to source communities. Instead, they reinforce a museum’s claim of ownership over objects it has no moral (and often legal) right to possess. – Hyperallergic
  
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• Ten Shirtless Men Compete To Star In A Christmas Movie: The Hallmark Channel Does Reality TV

  24-12-2025 17:05 via yahoo.com
  The series is called Finding Mr. Christmas. “What is fascinating about the premise is that it’s television for women about men making television for women. It’s the hosts and judges evaluating, week by week, what makes a man appealing to a likely female Hallmark viewer.” – The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
  
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• You Can Now Go On A Hallmark Christmas Movie Tour

  24-12-2025 16:33 via apnews.com
  “Connecticut — the location for at least 22 holiday films by Hallmark, Lifetime and others — is promoting tours of the quaint Christmas-card cities and towns featured in this booming movie (genre).” You even get to watch the matching films while on the bus between stops. – AP
  
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• Mass Market Paperbacks Are About To Disappear From The US Market

  24-12-2025 16:01 via publishersweekly.com
  “The decision made this winter by ReaderLink to stop distributing mass market paperback books at the end of 2025 was the latest blow to a format that has seen its popularity decline for years.” – Publishers Weekly
  
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• Florida Officials Tried To Stop “A Drag Queen Christmas” In Pensacola. Didn’t Work.

  24-12-2025 15:36 via theguardian.com
  “The state attorney general has spent nearly two months lobbying Pensacola officials to cancel the show, to no avail. Instead, the 1,600-capacity tour stop is sold out.” – The Guardian
  
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• After Two Years Shut Down Due To War, Christmas Celebrations In Bethlehem Are Back

  24-12-2025 15:04 via apnews.com
  The traditional birthplace of Jesus is in the West Bank, and the livelihoods of thousands of people in the Palestinian town depend on visiting tourists and pilgrims. The war in Gaza brought activity in Bethlehem to a halt, and with a ceasefire signed, those pilgrims and tourists are gradually returning. – AP
  
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• Why Did Broadway’s “The Queen Of Versailles” Flop So Badly?

  24-12-2025 14:36 via nytimes.com
  “The Queen of Versailles, the biggest-budget production to open on Broadway this fall and the only large-scale new musical, aspired to be a cautionary tale about consumption and greed. Instead, it wound up as a cautionary tale about Broadway.” – The New York Times
  
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• American Ballet Companies Really Need Their “Nutcracker”

  24-12-2025 14:00 via npr.org
  It’s been a commonplace for decades that troupes depend on the income from Nutcracker ticket sales to support the rest of their seasons. For just one prominent example, New York City Ballet’s roughly 50 performances of Balanchine’s classic version of the work bring in 45% of the company’s ticket revenue for the year. – NPR
  
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• Who Wrote “Porgy and Bess”?

  24-12-2025 06:19 via artsjournal.com
  It must mean something that the highest creative achievement in American classical music is permanently controversial. When Porgy and Bess premiered on Broadway in 1935, a typical critical reaction was: “What is it?” American-born classical musicians (unlike their European-born brethren) marginalized George Gershwin as an interloper, a gifted dilettante. Later,
  
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• London gets at least one new Banksy mural for Christmas

  22-12-2025 19:12
  Artist confirms image in Bayswater is by him, but gives no indication about another outside Centre Point towerA new Banksy mural that shows two children lying down and looking at the sky has appeared in west London.The artist revealed he was behind the artwork above a row of garages on Queen’s Mews in Bayswater by posting a photo of it to his Instagram account on Monday afternoon. Continue reading...
  
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• CBS News Yanks ‘60 Minutes’ Story On Brutal El Salvador Prison

  22-12-2025 14:30 via variety.com
  Bari Weiss is said to have spiked the show a few hours before it was supposed to run. “The report … was to have featured correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi interviewing deportees who the Trump administration has sent to the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison in El Salvador.” – Variety
  
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• Museums Are, Understandably, Freaking Out After The Louvre Heist

  22-12-2025 14:15 via nytimes.com
  In short, they all want to make sure they’re guarding the perimeter. – The New York Times
  
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• Moviegoing Is Split Into Two Equally Miserable Experiences, But You Never Hear About The Second One

  22-12-2025 14:00 via slate.com
  Hell is other people in a cinema, sure, but Hell – especially for a movie that needs an audience – is also no other people. – Slate
  
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• Popular British Children’s Author Is Dropped By Publisher After Allegations Of Harassment

  22-12-2025 13:45 via theguardian.com
  David Walliams, “one of Britain’s most successful children’s authors, was reportedly the subject of complaints that he had ‘harassed’ junior female staff at HarperCollins UK, prompting the publisher to decide it would no longer release new titles by the author.” – The Guardian (UK)
  
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• This One Little Word Can Make Or Break A Film

  22-12-2025 13:30 via nytimes.com
  You know the word – the f-word. “A single use of the F-word requires at least a PG-13, while additional uses will elevate it to an R.” – The New York Times
  
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