We have found that discussions of the apocalypse unite the ancient and modern, the religious and secular, and the revelatory and the rational. They show how a term with roots in classical Greece and early Christianity helps us articulate our deepest anxieties today. - The Conversation

At least among one audience, books are dying. Alarmingly, it’s the exact audience whose departure from reading might actually presage a catastrophe for the publishing industry—and for the entire concept of pleasure reading as a common pursuit. - Slate

 Data suggest that something is amiss: across Europe, the average proportion of 15-29-year-olds not in work nor education or training exceeds the EU’s 9% target. Last year in France, the figure peaked at 12.5%. Yet a Europe-wide study has found that young people value work just as much as older generations. - Eurozine

Thucydides knew that we did not have full control of the analogies that shape our deliberations, especially in public life. Our analogical vocabulary is woven directly into the cultural fabric, a product of the contingencies that shape collective memory. - Aeon

It’s no wonder that anti-work thought has gained such traction in recent years. - The New Yorker

The embrace of Nirvana showed how the recording industry has changed tactics to embrace what was once underground culture. - 3 Quarks Daily

On Bluesky, the author wrote, “Calling the cops on peaceful protesters is a shameful act. ... I give all my best wishes and congratulations to the class of ’24 and pray for the safety of the Palestinian people, the return of the hostages, and an end to this terrible war.” - LitHub

“The starship model and its celebrated return is now the subject of a lawsuit alleging fraud, negligence and deceptive trade practice, highlighting the enduring value of memorabilia from the iconic sci-fi TV series.” - Los Angeles Times

“Rumours have been widespread … of the existence of a secret list of 10 men in the industry, including leading actors and directors, who have been abusive to women. The names, described as ‘explosive,’ are believed to have been sent anonymously to the National Centre for Cinema.” - The Observer (UK)

“Some chanted ‘Eurovision, united by genocide,’ reflecting the strength of feeling over the humanitarian toll of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, which was triggered by the deadly Hamas attacks last October.” - BBC

Coffee houses are one of the earliest examples of ‘Third Places,’ a term popularized by urban sociologist Raymond Oldenberg, who described them as “public places on neutral ground where people can gather and interact. - Spacing Toronto

Were once-sepulchral towns reinvigorated by newcomers eager to put down roots? Were the new residents integrating into small-town life, or was an influx of new blood bringing unintended side effects? And did a town that drew enough newcomers lose the qualities that had attracted said newcomers in the first place? - Afar

“‘It is the most insane thing that has ever happened to me,’ the 24-year-old vocalist said at the post-event press conference. ‘The Code’ explores the artist's nonbinary identity in a flamboyant mashup of opera, rap, drum-and-bass and electronic dance music.” - NPR

Police said they're "investigating a man ‘suspected of unlawful threats’ toward a Eurovision employee and had passed a file to prosecutors to consider charges.” That man is Joost Klein, who was widely considered to be in the running to win. - The New York Times

Evidence shows that even in the early post-pandemic days, music recovered more quickly nationally than other performing arts disciplines, and the losses during COVID weren’t as severe. - CultureOC

The soon-to-be-renamed venue "will now boast significantly improved acoustics, state-of-the-art new audio, visual and lighting systems, new aisles and seats angled to face the stage — plus an array of other key new design elements — while retaining much of the hall's historic essence." - The San Diego Union-Tribune (MSN)

"(Eden Golan) was one of 10 acts who made it through Thursday’s semifinal, which was decided by votes from Eurovision viewers around the world. … Bookmakers say she is likely to finish in the top half of the final competition, decided by a mix of public votes and national music-industry juries." - AP

This will be one the first occasions, if not the first, that all of Bach's works have been performed live and in-person in a complete cycle. A project like this is possible in Worcester because of its unique musical resources and traditions, organizers said. - Worcester Magazine

"Courtroom sketching is often described as a kind of artistic sprint that involves racing to capture fleeting moments and toiling under unforgiving deadlines. It requires ‘being in good form, like an athletic thing,’ said Cornell.” - Washington Post

The auction house said that “the marquee sales that account for nearly half of its annual revenue would continue, despite the company having lost control of its official website last Thursday in a hack that is testing the loyalty of its ultrawealthy clients amid its spring auctions.” - The New York Times

“'They had a robust program with a stipend, studio, community engagement opportunities,’SeeWalker said. ‘I was really excited about it. I was really excited, as a person of color, to bring my art to a place that is … ’ she paused. ‘Not really known for its diversity.’” - Colorado Sun

“According to the letter, … the workers want living wages for all workers, healthcare for every employee, including part-time workers, a safer work environment, and increased transparency.” - Hyperallergic

In 2005, the Maspro Denkoh Corporation of Nagoya decided to sell its European art collection, which included Cézanne, Gauguin and Picasso, to fund further acquisitions of Japanese ceramics. But the CEO couldn't decide whether to go with Sotheby's or Christie's. And so … - Artnet

The fire, caused by an electrical short-circuit, destroyed about 85% of its archive of 20m artefacts. Losses included Egyptian and Greco-Roman relics acquired by the Brazilian imperial family, a large dinosaur named Dinoprata, and invaluable records of Indigenous life and culture in pre-colonial times. - The Guardian

“Tóibín is a master of silence and shadows; his subjects are abandonment, loss and denial – the things not said, the feelings not acted on.” - The Guardian (UK)

“It is a piece of sage advice, a writer’s mantra, that I have made good use of through the years and that I now pass on to you: Ah, fuck ‘em.” - LitHub

The earliest were Renaissance glossaries. “These forerunners did not set out to define every known word. Instead, they set a narrower goal of annotating technical terms circulating in particular professions.” Then things heated up. - Hyperallergic

“This store would probably still be a pipe dream if the book bans hadn’t happened,” said Groff, who has lived in Gainesville since 2006. “I want this for me too. I don’t want to live in a place where we stifle free expression.” - The New York Times

"Over the past two decades, she has become one of Turkish literature’s most attacked authors. … Shafak’s case is part of a wider trend in President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s 'new Turkey,' which has been marked by the arrests of academics and a systematic clampdown on press freedom." - The Dial

He argues that LLMs demonstrate a wide range of powerful language abilities and disprove foundational assumptions underpinning Noam Chomsky’s theories and, as a consequence, negate parts of modern Linguistics. - Slator

“'They have billed it as a true story, and so has he, and it's not,’ Ms. Harvey said in the interview. ‘He is lying and they are lying.’” - BBC

Succession, Happy Valley, and The Crown all came to an end last TV season, and they’ve been rewarded with large numbers of nominations. - BBC (MSN)

“Vice Media and Nashville-based Savage Ventures announced Thursday the formation of a joint venture and strategic partnership to “relaunch and grow” properties including Vice.com, Munchies, Motherboard and Noisey” - but, crucially, not Vice News. - Variety

More than $100 million has already been pledged to the campaign, with significant contributions from Rolex, a long-time academy partner. - Los Angeles Times

The advertisement titled "Crush" has over a million views on Apple's YouTube channel and was shared by CEO Tim Cook on social media platform X. It shows a variety of creative tools and objects such as a camera, guitar, piano and paint being destroyed by an industrial crusher. - Reuters

"In nine years, the show (Critical Role), hosted on Twitch and YouTube, has become the team’s full-time job, spawning a transmedia kingdom of novels, comic books, animated series and original games, as well as a new membership program for fans launched Thursday." - The Washington Post (MSN)

"I’d rather take people to a place where they have to be very brave through a terminology that they’re used to, rather than a terminology that scares the pants off them. I would ask them what would they like to nonverbally portray to the audience." - Dance Magazine

"In the four years since making the seemingly counterintuitive decision to leave his native New York for Dallas — moving his DASH Ensemble dance company along with him — the former child actor, born risk-taker and master networker has become a go-to collaborator on the Dallas dance scene." - The Dallas Morning News (MSN)

Carol Mullins, now 85, has been designing and operating the lighting for Danspace Project since 1978. "When people ask her why she has stayed there so long, she replies that she’s still learning, 'and there’s a new set of problems every couple weeks.'" - The New York Times

So what does the “silent disco” phenomenon tell us about dance? Researchers have used it to study social dynamics, finding that it interferes with the social bonding effects of dance. Silent disco may even help us to better understand the evolution of musicality and our rhythmic abilities. - The Conversation

"The new ESPN+ series 'Tryouts,' … tracks some of the country’s most intense tryouts and auditions. Rather than focusing exclusively on traditional sports, many episodes highlight more niche groups: a Monster Truck competition, Long Beach Lifeguards tryouts, the USA curling team," and, in this case, open auditions for Mark Morris. - Dance Magazine

Hübbe, who became a major star during his 18 years as a principal at New York City Ballet, returned to his homeland in 2008 to lead the national ballet company. He will depart from his current position when his contract expires in 2026. - DR (Denmark) (via Google Translate)

John McWhorter makes the case for Raisin — a 1973 adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun with book by her former husband, Robert Nemiroff (with Charlotte Zaltzberg), music by Judd Woldin and lyrics by Robert Brittan — and suggests a plausible explanation for why it was forgotten. - The New York...

Co-curated by actor Adrian Dunbar, Beckett: Unbound 2024 is "a multiarts festival that juxtaposes familiar pieces by the Dublin-born author with new responses to his work. After Liverpool, the productions will transfer to Paris." - The Guardian

Playwright Suzie Miller's Prima Facie, a one-woman show about a defense attorney in sexual assault cases who is then raped by a colleague, starred Jodie Comer in the West End and on Broadway. A video of the play is being provided to judges in Northern Ireland who handle sexual assault cases. - BBC

"The venue, owned and operated by the Nederlander Organization, will house Ben Platt: Live at the Palace for a limited engagement beginning May 28, 2024, and later this year will welcome the Broadway premiere of Tammy Faye." During the project, the entire theatre was lifted 30 feet in the air. - Broadway Direct

The story of a middle-aged man suddenly laid off from his job at a bookstore, Primary Trust premiered last summer at New York's Roundabout Theatre Company. The other finalists were Shayok Misha Chowdhury's Public Obscenities and Here There Are Blueberries by Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich. - Deadline

The Revival returns "with the opening of a new theater in the South Loop. And The Home Comedy Theater, conceived by a collective of iO and Second City veterans, is building out a space in Lake View as an artistic residence for displaced long-form improvisers." - Chicago Sun-Times

It’s still “newsworthy that a veteran artist — one who’s still working steadily as a stage actress and is increasingly one of the go-to directors of the Black theater canon — took on rebuilding a fine arts college.” - Washington Post

What did make Beethoven stand out from the crowd was his personification of the Romantic revolution, which coincided more or less with his lifetime. In the popular imagination, Beethoven was the quintessential romantic hero. - History Today

The 78-year-old filmmaker/artist/author's car was struck near Baltimore by a driver running a red light. "Since it hurts when I laugh," he said in a statement, "I will have no witty answer about being in a car accident that no one has said was my fault." - The Baltimore Banner

Earlier this year, the judge in the case delivered a default judgment in favor of the plaintiff because Spacey's attorneys failed to submit their defense documents on time. An appellate justice overruled that judgment, stating that Spacey should not be penalized because of his lawyers' mistakes. - Reuters

Arriving at the all-time peak of American hegemony in world art, Stella was the poster prodigy of a new breed of artists: post-bohemian, university-trained, professional from the get-go. - The New Yorker

It's not clear that the toxins (which likely came from wine, food, and ointments) were enough to kill the composer, but they were certainly enough to explain his severe, chronic gastrointestinal problems and, most likely, his deafness. - The New York Times