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Peak TV’s Fastest-Growing Genre? Cooking Shows

“‘When you’re looking at categories of programming that people respond to globally, food and cooking shows are on the top of that list,’ explains Brandon Riegg, Netflix VP of nonfiction series and comedy specials.” In this genre, audiences don’t seem to mind subtitles, so “food shows can play in all markets and [even] spawn localized spinoffs.” – The Hollywood Reporter

Julia Farron, Longtime Star Of Britain’s Royal Ballet, Dead At 96

“In a 40-year stage career, mostly with the Royal Ballet, she created roles for a host of eminent choreographers, among them Frederick Ashton, John Cranko, Robert Helpmann, Andrée Howard, Kenneth MacMillan, Léonide Massine and Ninette de Valois. … Ms. Farron also became known as an inspiring teacher at both the Royal Academy [of Dance, where she was director in the 1980s,] and the Royal Ballet School, helping to shape the careers of many future ballerinas.” – The New York Times

Violinist Lara St. John Says Teacher At Curtis Institute Sexually Abused And Raped Her, And Dean Waved It Off

“St. John says she was repeatedly sexually abused by the man trusted to hone her talent, renowned violinist and teacher Jascha Brodsky. Then, she says, she was disregarded when she reported what had happened to an administrator at Philadelphia’s elite Curtis Institute of Music.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer

Of Course We Make Decisions Based On Rational Information… Don’t We?

“Even statistical decision theorists do not make serious choices by consulting cold, textbook models. Like the rest of us, they resort to a knottier combination of deliberation, gut feel and blind hope. For choices, so too for beliefs, which, when met with evidence, are pushed and pulled by processes that are equally mysterious.” – The Guardian

Marius Petipa Virtually Established Classical Ballet As We Know It Today. But Most Of His Own Ballets Were Pretty Bad

The standards set by the French-born ballet master in his decades at the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg have had a defining influence on the art form ever since. But only three of his story ballets — Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadère, and Don Quixote — are in the repertory today, and of those only Sleeping Beauty has a genuinely good score. The rest, argues Alastair Macaulay, have “preposterous” plots, forgettable music, and values that were retrograde and out-of-step with even his own time and place, let alone ours. – The New York Times