- Totally had a crying laughing emoji reaction to this: dogs with stuffed animals that look like them. [@davidiverson]
- More on the money the Canadian government will be spending on the arts. Canada’s national museums are getting an immediate injection of 33 million to cover operating expenses and a promised $105 million over 5 years. The big winner here, though, is the CBC, in which the government will invest $675 million over the next five years “to modernize and revitalize CBC/Radio Canada in the digital era.” This is good news, I think, but is worth asking whether investing in radio makes a lot of sense when most of us spend all our time online? I guess we’ll have to see how they modernize. [CBC]
- Painter Jamian Juliano-Villani on art school: “I read too, and there are formalities and academic shit involved in painting, but who fucking cares? We’re out of school and we don’t have to talk like that now. We’ve proved ourselves. It’s like, I know you have a dick—chill out.” [Artspace]
- A racist, sexist, homophobic, domestic abuser and psychopath died at 46 yesterday. His name was Rob Ford. While I [Rea] won’t celebrate his death, as a Toronto resident who lived during his terrorizing mayoralty, which was defined by bigotry, entitlement and a rampant distaste for the city’s marginalized communities, I refuse to mourn him. [Torontoist]
- But I will mourn the death of Phife Dawg of Tribe Called Quest. The 5 Foot Freak was the high-pitched gruff counterpoint to Q Tip’s mellow flow, and dropped such hilarious smart lines: “I float like gravity, never had a cavity/Got more rhymes than the Winans got family.” [okayplayer]
- The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco has hired Max Hollein, formerly of Frankfurt’s Städel Museum, as its new director. [New York Times]
- A profile of Oliver Leach, the artist behind the twitter personality Bakkooonn. We learn that most other social media networks creep him out and that he’s lazier in real life than on Twitter. It’s a great interview, but I can’t help but wish it were conducted over Twitter. [ARTnews]
- A Pokemon designer has been killed by a falling tree. [USA Today]
