In this year's Oscar race, the revolution will be stylized

Los Angeles Times: To rebel is to defy. It is to understand that the world as it is can and should be better. So it’s no surprise rebels were everywhere on our movie screens in 2025. Filmmakers in the U.S. and abroad depicted the lengths to which people will go to stand up against the bland (and at times violent) vision of conformity they see around them. It’s a theme that comes through most organically in these films’ costume designs.

Singer electrocuted by mic during live gig

news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site for latest headlines: A young singer was electrocuted by his own microphone in front of shocked patrons during a live gig in Peru. Carlos Suarez was preparing to perform with his rock band Mi Mejor Amigo Scott when he suffered an electric shock while grabbing the mic, causing him to collapse to the ground in pure agony.

When Chicago Theatre Artists Are Down, Season of Concern Lifts Them Back Up

Playbill: When Broadway in Chicago employee Elise Burks lost her mother in July 2025, her family’s grief for their loved one was compounded by financial stress. Together with her brother, Burks covered the funeral and burial expenses, which depleted her own savings and left her struggling to keep up with her bills. A friend suggested that she seek assistance from Season of Concern, a nonprofit that provides emergency funds for Chicago theatre professionals

American College Theatre Festival Suspends Affiliation With Kennedy Center

www.broadwayworld.com: The American College Theatre Festival (ACTF) has announced that it is suspending its affiliation with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after nearly six decades of partnership.

World’s biggest game of Tetris played out on 2,000 drones

The Independent: An e-sports final for one of the world’s oldest video games has broken a new world record for the largest game of Tetris ever played. The spectacle in Dubai saw more than 2,000 drones replicate the blocks in the iconic puzzle game, marking the first ever time that a live playable game of Tetris has been played in the sky.

For the 50th Anniversary of Frampton Comes Alive! And Beyond, Peter Frampton Talks Creative Process & SSL U Series DAW Controllers

Live Design Online: As the 50th anniversary of the release of the classic 1976 live double album Frampton Comes Alive! approaches, Peter Frampton is finishing up a new full-length album of original material to mark the momentous occasion. Similar to several of Frampton’s recent releases, the project was produced using Solid State Logic equipment, from the 64-channel SSL 4000G at The Studio Phenix, his personal facility, to the U Series DAW controllers favored by his good friend and longtime collaborator, award-winning producer, engineer and mixer Chuck Ainlay, and at Frampton’s home studio.

The Shows That Reloaded the Canon for the 21st Century

AMERICAN THEATRE: A lot can happen in 25 years: wars, recessions, pandemics, Survivor seasons, new forms of media and technology. If you’re reading this, you’ve likely lived firsthand through much if not all of the world’s changes since Y2K, Bush v. Gore, and 9/11.

As Regional Theaters Struggle, Some Defy the Odds

The New York Times: America’s regional theaters are facing difficult times: staging fewer shows, employing fewer workers, and running deficits more frequently than before the pandemic. But not all of them are struggling. Some are booming.

Mixing Beyond Stereo: Delving Deeper Into Aspects Of Sound & Perception

ProSoundWeb: As live mix engineers, the audio reinforcement systems we operate typically fall into two categories: mono or stereo. Yes, there are the occasional opportunities to mix surround sound, and for many events, delay clusters or various fill loudspeakers are common, but for the most part it’s all about some version of mono or stereo.

M-Cube creates 'world’s longest, immersive LED gallery’

AV Magazine: M-Cube has installed a curved LED display comprising 148 million pixels at “the world’s longest LED gallery”. The regeneration of Galleria Bombi, which opened in the Italian town of Gorizia on 16 December, has transformed a simple pedestrian passage into an immersive and multisensory digital art experience known as DAG.

Women In Tech Keynote: It Doesn't Have To Make Sense

Live Design Online: From planning to pivoting on production for multiple shows on multiple ships, Prieto focuses on moving forward and getting the job done. Her mantra: It doesn't have to make sense. Which for her translates to let go of the stress, Her projects range from creating new shows, retrofitting 20-year-old ships, enhancing the gear with a new rig – "all done during the day, working around rehearsals and other shows. You have to be resilient."

Getting To Know NOVA Signage

Sign Builder Illustrated, The How-To Sign Industry Magazine: NOVA Signage was built on years of hands-on experience in the sign industry. Before its launch, the team had been producing LED neon signage since 2016, serving a growing network of sign shops across North America.

First Night 2026: What to expect at Pittsburgh's annual New Year's Eve celebration

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, which organizes the event, in a Wednesday news release cited the ongoing construction Downtown for the change. But the free celebration, which typically draws tens of thousands to the city center, as usual highlights plenty of local talent from across the arts spectrum.

Clash of the Titans: Milwaukee vs Makita Reciprocating Saw

Pro Tool Reviews: We just wrapped up testing eleven flagship reciprocating saws from brands you know and trust. Today, we’re comparing two of the top Pro-grade contenders: the Makita 40V max XGT GRJ02 and the Milwaukee M18 Fuel 2722 Super Sawzall. Both saws are powerful, and packed with features that allow it to thrive on the jobsite.

Pittsburgh-based DNAWORKS offers hip-hop remix of Handel's 'Messiah'

90.5 WESA: New York-based writer, actor and musician Darian Dauchan has a take on Jesus Christ you don’t always hear this time of year. “I’ve always been interested in examining Jesus as the revolutionary who was taking on the Roman Empire,” Dauchan said.

Why Your TV Will Probably Never Be Better Than It Is Now

Lifehacker: We’ve reached the end of television. Since the invention of the technology in the 1920s, TV screens have gradually grown larger, pictures clearer, and sets cheaper, until now: For all intents and purposes, we’re at the end of the road.

Draper Releases Powerful Video Wall Design and Quoting Tool

Sound & Video Contractor: Can you imagine a future where you create and test multiple LED video wall configurations, then get an instant quote on your final design? Thanks to the new Foundation Studio from Draper, the future is here!

Will we socialise as Star Trek-style holograms by 2035?

AV Magazine: A survey by Vodafone has found that 11% of British people think they will be able to meet up as life-sized avatars, while 13% expect VR travel and experiences to become mainstream.

How to Design Costumes That Serve Story and Fandom—Lessons from 'FNAF 2'

No Film School: Her job on Five Nights at Freddy's 2 required diving into the world of a sequel (2023's successful Five Nights at Freddy's) and the famously dedicated fanbase that knows every detail of Scott Cawthon's universe. She threw herself headfirst into Reddit threads, cosplay photos, and reference folders for every character (yes, even Cupcake).

'Wicked: For Good's Jon M. Chu & Paul Tazewell Costumes

The Process: After winning the Oscar last year for his work as the costume designer for Wicked, Paul Tazewell’s work on Wicked: For Good is clearly going to draw comparisons to his previous work. Working closely with director Jon M. Chu, the pair was able to successfully continue Elphaba’s “costume journey” throughout the sequel.

'Emily in Paris' Costume Designer Explains Season 5 Fashion

Marie Claire: What happens to a Francophile’s fashion sense when she arrives in the land of gelato, gondolas, and Gucci? Audiences will have the chance to see for themselves in season 5 of Emily in Paris, now streaming on Netflix. This season, Emily Cooper (Lily Collins), the quintessential American in Paris, sets her sights on Italy and gallivanting across Rome and Venice, in addition to the French capital.

Kennedy Center Board Moves to Rename It the Trump-Kennedy Center

The New York Times: The Kennedy Center board, composed almost entirely of President Trump’s allies, voted on Thursday to change the name of the performing arts center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, the White House press secretary said.

New Avid Pro Tools 2025.12 Now Available

ProSoundWeb: Avid has announced the release of Pro Tools 2025.12, which introduces added immersive mixing capabilities with the native support of UHD World Association’s (UWA) Audio Vivid, enhanced SoundFlow functionality with built-in Bounce Factory Lite, and new Inner Circle rewards from plugin and content partners.

Analyzing the Hard Hitting Instantly Recognizable Drum Track of New Order's 'Blue Monday'

laughingsquid.com: Musician Captain Pikant used a Hapax sequencer to recreate the hard hitting drum machine patterns found in the intro to the New Order song “Blue Monday”. This sequence, which was originally played on an Oberheim DMX drum machine, is easily one of the most recognizable intros in modern music.

The Difference Between a Drill, an Impact Driver, and a Hammer Drill

Lifehacker: As you build your DIY toolkit, you'll quickly discover there's rarely just one version of any given tool. Of course there are Phillips head and slotted screwdrivers, but even hammers—possibly the simplest tool of all—come in a surprising range of varieties designed for different tasks.

Bell’s Opera House – Hillsboro, Ohio

After the Final Curtain: Bell’s Opera House officially opened on November 20, 1895, after just seven months of construction in Hillsboro, Ohio. It was built on South High Street, on a site once known as Rats’ Row, with a nearly 1,000-seat second-floor auditorium. The total construction cost came in at $40,000—about $1.5 million in today’s dollars—funded primarily by local manufacturer and philanthropist C.S. Bell.

Sun-Times reporter was a goose peddler, for one night, in ‘A Christmas Carol’ at the Goodman Theatre

Chicago Sun-Times: The Goodman’s Albert Theatre holds 856 seats, the balcony pitched steeply so that it feels almost as if the audience is on top of the stage. Chicago mayors, Illinois governors, U.S. senators and even the occasional Hollywood star have all sat in those seats to watch the theater’s most-loved annual show: “A Christmas Carol.”

Costume Designers Guild Announces Global Partnership with Bvlgari

variety.com: The Costume Designers Guild has partnered with Roman jewelers Bvlgari. This collaboration underscores the commitment of both brands to creativity, craftsmanship and the communities shaping culture.

Autodesk Assistant: Shaping the Future of Design and Make

Fusion Blog: At AU 2025, we shared our future vision for how artificial intelligence will transform the way people design and make. We’re now entering an agentic era of AI—where intelligent systems can make decisions, act autonomously, and collaborate with people to accelerate innovation.

IATSE Slams Trump’s AI Exec Order Blocking State Regulation

www.thewrap.com: The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) lambasted President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking state regulation of artificial intelligence on Friday. The labor union said they were “deeply alarmed” by the effort, which is “an invitation for lawlessness” before national policies are in place.

ADI delivers a bigger, bolder light show on an F1 racetrack

AV Magazine: Creative production and live event specialist ADI has delivered a full-throttle, festive makeover at Silverstone Circuit – featuring giant candy canes, dancing elves, and one of the world’s longest light shows. With the circuit relaunching Lap of Lights to be bigger, brighter and bolder than ever before, ADI conceptualised, installed and delivered the UK’s only immersive, two-mile light trail on a racetrack.

I’m a DeWalt Guy—But I Still Covet My Coworker’s Milwaukee Tool Platform. And That’s OK.

www.popularmechanics.com: Like so many people, I am unabashedly a “tool guy.” Cars in the garage? Please. That space is for tools, and my own is starting to look like that very special Valhalla section at Home Depot. The one where the red and black of Milwaukee is poised for the Round One bell across the ring from the DeWalt display in the yellow and black trunks, with Makita, Bosch, and Ryobi standing off the ropes, ready to be tagged in. A true Wrestlemania of tool choices.

'Avatar: Fire and Ash' Artisans on Designing and Building the World of Pandora

variety.com: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter divide the world-building responsibilities. The human world environments, vehicles and weapons fall under Procter’s charge, while Cole was responsible for designing everything related to Pandora and the Na’vi. “‘Avatar 3’ is a completely different scale,” says Procter. For example, the whale-like Tulkun return, but bigger and more vengeful. “You see an attack, not just by one Tulkun, but by an entire clan.” The Sully kids convince the clan to join Jake and the family as they defend their home.

Review Roundup: A CHRISTMAS STORY Embarks on National Tour

www.broadwayworld.com: The Tony-nominated musical features a festive score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land, The Greatest Showman) and a book by Joseph Robinette, based on the writings of Jean Shepherd and the beloved MGM holiday film. Directed by Matt Lenz with Michael Rader as Associate Director and choreography re-staged by Brooke Martino.

Electric Forest Festival Announces 100 Artists for Its 2026 Lineup

mymodernmet.com: Michigan’s annual Electric Forest returns to Rothbury on June 25–28, 2026, and the festival has just revealed its first lineup. With its mix of music, art, and woodland magic, Electric Forest is all about connection, adventure, and discovery.