Bach Manuscript Sells For $3.3 Million At Auction

“Likely written between 1740 and 1745, the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in E-flat Major (BWV 998) is a favorite among both harpsichords and lutenists. Like many works by [Bach], it can be played on different instruments, which is expressly indicated on this score in the composer’s handwriting: ‘Prélude pour la Luth ò Cembal‘ (for lute or keyboard).”

China Bans The New ‘Ghostbusters’ Because It’s Not Ideologically Correct (Yes, They Still Do That)

“China’s official censorship guidelines technically prohibit movies that ‘promote cults or superstition’ … and the country’s regulators occasionally have been known to use this obscure provision as rationale for banning films that feature ghosts or supernatural beings in a semi-realistic way (Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest suffered such a fate in 2006).”

Palmyra And Its Warrior Queen: Return Of A Forgotten Rossini Opera (Whose Overture You Already Know)

Aureliano in Palmira, which gets its U.S. premiere next week, “tells the story of Roman emperor Aurelian’s 272 A.D. campaign against Queen Zenobia of Palmyra … [It] has had a fascinating journey – from highly anticipated star vehicle to underwhelming opening night to obscurity to recent rediscovery as one of Rossini’s most beautiful works.” And you’ll probably recognize the opening notes immediately.

Ragers And Tantrum-Throwers Now Have A Diagnosis In The DSM Because Their Brains Are Wired That Way

“Given enough frustration, it’s normal and healthy to get angry. But for a subset of the U.S. population – some 7 percent of adults, according to the National Institute of Mental Health – the propensity to fly off the handle is so great that they can be professionally diagnosed with ‘Intermittent Explosive Disorder,’ or IED.” (Yes, IED as in improvised explosive device.)

Vatican Digitizes a 1,600-Year-Old Illuminated Manuscript of the ‘Aeneid’

“In Rome, around the year 400, a scribe and three painters created an illuminated manuscript of Virgil’s Aeneid, illustrating the the ancient hero Aeneas’ journey from Troy to Italy. 1,600 years later, the Vatican has digitized the surviving fragments of this manuscript. Known as the Vergilius Vaticanus, it’s one of the world’s oldest versions of the Latin epic poem, and you can browse it for free online.”

Pokémon Go Started As An April Fools’ Joke

“For April Fools’ Day in 2014, Google created a ‘game’ in which users looked on Google Maps for Pokémon à la I Spy or Where’s Waldo. … Accompanying the game was a heart-pounding, highly produced video showing people out in the actual world climbing mountains, riding camels across the desert and taking to the sea in order to find Pokémon. The goal? To win a job as ‘Pokémon Master’ at Google.”

Oh, Great, The Dumb-Tenor Stereotype Is Back In The Spotlight – And Tied Up With #BlackLivesMatter, No Less

At a Major League Baseball game on Tuesday night, a member of the pop-opera group The Tenors, without warning his colleagues, changed the words of Canada’s national anthem to add the words “all lives matter” – and, of course, all hell broke loose. Said tenor evidently had no idea that “all lives matter” is an anti-#BlackLivesMatter backlash slogan and thought he was being inclusive. And so the jokes begin …