Welcome back to The High Low!
It’s been a big week for televised sports. Between the Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl, the whole world has been entranced by the strength, coordination, and agile prowess of athletes at the peak of their respective sport (…right?). Or, besides that, music and performance has been a huge point of focus at these events — Mariah Carey sang in Italian at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony; Bad Bunny gave a historic performance at the Super Bowl halftime show. But these two major events have been discussed ad nauseam. We decided to focus on some other things that piqued our interests over the past week so that you’re not stuck reading the same old stories that everywhere else is writing about.
✨Read to the end for the craziest thing about being creative.
Artemisia Gentileschi Painting Sells for $5.7 Million
Artemisia Gentileschi may not be a household name, but art collectors certainly know the value of this overlooked Baroque painter’s work. That’s why her “Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria” oil painting sold for $5.687 million at Christie’s New York, which is a new record for the artist. This pioneering painter of the 17th century, who’s been overshadowed by her male counterparts for far too long, is finally gaining the attention she so rightly deserves.
Gentileschi was actually a successful painter in her day, though reverence for her work was lost to time. Like with all female artists in the male-dominated world of art, her name was not celebrated or even mentioned in art history books for years. It wasn’t until the 1970s when feminists rediscovered Gentileschi’s work and reignited interest in her paintings. Now, her brilliantly executed art sells for millions.
This particular piece that sold at auction was painted by Gentileschi when she was about 20 years old. It’s one of only five known self-portraits she’s ever created, making it all the more valuable. The record-setting sale of this piece has once again piqued the interest of art collectors and enthusiasts worldwide. For anyone that doesn’t know about her work, check out this list of 5 of her most celebrated paintings.
What’s With All the Super Bowl Ads for AI?
Is it clocking to you that AI is standing on business? …eh-hem, sorry, I’ve been deep into Gen Z / Alpha slang lately. What I mean to say is: AI is being pushed really hard. It’s everywhere and somehow it’s not enough. While watching Super Bowl LX waiting for Bad Bunny’s halftime show, I couldn’t believe how many ads there were for AI. OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot, Google’s Gemini, Amazon’s Alexa+, Anthropic’s Claude (which I’ve been told is the best of the bunch), Genspark, and Base44 all ran ads during the big game.
It feels a bit mad to have real commercials for these products alongside trailers for sci-fi films (like Project Hail Mary and Disclosure Day). It’s almost like these AI ads are teasers for a movie about a dystopian future, except we’re actually living it right now. We are in the process of writing our own sci-fi (minus the “fi”) film. One where no human processes information or completes tasks themselves. Instead, they (we) rely solely on the glorious, time-saving machines (AI).
Also, the way these commercials make it seem like we can all use AI, save time, and still have a job and income is ludicrous. The Genspark ad pushes for using AI to “automate your work and take a day off.” Oh, if your work can be automated, you’re going to be taking a lot more than a day off, buddy! What makes this slightly worse is that this particular ad was made with an AI-generated script.
Look, the end is nigh. Let’s all just take a big swig of SVEDKA and let the machines hook us up to our Matrix-esque pods already.
📰 Well, it looks like The Washington Post has fired almost half of its staff. Of the nearly 800 journalists working there, somewhere between 300 and 375 of them were laid off in one fell swoop. All 8 staff photographers and 8 of their 14 photo editors were all let go. In other news, Jeff Bezos, who bought WaPo in 2013, has a net worth of over $200 billion. (Also, is it weird to anyone else that The Washington Post has an article about these layoffs??)
🎭 Broadway is about to dim the lights on Moulin Rouge. The energetic musical will be closing, staging its final performance on July 26. This announcement coming out just as Bob the Drag Queen joined the cast feels low-key shady. (But for real, this show is actually a lot of fun and you should see it while you can-can.)
⌨️ A Japanese workshop called Hacoa has been handcrafting beautiful wooden keyboards for years. They are undeniably elegant and built to last decades, but how much is the most you’d pay for a keyboard? These ones cost $400 each.
🌾 Designers Juwon Kim and Na Hyeon are conducting experiments in a study known as SSAL: Rice as Matter, to determine if discarded rice (combined with different binders and additives) can be used as design materials instead of just winding up as waste. This could be a huge win for the environment if they unlock the full potential of rice grains.
🐷 Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and more beloved Jim Henson characters made their grand return to The Muppet Show special. This semi revival of the show was a total hit and now fans want more! Could there be a full-season order in the cards? Whether there is or isn’t, we just want Miss Piggy doing more press like she did with Vanity Fair, Glamour, and the Chicks in the Office podcast.
📺 The UK is finally getting their own SNL. Now that the show’s run for over 50 years in the US, it seems like sketch comedians across the pond are ready to take their shot at it. The inaugural cast of Saturday Night Live UK has been announced and the first episode will premiere on March 21.
📀 If you’re one of the handful of people who’s been streaming Netflix on a PS3, we’ve got some bad news for you: Netflix will no longer be supporting the 20-year-old gaming console, as of March 2. That’s right. It’s been working this whole time. (And we’re actually really curious about who has still been using it in 2026!)
🏝️ Season 50 of Survivor is set to premiere on February 25. Until then, CBS will be airing 10 classic episodes, 1 every weeknight for two weeks, leading up to the premiere. The first re-aired episode of this event, dubbed Road to 50, premiered on Monday, February 9. It features what some call the worst move in Survivor history.
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✨ Thank you for reading to the end. As promised, here is the craziest thing about being creative.
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