AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- The Essential AI: Translating What We See, Hear and Experience
To an AI model, a picture is data, sound and music are data, as is traditional spoken or written language. That data is translatable, interchangeable, and, most importantly, linkable and actionable. That means that video, music, sound, movement, image can interact in common language. - Is Art Therapy?
In the same way that a run of the mill Netflix film tells us little about the human experience, the therapeutic language saturating contemporary culture flattens and distorts reality. – 3 Quarks Daily
- Menand: Academic Freedom Under Attack
What kind of right is the right to academic freedom? Is it a legal right or a moral one? This question, long a subject of scholarly contention, is addressed in not a small number of new books. – The New Yorker
- Why Bands Can’t Make Money By Touring
“A headline tour usually comes out with a deficit. The only thing that we ever make any kind of profit on is festivals, because the fees can be higher, but any money left over just goes towards the next outgoings.” – The Guardian
- What’s Wrong With “Mid” TV
I’ve watched all of these shows. They’re not bad. They’re simply … mid. Which is what makes them, frustratingly, as emblematic of the current moment in TV as their stars’ previous shows were of the ambitions of the past. – The New York Times
ISSUES
- Natural History Museums Get A Redesign
In part, that’s meant to feature the “gateway drug to natural history” – the dinosaur skeletons. – The New York Times
- The Rebirth Of King’s Cross In London May Not Be Quite Complete
The changes since 2004 have been dramatic. “It has created, in its 50 new and restored buildings, about 1,700 homes, more than 40% of them affordable, 30 bars and restaurants, 10 new public parks and squares, 4.25m sq ft of offices and capacity for 30,000 office jobs.” – The Observer (UK)
- Colleges Are Adding ‘Value’ With Massive Museum Expansions
The extreme college workout facility is passé – now it’s cool, newly renovated and/or expanded museums that attract undergrads and their tuition-paying parents. – The New York Times
- Today, For The First Time, The Pope Went To The Biennale
“The pope greeted the inmates of the Giudecca prison individually in an inner courtyard. Some gave him flowers, and others pressed envelopes and notes in his hands.” – The New York Times
- How ‘Shirley Card’ Color Processing Shaped Our Understanding Of Analog And Digital Photos
The Shirley card, which set Kodak color processing values, was intensely racist. – El País English
MEDIA
- 2024 Presidential Candidates: Which Is Better For The Arts?
We have some indications of how the arts and culture will fare under each president because, for the first time, we have two candidates who have already been president. – Berkshire Eagle
- Two Authors Withdraw From USC Commencement Ceremonies
C. Pam Zhang and Safiya Noble, who were scheduled to speak at the USC Rossier ceremony, have withdrawn. “Zhang and Noble condemned the college administration for refusing to engage in meaningful dialogue with a group of peaceful student protestors … and for censoring valedictorian Asna Tabassu.” – LitHub
- PEN America May Not Survive The Israeli War In Gaza
“Can an organization that sees itself as above politics, that sees itself straightforwardly as a support system for an open society, be allowed to exist anymore? For the protesting writers, this lofty mission represents an unforgivable moral abdication at a moment of crisis.” – The Atlantic
- How’s That AI Advertising Working Out For You, Meta?
It’s going fine, just fine: “Meta’s automated ad platform has been blowing through budgets and failing to deliver sales. Small businesses have seen their ad dollars get wiped out and wasted as a result, and some have said the bouts of overspending are driving them from Meta’s platforms.” – The Verge
- Young Researchers In Britain Are Desperate For Better Access To Cultural Archives
One curator says, “If this project has taught me anything it is about the need to educate and to introduce learning around how to preserve and protect archival materials. … On a community level there needs to be more of an awareness about preservation and archiving our stories.” – The Guardian (UK)
MUSIC
- The Weird History Of Not Letting Writers Take Credit For Their Work
Did you know Ernest Hemingway came up with the word for byline (though he spelled it by-line). “Signed articles could occasionally be found before 1926, but they were not the standard practice they would become a century later.” – The Smart Set
- How Catcher In The Rye Inspired Britain’s Young Hawthornden Prize Winner
In Moses McKenzie’s new book, the main character isn’t self-reflective at all. “It’s difficult to write in the first person and create empathy for a character like that.” Salinger’s famous coming-of-age novel helped him figure it all out. – The Guardian (UK)
- Science Fiction Can Be Great, But Boy Howdy Did It Screw Up On Conspiracy Theories
The man who invented the deep state “wasn’t just a writer and soldier. He was an anti-communist intelligence operative who helped define U.S. psychological operations, or psyops, during World War II and the Cold War. His essential insight was that the most effective psychological warfare is storytelling.” – The Atlantic
- If New York Bookstores Were People
In honor of yesterday’s Independent Bookstore Day (which, of course, we could all celebrate every day), here’s a visual analysis of some of the bookstores of New York. – The New York Times
- The Challenges Of Translation In Shogun
“Court etiquette of the Sengoku era, as well as the gender politics of the time, mean a lot of things cannot be said explicitly. Even if you speak the same language as someone, you can never fully know them, and yet you all have to work together.” – Vulture
PEOPLE
- The Essential AI: Translating What We See, Hear and ExperienceTo an AI model, a picture is data, sound and music are data, as is traditional spoken or written language. That data is translatable, interchangeable, and, most importantly, linkable and actionable. That means that video, music, sound, movement, image can interact in common language.
- Is Art Therapy?
In the same way that a run of the mill Netflix film tells us little about the human experience, the therapeutic language saturating contemporary culture flattens and distorts reality. – 3 Quarks Daily
- Menand: Academic Freedom Under Attack
What kind of right is the right to academic freedom? Is it a legal right or a moral one? This question, long a subject of scholarly contention, is addressed in not a small number of new books. – The New Yorker
- Why Bands Can’t Make Money By Touring
“A headline tour usually comes out with a deficit. The only thing that we ever make any kind of profit on is festivals, because the fees can be higher, but any money left over just goes towards the next outgoings.” – The Guardian
- What’s Wrong With “Mid” TV
I’ve watched all of these shows. They’re not bad. They’re simply … mid. Which is what makes them, frustratingly, as emblematic of the current moment in TV as their stars’ previous shows were of the ambitions of the past. – The New York Times
PEOPLE
- The Essential AI: Translating What We See, Hear and ExperienceTo an AI model, a picture is data, sound and music are data, as is traditional spoken or written language. That data is translatable, interchangeable, and, most importantly, linkable and actionable. That means that video, music, sound, movement, image can interact in common language.
- Is Art Therapy?
In the same way that a run of the mill Netflix film tells us little about the human experience, the therapeutic language saturating contemporary culture flattens and distorts reality. – 3 Quarks Daily
- Menand: Academic Freedom Under Attack
What kind of right is the right to academic freedom? Is it a legal right or a moral one? This question, long a subject of scholarly contention, is addressed in not a small number of new books. – The New Yorker
- Why Bands Can’t Make Money By Touring
“A headline tour usually comes out with a deficit. The only thing that we ever make any kind of profit on is festivals, because the fees can be higher, but any money left over just goes towards the next outgoings.” – The Guardian
- What’s Wrong With “Mid” TV
I’ve watched all of these shows. They’re not bad. They’re simply … mid. Which is what makes them, frustratingly, as emblematic of the current moment in TV as their stars’ previous shows were of the ambitions of the past. – The New York Times
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Is Art Therapy?
In the same way that a run of the mill Netflix film tells us little about the human experience, the therapeutic language saturating contemporary culture flattens and distorts reality. – 3 Quarks Daily
- Menand: Academic Freedom Under Attack
What kind of right is the right to academic freedom? Is it a legal right or a moral one? This question, long a subject of scholarly contention, is addressed in not a small number of new books. – The New Yorker
- Time To Retire The Word “User” In Referring To Web Users?
The original use of “user” can be traced back to the mainframe computer days of the 1950s. – MIT Technology Review
- Information Overload Is Nothing New. We’ve Long Struggled With It
Kings, popes, and doges all found themselves gasping for air under a deluge of memorandums and correspondence. Philip II of Spain was frequently driven to despair by ‘these devils, my papers’, with up to 16,000 separate petitions sent to his desk over the course of a single year. – Engelsberg Ideas
- Why, In A Digital World, Do We Still Use Postage Stamps?
Well, why not? People’s moods improve when they receive stamped letters – and “stamps provide ‘an amazing body of material to study the history of communication, art, design, but also humanity.’” – The Atlantic