“Even as the universe of printed matter continues to shrivel, the book — or at least some of its best-known features — is showing remarkable staying power online. The idea is apparently embedded so deeply in the collective unconsciousness that no one can bear to leave it behind.”
Archives for December 1, 2013
Do You Miss Roger Ebert As Much As Everyone Else Does?
Then you can help build a life sized bronze statue of him in Champaign, Illinois, where his Ebertfest is held every year.
Give A Choreographer £10,000, And See What She Does With It
Rosemary Lee, who just won Britain’s Bonnie Bird award: “I am longing to return to the studio. … As an independent artist with a family it is not easy finding the time, resources, and opportunities to research and experiment with dancers.”
These Londoners Made Speakers And Musical Instruments Out Of Chucks – And So Can You
“We used the shoelaces to create the strings on an electric guitar. … We made a microphone, we made a contrabass, a feedback synth. We used our speaker kit and the box to create the amp connected to the instrument.”
Is Science Fiction A Genre In Crisis?
Its problem “comprises the generic-ness from which the label genre stems: in this case, the outdated stylistic tics and aesthetics of a marginal pulp-modernist medium, the clichés, the well-worn assumptions and comfortable call-backs, and the outdated institutional values in which they were nurtured and framed.”
Happy Birthday, Maria Callas! Love, Google
Head to Google on Dec. 2 to celebrate what would be the opera star’s 90th birthday.
What Happens When You Outfit An Entire (Massive) School District With iPads?
“When the first group of campuses received the tablets this fall, more than 300 students at three high schools almost immediately removed security filters so they could freely browse the Internet.”
André Schiffrin, 78, A Force In Literary And Cultural Publishing
“Taking risks, running losses, resisting financial pressures and compromises, Mr. Schiffrin championed the work of Jean-Paul Sartre, Günter Grass, Studs Terkel, Michel Foucault, Simone de Beauvoir, Noam Chomsky, Julio Cortázar, Marguerite Duras, Roy Medvedev, Gunnar Myrdal, George Kennan, Anita Brookner, R. D. Laing and many others.”
All Of That Glitter At Art Basel Miami Beach Is Starting To Bore Everyone
“Last year’s spate of parties had its highlights, and it just so happened that most had little to nothing to do with art. The most-discussed moment wasn’t a bidding war or a Damien Hirst brawl. It was the Chanel dinner where Demi Moore spent the evening petting a stray cat.”
If You Got Bored And Maybe Fell Asleep During That Opera, Don’t Worry
“We’ve all had moments when we’ve dozed off. But there is also a sense that the best art is like life. Some of it is a bit dull, but you need the boring parts to appreciate the climaxes.” The Guardian (UK) 12/01/13
Novelist Error Messages
“Cannot proceed with this manuscript because the plot cannot be found in the first third of the text.”
How To Redefine Your Acting Career: Hire Yourself
When British actor Steve Coogan (“Tristram Shandy,” “The Trip”) felt pigeonholed in both the UK and the US, he just bought a story and co-wrote the screenplay, including a dramatic part for himself.
Stumbling Across America, No Philanthropists In Sight
“Contemporary theater is largely a false market supported by philanthropy’s phantom seats and unless we want to really invest in letting it fail with the support of funding, we ought to pull the rug out from underneath.”
The Turner Prize: Yet Another Way The UK And US Are Deeply, Deeply Different
“The prize is well known in Britain, and it makes for a moment when people entirely uninterested in contemporary art discuss contemporary art. The award ceremony on Monday will be shown live on national television, as it is each year, and bookmakers are eagerly taking bets on the winner.”
Yes, It’s A Challenge To Play A Controversial Leader While That Leader Is Still Alive
“Naomie Harris’s task has been to treat [Winnie Mandela’s] transition from innocent young woman to violent demagogue sympathetically – or at least with understanding.” The Observer (UK) 11/30/13
We Need New Names For ‘Alternative’ Performance
“It definitely was theatre, but this piece that has no actors and only a paying, playing audience also had as much claim to be reviewed on the gaming or psychology pages. Part of what makes it so fascinating is the fact that it is so hard to define.”
How To Hate-Watch Reality TV (Or Maybe How To Just Revel In The Bad Stuff)
“Viewing reality TV as both credulous consumer and critic isn’t uncommon. Plenty of us get as much pleasure out of pulling a show apart limb by limb as we do out of engaging with the storyline.”
Want To Be A Conductor? 10 Tips From Esa-Pekka Salonen
“I get all my conducting sticks in [Harry Potter’s] Diagon Alley.”
Hollywood By The Numbers: Still So Intensely Sexist
“The film industry doesn’t exist in a bubble. It’s part of a larger society that tends to have biases and prejudices.”
How Modern Is Charles Dickens? Look To The Bestseller Lists
“Writers as different as Martin Amis and Chicago’s Scott Turow have spoken to me of the tidal pull of Dickens on their imaginations; so, more recently, have Elizabeth Gilbert and Donna Tartt, whose current best-sellers (‘The Signature of All Things’ and ‘The Goldfinch,’ respectively) display their Dickensian affinities like badges of honor.”
Lighting Up The Mysterious Process Of Writing (And Reading)
The Dutch novelist Arnon Grunberg is writing a novella “while a battery of sensors and cameras track his brain waves, heart rate, galvanic skin response … and facial expressions.” Fifty readers will also get hooked up to sensors when the book comes out – and then let the data crunching begin.
Peter Kaplan, 59, Legendary Editor Of The New York Observer
“There are few publications in New York City–either extant or extinct–that do not bear at least some of his influence. Writers talk about the old Observer as if it were a sacred religious text. Under Kaplan’s tenure, the paper became nothing short of the best kept secret in New York.”
The Real Crisis In The Humanities
“For those with humanistic and artistic life interests, our economic system has almost nothing to offer.”
Dramatic Underinsuring Of Art Collection Leads British City To Suggest Selling It Off
The city of Bradford “had been insuring its 4,000 item collection for £20m but a new valuation found that 195 pieces alone were worth more than £30m.” And the city’s in debt – so should it sell some art?
If The Bradford Council Sells Some Art, It Will Lose David Hockney
“Hockney has said he is on the verge of ‘giving up’ on his birthplace over the sale, which would include some of his own paintings.”