Turns out, it’s a time-honored tradition that started about 4,000 years ago with the ancient Babylonians. Beginning with a 12-day religious festival (are we seeing a modern equivalent here?) called Akitu, the Babylonians crowned a new king or re-upped their devotion to the sitting ruler. At this time they also pledged to pay debts and return borrowed goods to keep in good standing with their gods. – Fast Company
Archives for December 2018
Could California Soon Have Its Own Internet?
A series of laws passed in California this year raise a new possibility: that individual US states will splinter off into their own versions of the internet. In July, California passed a privacy law, similar to the European Union’s policies, that will give users more control about the data companies collect about them. Governor Jerry Brown followed by signing a net neutrality law in late September meant to replace federal rules banning broadband internet providers from blocking or otherwise discriminating against lawful content, as well as a law that requires bots to identify themselves if they promote sales or try to influence an election. – Wired
How Ariana Grande And Pete Davidson Perfectly Explain Our Cultural Moment
Celebrity news was intertwined with some of our culture’s most urgent issues, particularly involving mental health. Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade committed suicide in the same week. Demi Lovato, outspoken about her addiction issues, overdosed and went to rehab. The already-fractured political world was thrown into a frenzy when West, who addressed his bipolar diagnosis on his album this summer, visited the White House. – Washington Post
“Bird Box” Has Taken Over Netflix (And The Internet, Apparently)
Netflix claimed on Friday that the movie had been watched by approximately 45 million accounts since its Dec. 21 debut — the best first seven days ever for a film released on the platform. – Washington Post
The Coming Era Of Fake Video
In a paper presented at the SIGGRAPH conference on computer graphics in Vancouver this spring, university researchers unveiled “deep video portraits,” which can quickly and convincingly transpose head and mouth movements from an actor to a video of anyone. This means that before long, it will be possible for anyone to produce convincing fake video. – Maclean’s
Nirvana Versus The Designer Over The Smiley Face
The latest pop culture lawsuit that might make its way to a courtroom is the case of Nirvana and Marc Jacobs, with the band suing the designer over a smiley face image. – New York Magazine
The Creeping Insidiousness Of Miseducation
Every person has two choices for how to cope with any aspect of society that is uncomfortable: act to change it, or surrender. Miseducation is the art of teaching people to surrender. To be miseducated, as Carter Woodson had it, is not merely to be poorly educated, although that’s often a byproduct. Miseducation is a deeper evil, one that arises whenever an intrinsic trait, such as sexuality or ethnic heritage, is treated as a flaw to be overcome, rather than a gift to be developed. – The Atlantic
What We Can Learn About Ourselves By Studying Those Who Are Studying Us
Even the smallest action or fragment of speech, Emily Martin believes, can be a useful clue to the mostly invisible wider cultural assumptions that shape how research is done in any specialized field. She observes and collects these fragments, hoping that, later on, she’ll be able to find connections between them and make better sense of a scientific world view that is fascinatingly foreign to her. – The New Yorker
Have We Misunderstood The Connection Between Democracy And Social Justice?
Working at the intersection of moral and political philosophy, social science, and economics, Elizabeth Anderson has become a leading theorist of democracy and social justice. She has built a case, elaborated across decades, that equality is the basis for a free society. Her work, drawing on real-world problems and information, has helped to redefine the way contemporary philosophy is done, leading what might be called the Michigan school of thought. – The New Yorker
The Retail “Apocalypse” as A Cultural Indicator
It’s been a rough time for many prominent American retail chains—and the sector’s future prospects don’t look rosy. But “apocalypse” might be an overstatement. – CityLab
The Highest-Box-Office-Earning Actor Of 2018
The highest-earning actor of 2018 (George Clooney) didn’t even release a movie this year. But can you name the actor who earned the most at the box office with her films? (and no, she wasn’t even close to being highest paid)
Why We’re So Terrible At Predicting The Future
The thing about tech is that even if you can see it coming, you can’t be sure quite how it will arrive or what it will do when it gets here. – The Guardian
It’s A Wildly Inventive Time For Jazz (But Not A Golden Age)
“The music is meant to evolve, and we’re in the midst of its most wildly adaptive, thrillingly unruly evolutionary phase in some 40 years. So why do I balk whenever someone declares that jazz has entered another golden age?” – The New York Times
When You’re A ‘Cable Guy,’ You See The Worst Of America
This story has everything: Cat urine, bathroom emergencies, women in lingerie, and, yes, the Cheneys. – HuffPost
Reinventing A Theatre Commons
Howlround’s director reflects on the remaking of the theatre commons and what has been accomplished in 2018.
Imagine Starring As The Seaweed Maiden In A Scottish Celtic Ballet
It happened in the 1940s, when Erik Chisholm and Margaret Morris brought modernist dance views to bear on stories of Celtic legends that mixed traditional Scottish and modernist music. One principal: “Rehearsals were held up because the dancers had to learn Scottish folk dancing and that is all on the balls of the feet, whereas ballet you have to push your heels down; so it didn’t come naturally or easily – lots of us got blisters – but we respected it.” – The National (Scotland)
A New Law Restricts The Use Of Nondisclosure Agreements In Sexual Harassment Cases
Harvey Weinstein’s assistant wasn’t even allowed to have a copy of the NDA she signed, or talk about it with anyone at all unless they signed NDAs as well. She broke her silence because she decided it was an immoral agreement. Now, dubbed a #MeToo law, a California bill that goes into effect Jan. 1 “would ban nondisclosure provisions in settlements involving claims of sexual assault, harassment or discrimination based on sex.” – Los Angeles Times
Ringo Lam, Director Of ‘City Of Fire’ Who Changed Movies Forever, Has Died At 63
Lam’s 1987 movie inspired Quentin Tarnatino and helped usher in the 1980s Hong Kong New Wave. – The Hollywood Reporter
The Civil Discourse In One Small Reddit Corner Of The Internet
Yes – this is on a Reddit forum, a site not known for its calm discussion of issues. But the Change My View forum, “founded in 2013 by Kal Turnbull, then a teenage musician in Scotland, is an online space that promotes respectful conversation between people who disagree with each other.” – The Atlantic
Podcasting Is The Perfect Way To Learn About Classical Music
The new “Aria Code” podcast by WQXR and the Met proves it. So why aren’t there a lot more classical podcasts? – The New York Times
Mick Jagger Is ‘Curating’ A New Rolling Stones Ballet
The ballet will be choreographed by dancer Melanie Hamrick, who is in a relationship with Jagger. – RTE (Ireland)
What’s It Like Being A Woman Movie Critic In The Era Of Online Harassment, And Also The MeToo Movement?
Manohla Dargis: It’s not that I’m noticing sexism more; I always noticed. It’s that I’m not gliding over the insults and insinuations, the snickering and unmotivated female nudity as easily — as resignedly — as I sometimes did. Years ago, I thought that accepting a certain amount of sexism in movies was the only way I was going to be able to continue loving them.” – The New York Times
The BBC Has Filed Formal Complaints Against Russia About Staff Data Leaks
Wow, this isn’t scary at all: Forty-four journalists’ “full names and photographs were published on social media by the For Mother Russia group. … Many of the 44 are Russian citizens working for the BBC World Service.” – BBC
Is The Vienna Philharmonic Preparing For A New Generation?
Well, they should be. “Even for an orchestra that lives and breathes tradition, recruiting the next generation of talent is no longer self-evident. That is why, for the first time in its history, the Philharmonic is opening an academy to train musicians hands-on.” – The New York Times
The Smithsonian And National Zoo Will Be Shut Down In The New Year
All of the museums, and the National Zoo, will be closed as of January 2 because of the government shutdown. – NPR