Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
How The Internet Changed Music This Year
The geeks among you will recognize that the words “decentralization” and “distributed network” invoke a nearly 10-year-old model of equitable Web-based information flow, one that’s currently...
I Think, Therefore I Have Language
So how does language and thought relate, then? And what is “thought”, anyway? Perhaps one way of answering both questions is to determine whether...
British Film Classification Board Rethinks Some Of Its Previous Ratings
Recent rereleases of films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Jaws have led the board to reconsider...
Seriously? Curators Crack The Top Five “Most Trusted” Professions
Curators enjoyed a 4% increase in trustworthiness across gender and political affiliation in 2021. Notably, however, advanced degree holders were much more likely to...
Big Entertainment Comes To Riyadh. But…
Mass entertainment events are no longer a novelty in the once austere kingdom, but there have been reports by local and foreign women that...
Can Machines Measure Common Sense?
Consciousness, thought, creativity, will, imagination, and agency — once considered to be explainable only through philosophical reflection were now reformulated as precisely defined cognitive...
Intelligence, Machines, And Why It’s Increasingly Difficult To Tell The Difference
Any of us have interacted with apparently thoughtful machines often enough—for instance, when on the telephone and trying, often fruitlessly, to get to a...
How The Met Museum Dances Around The Looting Of African Art
If you want to see an acrobatic display of ducking and weaving in a gallery by people trying desperately not to set off any...
Joan Didion, 87
Didion came to prominence with a series of incisive, searching feature articles in Life magazine and The Saturday Evening Post that explored the fraying...
Researchers: Where Your Sense Of Right And Wrong Comes From
The researchers found that higher conscientiousness – the tendency to be organised, hardworking and disciplined – was related to rating loyalty, authority and purity/sanctity as important...
The Essence Of Who You Are
The essence of selfhood is neither a rational mind nor an immaterial soul. It is a deeply embodied biological process, a process that underpins...
Sydney Theatres Band Together For Strict New COVID Policies
Their rules require all visitors to be fully vaccinated while on-site (excluding those under 16 years), and to wear masks while in the theatres and...
This Year In Art: Rise Of The NFTs
Nifty Gateway was quick to tout Pak as the most expensive living artist, surpassing Jeff Koons. Still, the Merge sale indicates that there is no shortage...
As Hollywood Withdraws From China
2022 will be a chapter marked not only by bilateral friction between the two superpowers, but by the Chinese film industry’s decoupling from the...
Hollywood Has Been Hooked On China’s Money. That May Be Over
The reversal of fortunes in China has begun to accelerate in the past year. In 2021, just 25 U.S. movies were released theatrically in...
Pittsburgh Symphony Expands Its Diversity Fellowship Program
The program will support four new fellows each season by the year 2025, making it one of the larger fellowship opportunities in the country. -...
Data: Impact Of Vaccination Rates On Attendance
The number of performances had the largest upside effect on ticket sales in September, with a 20% increase producing a 9% increase in ticket...
Growing Trend: Young Architects Want To Unionize
It's a trend at professions offering noneconomic benefits, a sense of mission at a nonprofit or the cachet of working in book publishing or...
Why London Dance Companies Can’t Do A Good “Nutcracker”
London’s big ballet companies are not where anyone should hope to find an even tolerable Nutcracker. - Alastair Macaulay
My Life As A Cyborg
My elevator pitch goes something like this: “I know you think cyborgs are always imminent. But not here yet. However, I am a cyborg....
Christopher Newton, 85, Former Shaw Festival Director
Among Newton’s contributions were the development of distinctive festival seasons, the establishment of a permanent acting ensemble and the creation of an artistic training...
Confessions Of A Crossword Puzzle Constructor
What makes for a good word, in the eyes of a crossword-puzzle constructor? The language of aesthetic judgment is gustatory—one has good taste or...
How Do You Reconcile Being A Writer With Having A Career?
There is a contradiction here of both scorning a system that’s shallow and rigged, and also feeling bitter about not being able to succeed...
How Can You Recontextualize Confederate Statues? (There Are Challenges)
Hamza Walker conceived a fiendish idea: Why not stage an exhibition in which, removed from their places of pride, these statues could be evaluated...
A Case For The Universality Of Western Music
Jay Nordlinger: "What is the glory of Western civilization? Our political freedom, probably — the rights of individual man. But I would not put...