Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Why We Need Distrust In Our Civic Discourse
Sometimes distrust is not only appropriate but is also a way to initiate the conversation that’s needed for civic friendship. Distrust, in a democracy,...
No Surprise: European Movie Box Office Down 70 Percent Last Year
The European box office plunged 70.4 percent last year, down $6.04 billion (5.1 billion euro) from $8.5 billion (7.2 billion euro) in 2019 to...
An NFT Of The Internet’s Source Code Sells For $5.4 Million
With bidding starting at $1,000, a total of 51 collectors competed for the NFT during a sale titled “This Changed Everything.” The winning bid...
Memory Champ: Trick Your Brain To Remember
This technique of linking images with places is called the memory palace, and it’s particularly useful for remembering the order of certain elements. -...
How Ancient Humans Adapted To Be Smart
One of the things we’re learning from new fossil discoveries is there appears to be these different species of early human, or hominin, coexisting...
Banksy “Adjustment” Of Mount Rainier Painting Sells For $6 Million
Banksy added an asterisk and a tiny bit of corporate-speak to the painting’s bottom right-hand corner: “*Subject to availability for a limited period only.”...
A Battle Between Under-40s And Over-40s At Publishing Houses
“The distinction really is between social media natives who don’t really treasure free speech because they’ve had a lifetime’s worth and think it’s overrated,...
How To Tell If You’re Part Of A Cult
It is language that can best clue us in as to whether an organization we have joined is a cult or is at least...
Artworks Leaving UK As Museums Deal With Cash Shortage
UK museums can hardly try to buy multi-million-pound works of art when they are making large numbers of staff redundant as a result of...
James Cuno Steps Down As Head Of Getty
In 2011, Cuno was appointed to lead the Getty Trust, which manages four Los Angeles–based organizations: the Getty Museum, the Getty Conservation Institute, the...
How People Come To Deny Science
People live in information filter bubbles created by powerful algorithms. When those in your social circle share misinformation, you are more likely to believe...
What To Do With All Those Empty NYC Storefronts? Put Art In Them
Last June Barbara Anderson founded Art on the Ave, which creates free exhibits in New York City neighborhoods by using empty storefronts as gallery...
The Internet Is Rotting. What To Do?
Links work seamlessly until they don’t. And as tangible counterparts to online work fade, these gaps represent actual holes in humanity’s knowledge. - The...
David Frum: Why Are States Turning Against Academic Testing?
Across the U.S., blue-state educational authorities have turned hostile to academic testing in almost all of its forms. - The Atlantic
David Geffen Gives $150 Million To Make Yale Drama School Tuition Free
The school said that, starting in August, it would eliminate tuition for all returning and future students in its masters, doctoral and certificate programs....
How Artists Are Using Tech/How Tech Is Art
The NEA research examines the creative infrastructure supporting tech-focused artistic practices and provides insight into the existing challenges and opportunities faced by artists and...
Watching Pinchas Zukerman’s Offensive Juilliard Masterclass In Real Time
"I did watch the virtual class unfold live, and I can attest that this was the appropriate course." - Violinist.com
Using Novels To Predict The Next War
The idea that novelists are modern-day Cassandras – “speaking always truths, never grasped as true” – may sound positively esoteric. - The Guardian
Judge Strikes Down Feds’ Monopoly Case Against Facebook
The judge eviscerated one of the federal government’s core arguments, that Facebook holds a monopoly over social networking, saying prosecutors had failed to provide...
New Press Aims At The Trump Market
All Seasons is staking out territory that some mainstream publishers are wary to venture into, by courting former Trump officials who staunchly supported the...
Is Twitch The Future Of Music Streaming (That Pays)?
Twitch, which is owned by Amazon, attracts an average of 30 million visitors a day, and its users watched more than one trillion minutes...
Has The Jazz Scene Survived The Pandemic?
The tentative return of gigs could not have come soon enough for jazz performers. A 2008 study on the economics of the genre found...
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s New ‘Cinderella’ Could Start Performances Despite Extension Of UK Shutdown
Declaring "Come to the theatre and arrest us," Lord Lloyd Webber vowed last week to reopen all his West End venues at full audience...
Literary Novelists Rediscover Historical Fiction
As students of history know, fashions ebb and flow; it’s increasingly clear that the historical novel is being embraced and reinvented. - The New...
More Evidence That Jane Austen Was Probably Anti-Slavery
"Austen's personal values — namely, whether she supported slavery — have been debated by literary enthusiasts and experts who read her work like a...
