Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
The Evolutionary Roots Of Our Attraction To Music
Groups that could make music together - whether a simple drumbeat or a beautiful melody - were more cohesive, communicative, cooperative and defensive. Natural...
Technology And Teaching The Violin. What Will AI Change?
A team at the University of Maryland (UMD) has received almost a million dollars from the US National Science Foundation (USNSF) to study the...
Report: Children Become Discouraged From Reading By Adult Judgment
“Children have told us that they think that reading choices are judged by the adults around them,” said Cassie Chadderton, CEO of World Book...
Study: Big Increase In Retail Record Shops In The UK
A study by the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) finds that there are now 461 indie record shops in the UK, 122 more...
Museums Are Buying As Private Sales Decline
Museums are increasingly important buyers at TEFAF Maastricht, as the number of private individuals purchasing old master pictures, sculptures and antiques has declined. - The New...
Have A Conversation With A New Marilyn Monroe AI Chatbot
The AI-generated Digital Marilyn chatbot lets you interact “in real-time using advanced natural language processing, deep learning and GPT 3.5,” Soul Machines said in...
Hollywood’s Rough Year, And Trends We’d Like To See
The movie industry is notorious for learning precisely the wrong lesson from its successes, not to mention failures. Here are some trends from last...
Russia Opens Museum Celebrating Its War In Ukraine
Russian authorities have announced plans to memorialise the destruction of the occupied city in the Donbas—which it blames on Ukraine—with a new “museum of...
The Binge: Healthy Indulgence Or Destructive Behavior?
Here’s what has me perplexed: The word itself means doing something excessively, and to do anything excessively means doing it more than is reasonable...
The Psychology Of How We Sort Into Categories
At some point, we have to make a principled decision about what the category is and why that is the best way to think...
The Physicality Of Books Versus What They Say
Sometimes we ignore a book’s material presence: absorbed, ‘good’ reading is often figured as a forgetting of the material conditions of book, body, room...
If Our Tools Shape Us, How Will AI Change Us?
Just as Joseph Stalin called artists the “engineers of the soul,” Gemini and other AI bots may function as the engineers of our mindscapes....
Europe Works To Pry Open Big Tech Companies
The law essentially crowbars open what the EU calls the gatekeepers’ “core services.” In the past regulators have proposed containing corporate giants by taking them...
Anti-TikTok Legislation In Congress Has TikTok Stirring A High-Schooler Rebellion
Congressional staff reported on some of the calls they were getting. “We’re getting a lot of calls from high schoolers asking what a Congressman...
The Making Of Keith Haring
Even as his fame grew, Haring remained dedicated to grass-roots activism: designing posters for anti-nuke rallies, anti-apartheid protests, safe sex promotions, and events for...
How Flamboyant Academics Were Purged From the Universities
Part of the official reason for the elimination of flamboyant academic styles such as these was that they tended to be off-putting to new...
Period Instruments: Experiencing Chopin On One Of Chopin’s Pianos
Pianos made in the 18th and 19th century were simpler, lighter and smaller than modern instruments, with narrower keys and lighter strings. The result...
Detroit Opera’s Experiments In John Cage
The original production featured 64 arias, stripped of their original context and set against a collage of other materials in ways that could be...
The Oldest Oscar Nominee: John Williams And His 54 Nominations
Even though he’s not ready to surrender the staff-lined paper and pencil with which he’s written his scores, Williams, 92, is also the oldest...
UK Government’s New Support For The Arts
The chancellor has given Britain’s creative industries a boost, including £26.4m to help the National Theatre upgrade its stages and tax relief to encourage film-makers to...
Finding The Differences Between “Natural” Intelligence And “Artificial” Intelligence
“What separates natural from artificial forces? Does natural intelligence end where I think something to myself, silently, alone? How about using a notebook or...
Cleveland Institute Of Music Faculty Vote No-Confidence In School Leadership
Faculty senate of the Cleveland Institute of Music voted overwhelmingly in favor of a motion of no-confidence in its president, Paul Hogle, and provost,...
New Help For Creative Industries IN UK Budget
The new permanent rate covering theatres, museums and galleries - 45% for touring productions and 40% for non-touring shows - is below the current...
Netflix Is Back On Top. How?
How did Netflix defend its bulwark when there are still multiple streaming services fighting for eyeballs? - Los Angeles Times
How Schoenberg’s Ideas About Music Shaped Movies
Film composers have taken up serialism as an important technique, employing this to yield a high degree of dissonance and ethereal sounds. - The Conversation