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LA Gets A Flashy New Cultural Center For “Older People”

The pavilion, a futuristic, three-story trapezoid with a wood-paneled event center, sunken garden and rooftop terrace in the center of the city, will serve Koreatown, which is among the city’s densest and most diverse neighborhoods. - The New York Times

Machines Are Good At Reading Information. What Happens When They Read Emotion?

Since the start of the pandemic, more of our relationships depend on computer-mediated channels. Amid a churning ocean of online spats, toxic Slack messages, and infinite Zoom, could algorithms help us be nicer to each other? Can an app read our feelings better than we can? - Wired

Growth Industry: UK Vinyl Album Sales Increase For 14th Year

More than 5m vinyl albums have been bought in the UK over the past 12 months, up 8% on sales in 2020 and the 14th consecutive year of growth since 2007. By the end of the year, vinyl will have accounted for almost one in four album purchases – the highest proportion since 1990. - The Guardian

Remember Rebuses?

These picture/word puzzles, sort of like charades on paper, were very popular in the mid-20th century and even had a game show (Concentration) based on them. A.J. Jacobs offers an explanation, along with a history of the Great Rebus Craze of 1937. - Mental Floss

Why Historians Are Taking Video Games Seriously

 “The attention paid by the game developers and their historical consultants to details of both the actual and social geography of these urban settings produced one of the most authentic depictions of eighteenth-century life in popular culture”—far more historically accurate than Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. - Lapham's Quarterly

What’s The Point Of New Year’s Resolutions If Time Is Already Determined?

If all moments of time exist, does that mean that my staying in bed every morning in 2022 instead of going for a run exists, too? Are future events already “there” without me being able to do anything about them? - The Conversation

Why Obama-Era Pop Culture Seems So Dated Now

As millennials age into the solid middle of the culture here at the end of 2021, they’re getting to experience that disorienting slip with some of the most beloved pop culture of their youths, and most particularly the pop culture that was celebrated during the presidency of Barack Obama. - Vox

Big Tech Is Betting This Will Be The Next Big Cultural Thing

After 15 years of riding a boom in mobile computing that has turned tech’s biggest companies into giants worth trillions of dollars, the power brokers of the industry believe that controlling the doors into the metaverse and virtual reality could be the centerpiece of a new business. - The New York Times

Betty White, 99

A trailblazer and pioneer in media, Betty had the longest running career for any woman in TV prior to her death -- starring in multiple shows over the past 8 decades, starting way back in 1939. - TMZ

Has King George III Gotten A Bum Rap?

The unlucky British King is the great villain of the USA's founding narrative, portrayed as both hapless and tyrannical. That's not a completely false portrait, but it's not completely true, either. For instance, George III was a sound constitutionalist and the first British monarch to oppose slavery. - Bloomberg

How Artificial Intelligence Is Being Used In Making Music

The use of AI in music is here today, and while its contribution is still small, it will likely grow. If you take that to its logical conclusion, the question arises: Could AI create pop stars -- and Grammy award winners -- completely out of thin air? - CNET

Yes, Representation On Screens Makes A Difference — And Not Only With Actors

"It's about more than who you see on screen, she said, but how those characters are written. And who's doing the writing. And what (if any) studio notes they are required to heed — and what's motivating those notes." - Yahoo! (Chicago Tribune)

2021’s Jazz Critics’ Poll: The Year’s Best Jazz

In being asked to stand in for clubs, concert halls, and festivals so frequently these last two years, recordings are still being asked to do an awful lot, far too much. Have they succeeded? Probably not, but I wouldn’t advise Sky Masterson and Nathan Detroit to bet against it. - Arts Fuse

Is Susanna Mälkki About To Be Named Music Director At A Big US Orchestra?

The Times's Joshua Barone says she's "one of the world's top conductors." The LA Phil's CEO says "Susanna has to be at the top of anyone's list." And Mälkki herself? "I think this is a question that will be carefully thought about if it comes up." - The New York Times

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