Meritocracy, for all its flaws, may well be, like the democracy it has sometimes served, better than the alternatives. At the very least, we should be cautious about consigning it to the dustbin of history too soon. - Literary Review
By the eighteenth century the asterisk was being deployed as a sort of censorship, covering up letters to represent a d**n vulgar word without actually b**y spelling it out. But, as W. Somerset Maugham points out, this has become somewhat outmoded. - Lapham's Quarterly
Do we want conflicting disconnected atoms or thriving autonomous individuals? And what role do culture and society have in their formation? - 3 Quarks Daily
Dysfunction is baked into the video game production process, as it currently exists. The big-budget games industry is dominated by a few large companies, the publishers. - The New Republic
If the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences wants to avoid a Hollywood Foreign Press Association-style meltdown, it really has to prove itself with these nominations. NPR's Eric Duggans offers some institution-saving suggestions for the voters - and for the rest of us. - NPR
Hassell blended modern technology with ancient instruments and traditions to create what he called "Fourth World" music. "Hassell’s music floated outside the genre boundaries of classical music, electronica, ambient music or jazz. He described Fourth World as 'a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques' and, elsewhere, as 'coffee-colored classical music of the future.'"...
The Obamas borrowed 142 pieces from the Smithsonian and the National Gallery of Art, the other recent occupants 12. The Bidens haven't started borrowing yet - but it will happen, and curators think they know what the couple will want. "Even as they embrace the Obamas’ modern and contemporary inclinations, the Bidens’ time as second family suggests their artistic...
Not sure there's any way to explain this except to just ... well: "In a dispute that pitted property rights against government rules and played out in international media, Florence Fang, a retired publisher, defended her colorful and bulbous house and its elaborate homage to The Flintstones family, featuring sculptures inspired by the 1960s cartoon along with aliens and...
MacKenzie Scott, ex-spouse of Jeff Bezos who was heavily involved in launching Amazon in the 1990s, gave generously to many pandemic (and perenially) cash-strapped dance companies in her latest philanthropic efforts. "This round of gifts promises to have an especially large impact on New York dance, with generous aid to some of the city’s most diverse companies. Alvin Ailey American...
The show has just arrived on Peacock, but it was a hit before that, garnering about 750,000 viewers for its season 2 opener as the super prestigey Mare of Easttown got 1 million viewers. "Take it from a critic and a Christian with an aversion to Christian entertainment: The show is good. I’d stop short of calling The Chosen a prestige...
The board of Kanal-Centre-Pompidou had decided to name a woman artistic director - and then added a male co-director. Nearly 800 European art dignitaries didn't buy it. "'Internationally renowned and appreciated, Kasia Redzisz has been selected by the jury for this job,' the open letter said. 'She is a competent and experienced woman and there is not the slightest...
And Boris Johnson doesn't care at all. In fact, he's putting another monument - that's right, unbelievably, Stonehenge!? - at risk as well. - The Guardian (UK)
For Universal Pictures, which raked in an oddly normal (thus deeply robust) box office total over the weekend for F9, "the opening success is vindication for a studio that in the early days of the pandemic decided to delay its potential blockbuster by an entire year — a move that was considered excessive when it was announced in early...
