[contextly_auto_sidebar id="jyFHuTfymBp4zjqhRnelFYWTSaIQFC3g"] The Germans may have a word for it -- things that seem inevitable but are stomach-turning nonetheless. That's the way I feel about the fact that the very rich are amassing lavish art collections and finding tax shelters for them. They call these tax shelters "museums," but don't let the rest of us in. It's the latest in the strategy … [Read more...]
Overeducated and Underemployed
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="CM4KylwaAW4pMnqXeb36jIwUKqjajdfJ"] ONE of the oddest things about the brutal post-crash economy is that the average-is-over cries by neoliberals to educate the workforce for a global world have accompanied hard times for many educated people. It's especially true for academics caught in the adjunct trap, though it is not unique to struggling scholars. It's certainly … [Read more...]
What Do Brunch and Jeff Koons Have in Common?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="R4kldjR8qVAyVN11JBzIOTVFaYGRTE3D"] THE current backlash against mimosa-drenched Sunday meals is not a central concern of this blog. But I cannot resist posting part of a New York Times story (already denounced by some in my circle) which connects the rise of brunch with skyrocketing rents and the rise of the 1 percent. (Both, incidentally, major concerns … [Read more...]
What is the Ivy League For?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="JOGXf4pQNorMAGptHzzcW1DczyhB3tLM"] SOMETIMES a writer is attacked so widely and vigorously I can tell he's right. That's the case with William Deresiewicz's New Republic essay about the fallacy of elite college education, and Ivy League schools in particular. I don't mean I agree with every word of his piece, and I know the Ivy League only from a distance. (For what … [Read more...]
Publishing’s Shrinking Attention Span
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="CAxR2RewOYpbx08DLip9Jb3pvG0eQ2Sw"] THE Scottish novelist Val McDermid, who has sold 10 million books, says she wouldn't have a career in today's relentless marketplace. One of the things the Internet and the superstar economy have done is to shrink our already shrunken attention spans further, and that's doubly true in the culture industries. Crime writer … [Read more...]
The Dead End of Rock Touring
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Za9VcxtAw6iJYej9lpme3Ycia9NvqadT"] JUST go on the road! Musicians who've seen their earnings from recorded music collapse should just tour more often, digital utopians tell them. But a new report shows that even with ticket prices getting higher, a 60 percent growth in touring revenues since 2000, and a supposed recovery from the depths of the recession, the … [Read more...]
What Does Death of Net Neutrality Mean for Culture? And, Women of Paris
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="xGDWAexoDrHPFCevaXgcNYzALx2EWaaG"] THIS week, it seems, has brought us closer to the end of net neutrality, with the FCC getting closer to approving a pay-to-play "fast lane." The fear among purveyors and enthusiasts of indie culture is that there will be a tiered Internet, one for wealthy corporations and a slow one for the rest. Enormous power would go to broadband … [Read more...]
Is the Novel Dead? Plus, Art Auctions and Green Composer
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="crb2maHtqit51P5E7CQQCJm9upqvoZsh"] TODAY in Oxford, Will Self gives a speech about the death of the novel that many of my friends and colleagues have responded to with hostility and disbelief. Self's piece is at times over the top, and his persona is that of an ornery crank, but his speech -- reprinted here in the Guardian -- is essential reading. The story's … [Read more...]
Power and Culture on the Internet, and Saving College Radio
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="u4Dlzk0r3mKVO47xkZOYDpbn6EaCJhpT"] HOW has the Internet changed our culture, politics, and economic structures? One of the smartest answers to this complicated question comes from lefty filmmaker Astra Taylor. I spoke to Taylor, who also has a foot in the indie-rock world, about her new book The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital … [Read more...]
How Important is a Writer’s Routine? Plus, McMansions
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="VwvlTpDOy3SsWouxN3cvJka5SISHA7pJ"] ONE of the many ironies of our age is that as creative folk find it harder and harder to keep afloat, a whole world of books, workshops, and other sorts of guides to creativity continue to spring up. A sub-genre is the book which tells you about an artist's or writer's daily routine: How eccentric waking hours or diets or various … [Read more...]