“We weren’t looking to create the world’s blackest material, “says the founder of Surrey Nanosystems, which introduces Vantablack in 2014. “That wasn’t our thing. We were trying to solve a calibration problem for space instruments using carbon nanotubes.” And five years later, an even darker black was developed, absorbing 99.995% of all light that strikes it. Vivian Le explains how these materials were developed, why they aren’t pigments, and the reason everyone got mad at sculptor Anish Kapoor. (podcast plus text; includes video) – 99% Invisible
Opera And Classical Young Artist Programs Are Big Business — For Everyone But The Young Artists
Zach Finkelstein: “Company X is a prestigious music apprenticeship festival for instrumentalists and singers. They take in about $15 million a year in revenue, own over $80 million dollars in assets, including real estate, investments, and cash on hand, and pay their CEO almost half a million dollars a year. Nearly two thousand young musicians paid $60 each last year to apply for a handful of spots, with no guarantee of being heard in person. netting the company an estimated $118,000 in application fees. And they pay their newly-hired apprentice performers absolutely nothing.” – The Middle-Class Artist
How Rotten Tomatoes Actually Works
A key point that many people don’t realize is that the site does not use any algorithms: each review that goes into a movie’s or TV show’s Tomatometer score is read and evaluated by a human curator. “In a world of endless choice, on an internet increasingly dictated by predictive algorithms that recommend ‘for you,’ Rotten Tomatoes represents something more analog. And it raises the question: What’s the best way to choose? Or, more to the point, who do you trust?” Reporter Simon van Zuylen-Wood spent a couple of days at the Rotten Tomatoes to learn just how the site operates. – Wired
How Self-Help Books Have Influenced Literature
Serious authors create; self-help writers multiply. But the influence of self-help on prestigious literature is much deeper and more sustained than figures such as Macdonald would have us believe. – Aeon
Opera San Jose’s New Direction
Since taking over as general director in October, Khori Dastoor, 39, has been on a tear behind the scenes — beefing up staffing levels, setting ambitious financial goals and consulting with members of the tech community for data-driven ways of attracting new subscribers to the 36-year-old company. – San Francisco Chronicle
Shows That Won’t Let You Back In If You Leave Make It Hard For Physically Challenged People
Sitting through a show of that length might seem manageable enough if you’re young and in good health, less so if you have a medical condition like Crohn’s disease or other hidden disability, you’re pregnant or you’re experiencing the menstrual equivalent of the elevator scene in The Shining. If someone leaves during a performance, it’s usually because they don’t have much of a choice. – The Stage
Why Do We Fetishize Books As Physical Objects?
We seem to project enormously intense feelings onto books, feelings that make us protective of them and furious toward those we perceive as threatening them. We think of our books as symbols of our taste, our intellect, our moral vigor. And when we hold books in such high esteem, those who treat them as objects rather than as symbols become infidels. – Vox
Restaurant Noise Is Good! Says The New York Times’ Restaurant Critic
Pete Wells: “Restaurants are loud because we’re loud. With a few exceptions, when we complain about the noise, we’re complaining about ourselves. … Far from being an accidental side effect, a noisy restaurant is the end product of a business that helps us have a good time, just as purring is the end product of scratching a cat’s chin the right way.” – The New York Times
Why, Exactly, Is The Paris Opera Ballet On Strike? Here’s An Explainer
The company’s labor action is yet another part of the series of national protests against President Macron’s planned pension reforms. The twist is that, as we know, ballet is not like other professions (dancers’ bodies won’t hold out until age 65), and the Paris Opera Ballet’s pension system dates back to the 17th century. – Dance Magazine
Why There’s A Campaign To Boo Ballet Star Amar Ramasar In Broadway’s ‘West Side Story’
The fired-then-reinstated New York City Ballet principal was a figure in the company’s recent #MeToo scandal (and accompanying lawsuit). While City Ballet’s dancers and the company of West Side Story seem willing (at least publicly) to let Ramasar redeem himself, a number of others — including lawsuit plaintiff Alexandra Waterbury — are calling on audience members to boo him until the producers fire him from the show. – The Guardian
Can Hip Hop Dance Show Hold A Whole Evening Off-Broadway?
“There’s a massive hole,” producer Lyndsay Magid Aviner said of the lack of urban dance on New York stages. Coming from the circus world, the Aviners said they believe there’s a broad audience for physical storytelling. Justin Peck’s popular 2017 work “The Times Are Racing” for New York City Ballet, danced in sneakers, convinced them that audiences would embrace the kind of work the Madrids are doing. Taking a cue from movement-based hits like “Blue Man Group,” “Stomp” and “Fuerza Bruta,” the Aviners went the for-profit route. They said they raised $200,000 for the San Diego run, then held their breath. – The New York Times
Netflix Greenlights Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein Movie With All-Star Producers
Netflix has acquired all rights to the untitled Leonard Bernstein film that Bradley Cooper will direct, star in and produce from the script he co-wrote with Oscar-winning Spotlight scribe Josh Singer. The project exits Paramount, which set the film as a priority project in May 2018. – Deadline
How Margaret Mead’s Reputation Eroded
Within anthropology, Mead is still revered, but mostly as a way to understand the discipline’s origins. In the popular mind, Mead’s name has all but vanished, her reputation whittled down to an apocryphal quote found on coffee mugs and dorm-room posters: ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’ What’s more, Mead has become a target of vitriolic dislike for a particular kind of cultural conservatism. – Aeon
Study Shows Women Making Small Parity Gains In Grammys
The third edition of the study, spearheaded by USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative founder Stacy L. Smith, was announced Tuesday, revealing that for 2020, the percentage of female nominees in five of the highest-profile Grammy categories has hit an eight-year high, accounting for nearly 21% of all nominations in those fields. – Los Angeles Times
Artificial Intelligence Is About To Transform Video
AI-assisted editing won’t make Oscar-worthy auteurs out of us. But amateur visual storytelling will probably explode in complexity. Even tools for one-to-one video messaging might evolve—AI on our phones could pull together disparate clips into weird, delightful missives. And, of course, AI editing will uncork new forms of digital malfeasance: It’ll be a lot easier to persuasively lie, to make ever-slicker propaganda. – Wired