“At the recent ALA Midwinter meeting in Philadelphia, Macmillan CEO John Sargent told librarians that he would come back in March with potential alternatives to the publisher’s controversial library e-book embargo. And this week, Macmillan made good on Sargent’s statement, with an email to a select group of librarians seeking feedback on three proposals that could inform new e-book license terms for public libraries.” – Publishers Weekly
A Takeover, And A Crisis, At France’s Best-Known Journal Of Filmmaking
Cahiers du Cinéma, which launched the French New Wave and gave the world the concept of the auteur, was purchased last month by a consortium that includes some of France’s top movie producers. The new owners, hoping to make the studious, and studiously independent, Cahiers more “chic” and “central,” want to invite directors to write for it and to launch a partnership with the Cannes Festival. The entire editorial staff has resigned. – The New Yorker
What David Hallberg Wants To Do At, And With, The Australian Ballet
“The dancing is already at a very high standard, the repertoire is solid and the audience base is dedicated. But I want to add certain things to the repertoire that haven’t yet been seen in Australia. … I also want to bring the company around the world. … And I want to dive into the company’s responsibility to the greater Australian community.” – Dance Magazine
Traditional University Degrees No Longer Cut It. Lifelong Learning Needs A Rethink
Recent advances in computational methods and data science push us into rethinking science and engineering. Computers increasingly become principal actors in leveraging data to formulate questions, which requires radically new ways of reasoning. Therefore, a new discipline blending computer science, programming, statistics and machine learning should be added to the traditional foundational topics of mathematics and physics. These three pillars would allow you to keep learning complex technical subjects all your life because numeracy is the foundation upon which everything else is eventually built. – Aeon
How Academe’s Adjunct Addiction Changed Education
“The halls of academe are known to be hospitable to people with radical views on power relationships between capital and labor, but colleges themselves are often merciless actors in the labor market. Many adjuncts earn only a few thousand dollars per course, with no health insurance or retirement benefits. Twenty-five percent of part-time faculty receive some form of public assistance. Some adjunct postings don’t require doctorates.” – The New York Times
Oxford Dictionaries Scour To Remove Sexist Language
After a huge project that involved picking over tens of thousands of example sentences, Oxford University Press (OUP) has been quietly replacing hundreds of those that “unnecessarily perpetuate sexist stereotypes” in Oxford Dictionaries, the dictionary source licensed by Apple and Google. Now the example given for anatomy is “people should never be reduced to their anatomies” – and the “lady customers” have been consigned to the past. – The Guardian
Movie Industry Has Lost $5 Billion In Coronavirus Closures
Widespread cinema closures across China, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan and South Korea have already done drastic damage to the global box office, with one consulting firm suggesting that the loss during China’s new year holiday alone amounts to around $1bn. – The Guardian
After Fourteen Years Of Restoration Work, Egypt Reopens One Of Its Oldest Pyramids
The Djoser pyramid (built under the famous ancient architect Imhotep) was damaged in an earthquake in the 1990s, but restoration didn’t begin until the early 2000s. Interrupted by the “Arab Spring” and the removal of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the repairs also hit a crisis when Egyptian media revealed that the original façade was damaged and altered during renovation work. – France 24
Apparently, Pandemic Narratives Are Soothing For Humans Right Now
One theory about why: “Pandemic fiction is about how people behave in response to acute, sudden-onset helplessness. When we’re confronted with that helplessness in real life, watching some version of it — any version of it, and ideally one where at least some people survive — is comforting. It’s a model for how we could respond.” – Vulture
The Leipzig Book Fair Has Been Canceled, So They’re Announcing The Book Prize On The Radio
Guess that’s “appropriate social distance.” (For more about how hard the book fair cancellation is hitting Germany’s, and the world’s, book industry, click this link.) – Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich)
How Will Theatre Fare During, And After, The Coronavirus Outbreak?
Lyn Gardner takes a look at history. “Shakespeare’s fellow thespians toured out of London, far away from the plague’s more deadly ravages. But that is not an option for theatremakers in the interconnected world of Covid-19. But of course, there are other methods of distributing art – including live streaming – that might offer different ways of getting theatre out there while venues are closed. It might help open the eyes of theatres and companies to the possibilities of digital in a way they haven’t previously explored.” – The Stage (UK)
The Children’s Museum Of Manhattan Wants To Alter A Landmarked Church
The neighborhood response is not going well for the museum. “Preservationists and community members called the proposed changes ‘cultural vandalism.’ ‘Why buy a church if you don’t like the windows, when you knew that they were landmarked when you purchased it?'” – Hyperallergic
Alan Turner, Artist Who Painted Oddly Disturbing Trees And Body Parts, Has Died At 76
Turner drew on surrealism, abstract expressionism, and much more for his works. “In recent years, spurred by cardboard shelters in the homeless encampments along the Tiber River that he saw on his frequent trips to Rome, he developed a ‘Box House’ series, mostly in graphite, that explored not only those but all sorts of boxes that harbor all sorts of things.” – The New York Times
London’s Royal Opera House Announces That Plácido Domingo Has ‘Withdrawn’ From Planned Performances
It seems that Europe and England aren’t as interested in supporting the singer quite as strongly as they were a year ago. Their support in the face of allegations of sexual harassment “began to change last week with the release of the American union’s conclusions.” – The New York Times
For Black Artists, There’s A Question Of Who Can Challenge Mediocre Work
The issues are layered. “Black auteurs frequently don’t get to just worry about making art that speaks to their own interests. Because of discrimination in Hollywood, creators also shoulder what the Jamaican Canadian director Stella Meghie recently called ‘the unbearable weight of representation.’ That burden also affects viewers, who may feel the need to support some unremarkable work for fear of losing what little black programming exists.” – The Atlantic
When An Art Fair Gets An Audio Guide
Sure, the Armory Show is a big one, but every fair needs its gimmick. “As fairs proliferate, to about 300 worldwide, their organizers introduce new features, like panel discussions and concerts, meant to add intellectual heft and to cultivate and entertain broader audiences.” (This one isn’t perfect.) – The New York Times
Quibi Is Coming Hard And Fast, Whatever It Actually Is
The short-video media service debuts in April with 50 shows and a lot of Hollywood stars. But seriously: What is it? First of all: Quibi is short (of course) for Quick bites. Cute. – The New York Times
Under Pressure, Hachette Cancels Publication Of Woody Allen Autobiography
Hachette executives had discussed the matter with its employees and, “after listening, we came to the conclusion that moving forward with publication would not be feasible for HBG.” – The New York Times
A Surge In Online Services During Coronavirus?
If the coronavirus continues to spread, analysts believe U.S. consumers will adopt behavior similar to that of Chinese consumers. China this year has seen a surge in people downloading apps on their smartphones in such areas as games and entertainment, according to San Francisco mobile data and analytics firm App Annie. Weekly game app downloads on Apple devices last month were up 80% in China, compared with a monthly average of downloads for 2019, the company said. – Los Angeles Times
SXSW Festival Canceled
The cancellation — just seven days before the 2020 festival was scheduled to start next Friday — comes as SXSW organizers faced public pressure to scrap it, as well the prospect of a substantially diminished event anyway because a lengthy list of companies and speakers already dropped out. – Austin Statesman
Jazz Pianist McCoy Tyner, 81
Mr. Tyner’s manner was modest, but his sound was rich, percussive and serious, his lyrical improvisations centered by powerful left-hand chords marking the first beat of the bar and the tonal center of the music. – The New York Times
Superheroes As Metaphor For Technology
Superman and his contemporaries launched a fascination with technological superism that continues today. Here were individuals whose bodies and their capacities were somehow warped through being exposed to technology (the Flash); augmented by technology (Batman); or transported from one environment to another by technology (Superman). There is an underlying narrative in all their stories that treats technology as a source of powers that would traditionally have been described as divine. But, like Prometheus’ theft of fire from the gods, this has often been seen as a double-edged desire, seductive yet dangerous for humans. – Aeon
Surge In Sales Of Books About Plagues
Camus’s The Plague follows the inhabitants of Oran, an Algerian town that is sealed off by quarantine as it is ravaged by bubonic plague. Penguin is rushing through a reprint of its English translation to meet demand, but said on Thursday it had sold out of stock on Amazon. The publisher added that sales in the last week of February were up by 150% on the same period in 2019. – The Guardian
One-Year Surge In Women Songwriters In UK. But…
PRS, which collects and distributes royalties to songwriters, said 1,755 women signed up in 2019, versus 1,097 in 2018. Around 63% were under the age of 30. However, 5,580 men signed up in the same period, and only 18.4% of the total PRS membership – listed as “over 145,500” – is female. – The Guardian
How The U.S. Cultural World Is Bracing For Coronavirus
“Ushers in some theaters are wearing latex gloves. Museums are installing hand sanitizer dispensers as if they were pieces of art. Audience members are being told: If you have a cough, please, trade in your tickets and stay home. As the coronavirus spreads in the United States, theaters, museums and concert halls are hyperaware that their establishments could become petri dishes for a virus that is spread person-to-person through respiratory droplets.” – The New York Times