“We might be living in the second ‘golden age’ of television, but this is also arguably the first golden age of the continuation novel, which is arguably a less impressive development. It prompts various questions, such as: Is literary publishing eating itself?”
Why Do White People Dance Alone?
“If partner dancing was wobbling in the 1940s, it wasn’t until the 1950s that the couple form began to collapse altogether, when the early rumblings of the rock ‘n’ roll revolution introduced solo dances like the Twist into American youth culture. And while there exists a long documented history of solo social dances going back to rural black communities (like tap-dancing and clogging) in the United States, this was a watershed moment for white teens.”
It’s Time For Straight-To-Audio Books, Says Audible’s CEO
Don Katz: “While performances are being elevated and attuned to this advanced listening experience, why not write to the form in an original way? So it’s not just book authors. TV writers, movie writers, others are flocking in to help us get to the next stage. Which is: What is the, from the ground up, creativity that is right for this emergent private listening aesthetic?”
Applying Fay Weldon’s Advice: E-Reader Versions Of Famously Difficult Literary Classics
“With Weldon’s words in mind, we decided to bowdlerize some famously difficult blocks of text” – from Joyce, Faulkner, Proust, James, and Woolf – “to get them ready for the busy Kindle reader, in order to examine exactly how new system this might work.”
Sam Simon, 59, “Simpsons” Co-Creator And Philanthropist
“The nine-time Emmy Award-winning comedy writer and producer … served as the showrunner on the sitcom Taxi at the age of 23; wrote for and produced the comedies Cheers and The Drew Carey Show.” But he was best-known for developing, with Matt Groening and James L. Brooks, the long-running animated series that began as filler on The Tracey Ullman Show.
Knight Foundation Distributes More Millions To South Florida Arts Orgs
“The Miami-based Knight Foundation on Sunday announced $25 million in new grants to South Florida cultural organizations that include the Perez Art Museum Miami, University of Miami Frost School of Music and the new Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, bringing its total investment in South Florida arts to $122 million since 2005.”
Why Writing By Robots Might Be Important
“Wordsmith essentially does two things. First, it ingests a bunch of structured data and analyzes it to find the interesting points, such as which players didn’t do as well as expected in a particular game. Then it weaves those insights into a human readable chunk of text. You can think of it as a highly complex form of Mad Libs — one that takes an understanding of both data and writing to create.”
English National Opera Hires New CEO Above Artistic Director
“The ENO, widely viewed as in crisis, has employed Cressida Pollock” – a management consultant from McKinsey and Co. – “as its interim head, quietly adding a new layer of authority above artistic director John Berry.”
ISIS Destroys Third Ancient Site In Three Days
“On Friday, the group razed 3,000-year old Nimrud and on Saturday, they bulldozed 2,000-year old Hatra – both UNESCO world heritage sites.” On Sunday, they reportedly went after Khorsabad, which “was constructed as a new capital of Assyria by King Sargon II shortly after he came to power in 721 BC.”
“They Want To Turn The Clocks Back To Year Zero”: Why ISIS Destroys Ancient Monuments
“Destroying some of the world’s greatest archaeological and cultural treasures is something that flows from a fanatically purist interpretation of Sunni Islam as first laid down in 7th-century Arabia and revived more than a millennium later.” (scroll down to third headline)
How Britain’s Theatre Reinvented Itself In The Face Of Funding Woes
Lyn Gardner: “What do we mean by ‘the nation’s theatre’? Think back just 30 or so years and the answer was probably fairly straightforward. It was Shakespeare on our main stages across the country, the big flagship companies such as the NT and the RSC, the state-of-the-nation plays by David Hare, … the loved but often ailing network of regional theatres across the country frequently reviving classic plays and modern classics. Now the answer to the question is far more complex. It is still, at times, many of these things but it is much, much more.”
Van Gogh Landscape To Be Shown For First Time In 100 Years
“Le Moulin d’Alphonse Daudet à Fontvieille, which depicts vivid green grapevines leading up to a windmill with broken wings in the distance, is a work on paper that he created with graphite, reed pen and ink and watercolour shortly after he reached Arles, in the south of France.”
Lebanese TV Host Cuts Off Islamist Scholar Who Tells Her To Shut Up Because He Doesn’t Have To Listen To A Woman
Sheikh Hani Al-Siba’i: “Are you done? Shut up so I can talk.” Rima Karaki: “How can a respected sheikh like yourself tell a TV host to shut up?” Sheikh Al-Siba’i: “It’s beneath me to be interviewed by you. You are a woman who -” (Mic cuts off.) Karaki: “Either there is mutual respect or the conversation is over. In this studio, I run the show.”
“A Turning Point In Cultural History”: Why The Louvre Abu Dhabi Is Worth Celebrating, Despite Its Dark Side
Jonathan Jones: “Nothing excuses the inhuman working conditions that have been reported. But I suspect that when it opens, this audacious new museum will be admired as a world destination and artistic treasure house. And so it should be. For the Louvre Abu Dhabi is a turning point in cultural history.”
Male Belly Dancers Make A Comeback In Istanbul
“Dressed in skirts decorated with coins and shimmering tassels, male belly dancers are back in vogue, jerking their hips and trembling their abs to hypnotic Turkish rhythms. Known as zennes, the performers were once a mainstay at the courts of Ottoman sultans, but they have been largely out of sight for decades. Their renewed popularity comes amid a broader revival of Ottoman-era culture that has spread to television, fashion and politics.” (includes video)
When Grownups Read Their Teenage Diaries Aloud In Public
“Real teenage diaries are becoming a form of public entertainment – often self-deprecating – in a number of places, as brave souls divulge details of unsatisfied crushes and lost friendships. Ruminations that now seem ridiculous had once seemed profound to those who had written them down.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.09.15
Other Places: Mr. P.C. On Jazz Wage Economics
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-03-09
Monday Recommendation: The Surprising Tom Varner
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-03-09
Just because: a Q-&-A session with Helen Frankenthaler
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-03-09
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Facebook And Amazon And Even Candy Crush Could Make Us Happier And Healthier, If They Chose The Right Metrics
“Some things that it would be great to see in 2015 are: Facebook optimizing the newsfeed to help its users grow and develop, not just click. Amazon optimizing recommendations for user satisfaction, not just purchase. Brain-training that actually works. Services that allow people to better understand themselves, make better decisions, become happier.”
Don’t Even Try To Write A Great Novel When You’re Young, Says Older Novelist
Joanna Trollope: “It’s a rather unkind thing to have to say, and I don’t mean it unkindly, but I always say to people you will write much better fiction after the age of 35 than before. Merely because life will have knocked you about a bit by then.”
Where Playwrights Make Enough Money To Fund Their Little Theatre Habit
“Peterson offered the example of the prime-time, one-hour network show: Minimums dictate that a staff writer earns about $3,800 a week—and a fee of more than $36,000 for any episode for which he or she is credited as story and teleplay writer. The first time that episode is rerun, its writer receives an additional $24,000. Members of the writers’ guild also receive health insurance and pensions, benefits bestowed to playwrights only in very rare circumstances.”
Travels With My Censor: An American Author’s Book Tour Through China
“Recently, there have been a number of articles in the foreign press about Chinese censorship, with the tone highly critical of American authors who accept changes to their manuscripts in order to publish in mainland China. The articles tend to take a narrowly Western perspective: they rarely examine how such books are read by Chinese, and editors like Zhang are portrayed crudely, as Communist Party hacks. This was one reason I went on the tour – I figured that the best way to understand censorship is to spend a week with your censor.”