“It will hear only individual appeals about specific content that the company has removed from the service — and only a fraction of those appeals. The board can’t say anything about the toxic content that Facebook allows and promotes on the site. It will have no authority over advertising or the massive surveillance that makes Facebook ads so valuable. … It won’t dictate policy for Facebook Groups, where much of the most dangerous content thrives. And most importantly, the board will have no say over how the algorithms work and thus what gets amplified or muffled by the real power of Facebook.” – Wired
David Remnick: Little Richard’s Revolution
As Little Richard himself described his effect on body and spirit, “My music made your liver quiver, your bladder splatter, your knees freeze—and your big toe shoot right up in your boot!”
The Plan For Movie Theatres, If There Can Be A Plan At All
What the shutdown has revealed; “The theater industry is crucial to giant studios, which for the most part aren’t interested in proceeding without theaters. The profits come from selling tickets.” – The Atlantic
Museums In Europe Reopen Slowly, Cautiously, And With Both Joy And Fear
This is the way it’s working in Germany and (soon) Belgium: “How are art museums to reopen without endangering staff and visitors? Cimam, the international committee for museums and collections, has already laid out some unarguably rational rules. Timed entry, limited viewing slots, one-way systems. Online booking, plexiglass barriers, face masks and hand gel. No paper, no maps, no headphones; obviously no group tours.” – The Guardian (UK)
TV Advertising Pitches Run Into A Few Dense Coronavirus-Related Roadblocks
This is when networks usually spend millions of dollars for a live show to gain billions of dollars in advertising for the upcoming year. “Advertising has long served as a media-industry lifeline. This year, with the pandemic forcing the closure of the big media companies’ other lines of business – it will be even more critical.” But no one knows how it will work. – Variety
With No Live-Action Filming, Animated Production Continues During Lockdown
Animation studios, like the one that produces (all parents and grandparents may now groan) Paw Patrol, are still going full force – from home studios. It’s not always simple: “the biggest challenge has been keeping the sense of collaboration that’s critical to the art of cartooning alive.” – CBC
Just Read. In Quantity. Any Book.
Seriously, the lists stopped mattering around the second, or was it third, or fourth? week of quarantine. “Our rapid shift from laser-focused self-improvement to read-all-the-things omnivorousness is a welcome reminder of something that’s long been true of modern civilization: All reading is quarantine reading.” – The Washington Post
The Ballerinas Raising Money For Other Dancers
The video, conceived of by Misty Copeland and another ABT dancer, stars 32 ballerinas from 14 different countries and is meant to raise money for dancers who depend on performance income to cover basic necessities like rent and food, and are now struggling financially as dance companies close their doors because of the pandemic.” – CNN
Andre Harrell, Who Bridged Musical Genres, Has Died At 59
The innovative music executive founded Uptown Records and changed the sound of R&B and rap in the 1980 and 1990s. – The New York Times
Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater Pitches A 2021 ‘Mini Season’ Starting In March
The Guthrie’s leadership had envisioned various scenarios as lockdown orders arrived. But “now, as the ripple effects of the coronavirus health crisis are felt throughout the economy, and the eagerness of folks to return to large gatherings in enclosed spaces has understandably plunged, the Guthrie has announced a season start well after any of those alternatives and offered a stark budgetary forecast, amending earlier projections.” – American Theatre
Little Richard, Not The Inventor But The Architect Of Rock And Roll, Has Died At 87
Little Richard, the pianist and singer behind “Long Tall Sally,” “Tutti Frutti,” and many more, was the epitome of early rock and roll. His musical influence was massive, but his “stage persona – his pompadours, androgynous makeup, and glass-bead shirts — also set the standard for rock & roll showmanship.” – Rolling Stone