“Wikipedia turned 10 years old this week, and perhaps no entry better captures its chaotic ascendency than that of Jesus Christ. What follows is a brief history of Wikipedia Jesus – his test, trials, and the chaotic world into which he was born.”
Tag: 01.14.11
Michael Chabon on Blogging Versus Novel-Writing
“Novelist time is reptile time; novelists tend to be ruminant and brooding, nursers of ancient grievances, second-guessers, Tuesday afternoon quarterbacks … Blogging, I think, is largely about seizing opportunities, about pouncing, about grabbing hold of hours, events, days and nights as they are happening, sizing them up and putting them into play with language … Then there’s that whole business of the Comments.”
Angry Nerds: How Nietzsche Gets Misunderstood by Jared Lee Loughner Types
“The attraction of Nietzsche to socially maladjusted young men” – such as the would-be assassin of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords – “is obvious, but it isn’t exactly simple. … If your social world fails to appreciate your singularity and tells you that you’re a loser, reading Nietzsche can steel you in your secret conviction that, no, I’m a genius, or at least very special, and everyone else is the loser.”
We Humans Don’t Really Have a Killing Instinct
“There are no instincts, if by instinct we mean behaviors that we perform without needing to learn to perform them. Can you think of anything we do without learning to do it? … No, the question we should ask is not whether there is an instinct to kill, but rather, whether killing is something that we value. … We value much more than we judge to be worth valuing … [and] we, as a people, do value killing.”
Is This One of the Great Sentences in Dance Criticism?
“Among the many descriptions of Wayne McGregor’s dance creations, the one closest to the mark is this: watching his work is like being licked by a panther’s juicy, rasping tongue while you’re revising maths.” (A bow to David Jays of London’s Sunday Times)
Donmar Warehouse Acquires Swanky London Address
“As well as announcing Michael Grandage’s final season as artistic director, the Donmar Warehouse is also in the process of buying its own rehearsal, education and office space in Covent Garden. This follows the purchase of the Donmar theatre site in 2008. The company will take sole possession of the venue in five years’ time when the current lease expires.”
Leaning Tower of Pisa’s Kaleidoscope Effect Restored
“Restoration work on the seventh tier of the tower, just below the bell chamber at a height of about 164 feet, has returned a unique optical effect which was conceived at the tower’s construction. At this tier, a series of decorative arches allow sunlight to stream into the tower in intricate patterns, producing a kaleidoscope-like effect on the tower’s white marble.”
I Shall Use Two Spaces After a Period. So There.
“I’ll take Manjoo’s word that all typographers like a single space between sentences. … [But] I lost my patience with the typographically-obsessed community when they started trying to get me to pay attention to which sans-serif fonts were being used anachronistically on Mad Men.”
We Like Our Art Crowdsourced
“Beginning around 2002, artists began experimenting with how Web 2.0 culture (browsing, sharing, producing, and aggregating data) could merge with art. Now the last bastion of individuality – the notion of art as an expression of one person’s vision – is crumbling, invaded by art as a group activity.”
What’s Next For Trafalgar’s Fourth Plinth
“A giant cockerel in ultra-marine blue and a bronze boy on a rocking horse are the next two commissions for the fourth plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square.”