Why Memoirs By Dying Authors Are Always So Popular (And Critic-Proof)

“These memoirs hold out the promise that you, too, will be able to cope once the eye of Sauron falls on you. Even if the tips are not practical in nature, often the mere lyricism people are able to bring to their tragic situations serves as its own kind of succor. When it comes your turn, you too may be able to make sense of it all by elegant resort to, say, the French existentialists.”

Hollywood’s Turn Against Digital Effects

“We’ve reached a point where directors and audiences no longer derive authenticity from what looks ‘real’ but from what looked real in seventies, eighties, and nineties blockbusters. And real is an awfully flexible word. … It’s as if directors – especially the reboot generation – have finally become self-conscious about C.G.I.”

How To Fix The Oscars’ Diversity Problem

It’s no secret that the Academy is not diverse. A 2014 study found that its membership was 94 percent white, 76 percent male, and an average of 63 years old—so the most prestigious awards are governed by the tastes of very old white men. The Academy not only needs to diversify its leadership, but should also institute a cut-off age of 65 for members whose tastes no longer reflect the current zeitgeist.

What Makes One Thing A Language And Another A Dialect?

A language is indeed a dialect with an army and a navy; or, more to the point, a language is a dialect that got put up in the shop window. Yes, people can sit down in a room and decide upon a standardized version of a dialect so that large numbers of people can communicate with maximal efficiency—no more clau, clav, and ciav. But standardization doesn’t make something “better.”

Top Posts From AJBlogs 01.20.16

Playing For The Screens – Is Our Obsession With Video Changing The Live Arts Experience?
One weekend last November, the biggest box-office at movie theatres throughout the UK wasn’t for the latest Hollywood blockbuster (the latest Hunger Games movie opened that Friday). It was for a live broadcast of  Kenneth Branagh’s production of  The Winter’s Tale which was streamed live to 520 theatres in the UK … read more
AJBlog: Diacritical Published 2016-01-20

Repeating some lessons
As we head into 2016, we — meaning we in classical music — have to focus more than ever on the future. We have to! Because here are some truths, truths that can’t be said strongly enough. … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-01-20

How Cage Makes Us Philosophize
One name that musicians may run across often in the literature on John Cage and not recognize is Richard Fleming. He’s a philosophy professor at Bucknell University, a friend of mine for twenty-five years, and … read more
AJBlog: PostClassic Published 2016-01-20

For Fun: Shorty Rogers
When the music labeled West Coast Jazz was still in its heyday, before rock achieved more or less total dominance in popular music, Shorty Rogers maintained his popularity. One of his most successful pieces was … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-01-20

slow it down
The sixth movement of Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie presents an interesting lesson in melody, harmony and scoring, if we can step beyond the usual comments on birdsong, modes of limited transposition and the Ondes Martenot … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2016-01-20

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