“Slippery plots become clearer after a second viewing, but some movies – such as Inherent Vice – are meant to be confusing. And if critics go back for more, are they being fair to readers, who only get one shot?”
Tag: 01.29.15
The Problem With Public Discourse On The Internet Is Not Political Correctness
It is, argues Michael Lind, the likes of The Incredible Hulk and Mrpoophispants (who is like Hitler).
Keeping Music Alive
“Making sure our music survives is about a lot more than just writing it down. It has to do with teaching our harmonic language and melodic style to those who learn from us. It has to do with nuance, experience, storytelling, and subtlety.”
Can An Australian Director Take Washington, D.C.’s Hirshhorn Global?
Melissa Chiu: “Building on the Hirshhorn’s international presence doesn’t preclude us from having a vital engagement with our more immediate community. I’m very aware that we can create energy around our programming only from building a loyalty and interest in the museum.”
The Cello From 1694
“It’s from Cremona, the period and the place of the golden age of instrument making. Everything was right about the instrument, the arching, the varnish. It was in, for a cello of that age, impeccable condition. … [But] this cello took quite a while to sort of come into its own soundwise.”
Report: Watching TV With Subtitles Is A Bad Experience
User feedback said live subtitles made viewing “frustrating, and, on occasion, unwatchable.” The report highlighted “serious recognition errors” in subtitling software, which led to mistakes such as the phrase “be given to our toddlers” translated as “be given to ayatollahs”.
Why Debates About Today’s Big Issues Have So Little Historical Context
“In contrast to earlier centuries, when the historian’s craft had been the preserve of amateurs such as Gibbon and Macaulay, the 20th century was the era when history professionals emerged – men and women who earned their living from teaching and writing history as employees of universities. Like other professionals, they sought advancement by becoming unquestioned masters of a small terrain, fenced off by their command of specialist archives. The explosion since the 1970s of new subdisciplines – including social history, women’s history and cultural history – encouraged further balkanisation of the subject. Academic historians seemed to be saying more and more about less and less. In consequence, the big debates of our day lack the benefit of historical perspective.”
The Psychology Of Wearing Glasses
When constant-use glasses were first introduced at the start of the 18th century—before, eye assistance was relegated to occasional-use monocles and, presumably, power-squinting—spectacle wearers were mysterious folk. “What were these secret weapons they had on their face? What is this person doing with this device on? Are they trying to capture my soul or something?”
Think Theatre Isn’t Evolving Fast Enough? Nicholas Hytner Begs To Disagree
“I think this new crowd have found ways of producing, ways of finding spaces and turning them into theatres that is unprecedented. They’ve got lots of things to say, they say it in all sorts of different ways, and they find all sorts of ways of saying it.”
Awkward Fit: The Choreographer Who Would Be Genius
“The ballet world, desperate for an heir to Balanchine and Robbins, tends to deify bright young men, and as it tries to puff Justin Peck up, he seems determined to stay firmly on the ground, so to speak.”