What exactly is ‘intellectual cool’? For a start, although it includes intellectual trends, or what we sometimes call ‘fashions,’ it obviously is not just this. And here we run up against a very difficult problem – what we call ‘cool’ never describes itself, never declares itself, and never advises who it will be visiting next. People who write about Spinoza will never say they’re doing so because he’s really cool at the moment. Equally, ask a hipster who they hate the most and they will say, without a moment’s hesitation, ‘Hipsters! I f*cking hate them!’ – Sydney Review of Books
Tag: 02.07.19
Old Soviet-Style Cafeterias Are Becoming Popular In 21st-Century Moscow
The ingredients are more consistent in quality and the kitchens are cleaner than back then, but otherwise, the new stolovayas are remarkably like the old ones, with people waiting in long lines to get served mashed potatoes, stuffed cabbage, herring, and borscht by surly workers. Nostalgia for the superpower USSR? Not exactly: it’s comfort food, and far more affordable than most restaurants in Moscow. – Atlas Obscura
This Man Could Have Been The Great American Impressionist Composer
“When composers die prematurely, it’s tempting to imagine what they might have produced had they lived to a riper age. … Consider, for example, the life of Charles Tomlinson Griffes, a man largely — and unjustly — forgotten by the general public today.” – The American Scholar
John Mason, 91, Pioneer Of Abstract Ceramic Sculpture
“[He] was one of a group of artists who … blew past utilitarian definitions of what clay was good for and made experimental, often very large works that ended up in galleries and museums rather than craft shows. A dramatic example was Blue Wall, an abstract clay wall piece 21 feet by 7 feet, created in 1959. – The New York Times
Disability As Strength – Except When Portrayed As Cliche In The Theatre
“Modern thinking around disability looks to a social model: people are disabled by society’s structures, the stairs they can’t climb and the doors a wheelchair can’t fit though are simple examples. It’s the job we can’t get, because having a disability is viewed as an inherent weakness rather than living with it being a demonstration of strength.” – The Guardian
Silicon Valley Tech Says It Wants To Save The World. The Reality May Be Quite Different
At some tech companies, faith in the mission is encouraged to the point that it resembles religious belief. Employees are invited to see themselves as proselytizers for the transformation of society, spreading the ideas of a company and its leaders around the world. What happens, though, when the mission doesn’t accord with the behavior of a company or the values of its employees? – The New Republic
You’re Not Wrong: Pop Music Today Sounds Different – How Science Killed Sonic Nuance
Our ears perceive loudness in an environment by reflexively noting the dynamic range — the difference between the softest and loudest sounds (in this case, the environment is the recording itself, not the room you are playing it in). A blaring television commercial may make us turn down the volume of our sets, but its sonic peaks are no higher than the regular programming preceding it. The commercial just hits those peaks more often. A radio station playing classical music may be broadcasting a signal with the same maximum strength as one playing hip-hop, but the classical station broadcast will hit that peak perhaps once every few minutes, while the hip-hop station’s signal may peak several times per second. – The New York Times
The Oregon College Of Arts And Crafts Will No Longer Grant Degrees
The OCAC’s future is in doubt after negotiations with both Portland State University and the Pacific Northwest College of Art ended without a deal. Meanwhile, with 70 full and part-time staff and a campus that may be about to be sold off, “OCAC serves 137 students, with around 50 due to graduate in May. It has begun transition planning for the remaining 80 in its degree program.” – Oregon ArtsWatch
The Star Of ‘Roma’ Wasn’t Plucked From Obscurity
Here’s some of the real story of Yalitza Aparicio, the first indigenous woman nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. Sure, she didn’t know cinema that well – and here’s why: “She simply wasn’t all that enamored of an industry that rarely depicted indigenous life in a meaningful way. … ‘I never found a representation that seemed similar to me or that touched on the ways I was raised.'” – Los Angeles Times
Books: Not Dead At All, Not Even Dying
So, to quote a great movie whose screenwriter had also written the book, stop saying that! “The reality is that if 76% of any population is participating in a single activity then you are surrounded by people doing that very thing. The article said that books are dying; the research said—to me, at least—that we are a nation of readers.” – Time