“The defining feature of video games is interaction, the three-way conversation among designer, machine and player.”
Tag: 03.03.13
Meet The Jon Stewart Of Egypt
“Inspired by the events [of the anti-Mubarak uprising], and driven partly by the state media’s outrageously misleading coverage of them, [Bassem] Youssef started recording commentary in his own home, which he broadcast on YouTube. … And he quickly became known for saying what so many Egyptians were thinking – and for being hilarious at the same time. A local network noticed and made an offer. He accepted, and left surgery for satire.”
Chen Kaige Says China’s Smog Is Choking His Filmmaking
“‘Cornered by the terrible weather, I have nowhere to go … I am unable to focus on my artistic creation,’ said Chen Kaige, who won the Palme d’Or for his 1993 film Farewell My Concubine.”
Meet BalletMet Columbus’s New Artistic Director, Edwaard Liang
“I see myself as kind of a psychiatrist to dancers. … That being said, I think I am a bit of a taskmaster. I know what I want, and I don’t settle for less. I am driven to excellence. I have learned to adapt my personality to the dancers. My volume may go up a bit, but I never yell.”
Is Los Angeles Falling Behind?
“In an age of globalization, it’s easier than ever to see what improvements other cities are making to their parks, transit networks and infrastructure. And easier than ever to measure all the ways Los Angeles is falling behind.”
How Neuroscience Is Changing The Ways We Think About Ourselves
“Scientific concepts have always washed in and out of popular consciousness but like never before, the brain has become part of contemporary culture.”
Making The Buildings Sing (The Art Of Architecture Photography)
“The task is to capture the intention behind someone else’s design — to distill the philosophy of a building into a single, digestible image that transcends explanation. It’s not easy, but when it’s done well it looks effortless.”
Wolfgang Sawallisch, Progressive? At The Philadelphia Orchestra, Yes
“Perhaps surprisingly, what remains of Sawallisch in the orchestra today has less to do with the internal musical dynamics of the ensemble than with the way he prodded the organization to relate more to the outside world. … his innovations not only live on, the orchestra’s current stewards embrace them as salvation.”
A New TV Character Archetype: The Hummingbird
“They’re idealistic feminine dreamers whose personalities are irritants. They are not merely spunky, but downright obsessive. And most crucially, these are not minor characters. On each show, the Hummingbird is a protagonist – an alienating-yet-sympathetic figure whose struggles are taken seriously and considered meaningful.”
How Rebecca Hall Learned To Play Nasty, Wicked Women
“I was the kid that grew up watching Bette Davis films. When I was 10 years old I went through a patch, maybe three months, where my mom couldn’t get me to bed unless I watched all of All About Eve every night. And I sat there and I tried to recite all of Margo Channing’s lines.”