Crickets? Fireflies? Metronomes … and clapping: “Objects with rhythm naturally synchronize.” OK, but so what? Well, scientists are finding real-world applications of abstruse mathematical theories – for instance, “rules about how to stabilize the synchronization of power grids and more stably integrate the U.S. grid with intermittent energy sources like solar and wind.” – Quanta Magazine
Tag: 04.04.19
425 Years Of ‘Titus Andronicus’ In Popular Culture
“The image of a mother made to eat her children was hard to shake, and a couple of decades after its 1594 premiere, artists had already begun to appropriate — O.K., fine, cannibalize — its plot for uses comic, tragic and savagely satirical. Its blood has spattered everything from bootleg Dutch tragedies to Japanese anime to Game of Thrones. Directors have staged it with almost no gore and with nothing but gore. It has been modernized, musicalized, performed by puppets and adapted to Kabuki. Stephen K. Bannon sent it into space.” – The New York Times
The Answer To Distraction? Slow Art
There’s Slow Food. There’s Slow (Longform) Journalism. Now there’s Slow Art. To get people in the mood for slow art, Christie’s, the V&A and the Natural History Museum have been offering yoga and sound meditation baths before visitors step foot into their exhibitions. But rather than putting them in a trance, it’s all about switching on their senses. – BBC
An Oral History Of The Most Cursed Film Production Ever To Actually Get Finished
Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote “has to be one of the unluckiest passion projects in history: In a three-decade stretch, Gilliam, now 78, endured several financing stops and starts, a rotating cast of committed and uncommitted cast members, and a brutal flash flood that wiped out an entire set. … In interviews, those who had stayed with Gilliam on this ride could be described as the director’s own Sancho Panzas: equal parts loyal and astounded that Gilliam kept pressing on, even under the most challenging circumstances.” – The New York Times
To Replace ‘Car Talk’ On Stations’ Weekend Schedules, NPR Develops A Lighthearted Hard News Show
It’s Been a Minute isn’t a comedy show like Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. Says co-founder and host Sam Sanders, “We kind of trick our listeners into thinking it’s like a little fun talk party but, like, no, we’re giving you a lot of news stories. It’s still journalism. We’re still storyboarding, we’re still researching, we’re still fact-checking.” – Current
Why The Slowpoke In Front Of You On The Sidewalk Or In The Checkout Line Drives You Nuts
Blame evolution. “Impatience made sure we didn’t die from spending too long on a single unrewarding activity. It gave us the impulse to act. But that good thing is gone. The fast pace of society has thrown our internal timer out of balance. It creates expectations that can’t be rewarded fast enough — or rewarded at all.” – Nautilus
Think Western Music Theory Was Invented In Ancient Greece? Nope
In fact, a set of scholars now believe, the Greeks based their music on scales and instruments like the lyre that had been developed more than 1,000 years earlier in Babylonia, from which come the oldest evidence of a heptatonic scale and the oldest pieces of music we have. Olivia Giovetti does a deep dive (with particular reference to opera). – Van
Terri Gross Talks To Yannick Nézet-Séguin On ‘Fresh Air’
On conducting with his whole body: “My model in this is really Leonard Bernstein because he also [conveyed] how every bone of the body should express music while on the podium. Why just limit it to the arms, which is what usually people see? It’s the eyes, the eyebrows, the shoulders, the feet.” (audio) – NPR
How The Museum Field Is Dealing With Repatriation Of Culture
Chip Colwell: “As a museum curator and scholar of the repatriation movement, I am stunned by the pace of these unfolding events, which seemed unlikely not long ago. I now understand that the repatriation battles are not isolated to a few museums wrestling with their colonial legacies. These clashes are fueling a war over the rights of former colonial subjects and the future of museums.” – The New York Times
There’s A Ton Of Money In Video Games. Video Game Workers Aren’t Getting Much Of It
It’s a $44 billion business. But recently there have been layoffs. Workers have no protection. And some parts of the workforce barely make $10 an hour. Not the picture you thought, right? – The New York Times