Ted Gioia talks to Scott Timberg: “Jazz shouldn’t be a kind of nutritional supplement. … This music is exciting. … In every step of its evolution jazz shook up things, and not just the music world, it shook up the culture.”
Tag: 05.18.16
Are Cultural Organizations Really Reaching Low-Income Visitors? A Look At The Numbers
Colleen Dilenschneider: “Data suggest that some types of cultural organizations are perceived as more welcoming than others. Here’s how we could do better.”
Our Brains Are Not Computers And Don’t Work Like Them (Why Do Some People Find This Hard To, Er, Process?)
“Our shoddy thinking about the brain has deep historical roots, but the invention of computers in the 1940s got us especially confused. For more than half a century now, psychologists, linguists, neuroscientists and other experts on human behaviour have been asserting that the human brain works like a computer.” Robert Epstein reminds us of the (enormous) differences.
Innovative, Influential Biographer Of Mozart And Wagner Dies At 90
Robert W. Gutman’s “Wagner book, which placed its subject in the larger intellectual context of his times, infuriated idolaters, for whom the master could do no wrong.”
Susan Sarandon’s Plan For Retirement? Directing Female-Friendly Porn
“I have threatened, in my 80s, to direct porn. I haven’t watched enough to know what the problems are. Most pornography is brutal and doesn’t look pleasurable from a female point of view. So I’ve been saying that when I no longer want to act, I want to do that.”
Richard Thomas Will Never Stop Being John-Boy, But Now He’s Jimmy Carter Too
“I’ve never been interested in obliterating John-Boy. I loved that character and show. Families come up to me now with very young children who watch the show, and it thrills me. I’m very happy that John-Boy is still up in his room writing on his tablets for a lot of people.” [Warning: This story contains spoilers for Season 4 of The Americans.]
What Do Regular Folks Who Visit The Barnes Foundation Think? (That’s What Dr. Barnes Cared About)
“Barnes (1872-1951) feuded with the art establishment of his day and disliked most art historians and academic aestheticians. It was the unschooled lover of art he welcomed to his great art collection grounds in Lower Merion.” Now that his collection has been in central Philadelphia for four years, “in Barnes’ egalitarian spirit, we asked visitors, ‘What do you like the most – and why?'” (includes video)
More Favorites From Visitors To The Barnes Foundation
“Matt Hanczaryk, 39, a South Philly self-described recovering Catholic and indiscriminate existentialist, says: ‘I was walking around the galleries like I was in a beautiful funeral, then I saw her and it woke me from that reverie.'”
Is Snapchat The Closest Thing (On Our Phones) To Pure Emotional Communication?
“This is not to say that text is irredeemable. A significant humanization of our text interactions happened quietly in 2011, when emoji were introduced as part of an Apple iOS software update. They offered a palette of punctuation that clarified intent. Tacking on emoji like hearts, skulls, grins and bugged-out eyes to a short message made it infinitely easier to confidently project sarcasm, humor, grief and love across a medium that had been, until then, emotionally arid.”
The Director Who Failed At Painting And Acting, Survived A Stabbing And Changed The Theatre World
“In fusing two cultures, Mr. Ninagawa injected modern music, Buddhist imagery, indigenous Japanese flora and teeming spectacles into classic plays. Yet he remained faithful to the text.”