Unlike those who write dry, hyper-specialized academic criticism, Greil Marcus isn’t afraid, as one reader of his once put it, to let “everything remind him of everything else.” While discussing, say, a Bob Dylan B-side, he can suddenly juxtapose a line from one of Abraham Lincoln’s speeches with a particularly biting piece of dialogue from an obscure noir. This intuitive collage of different voices can offer the reader insights that aren’t available otherwise. – The Baffler
Tag: 05.18.20
Teachers, Want To Get Your Students Interested In Learning Grammar? Start With A Rant
Not your own rant, mind you. A pair of teachers recommends using one of those vehement complaints that turn up every so often in advice columns or blogs. “[The instructors] “note that heated, emotional writing like this is more interesting to students than dry lists of rules to follow. More importantly, rants offer a clear demonstration of how powerful people make judgments — often harsh ones — based on grammar.” – JSTOR Daily
Alex Ross: Connecting With Music Through Tinny Video
“As a critic, I am desperate to maintain contact with what musicians are doing, thinking, and feeling. The sound is often tinny, the stage patter awkward, the home décor distracting. One could instead sample archived professional-quality videos that opera houses, orchestras, and other organizations have placed online. For me, though, the live or freshly recorded happenings matter more. They document, with the oblique power that the arts possess, an extraordinary human phase in history. Their mere existence is bracing, and at times they achieve startling power.” – The New Yorker
How Visual Images Change In The Internet Era
From our present experience of the internet, what changes might we expect? We are all André Malraux now. To create his “museum without walls,” an archive of images from around the world, begun in 1947, he had to collect and sift through thousands of photographs. Now anyone can readily compare any selection of works, setting them side-by-side. – Hyperallergic
Company Creates Drones To Disinfect Theatres
In the innovative system, the disinfectant is stored on the ground, and pumped through a hose to the hovering drone, which then spreads it throughout the theater. Meanwhile, another drone drifts underneath it to make sure that the hose does not get tangled in any of the seats. – Forbes
Truth, Fiction And The Disconnect Of Intelligence
“The dual nature of power and truth results in the curious fact that we humans know many more truths than any other animal, but we also believe in much more nonsense. We are both the smartest and the most gullible inhabitants of planet Earth.” – The New York Times
The Meaning Of Power: An Online Meritocracy?
Today’s internet generations have been graced with equity at birth, in that they have the means to create power for themselves, even if they do not start out with it. In the digital world, the myth of power persists as a construct. To believe that you have power is to have it. – The New York Times
Learning, Remotely, How To Create Theatre Using Virtual Reality
“[A new course at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts] pairs students with professional technologists and artists to explore questions about the future of live performance and technology. Along the way, they collaborate on real-world projects that incorporate virtual and augmented reality, 360-degree capture, and more. … And all of this happens remotely, with the entire class taught in VR using Oculus Quest headsets.” – American Theatre
Cambridge University Moves All Classes Online Until 2021
A Cambridge spokesman told LBC News: “The University is constantly adapting to changing advice as it emerges during this pandemic. Given that it is likely that social distancing will continue to be required, the University has decided there will be no face-to-face lectures during the next academic year. – LBC News
She’s The Serge Diaghilev Of The 21st Century
Beth Morrison and her company have produced dozens of new operas and music-theater works since they launched in 2005, including such prize-winning, audience-thrilling pieces as Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves and Du Yun’s Angel’s Bone. In a Q&A, she talks about how and why she crossed over from singing into production, how she chooses projects, and where she sees the art form heading. (And by the way, “Nothing’s easy about producing opera. Nothing at all. It’s expensive, it’s challenging, everything about it is hard.”) – San Francisco Classical Voice