“A comic that recently depicted one of its characters as suffering from a chronic nosebleed after a visit to the Fukushima power plant has been suspended indefinitely after outrage from Japanese officials.”
Tag: 05.20.14
Dogs Have Grasp Of Deceit And Morality, Say Researchers (Dog Owners Already Knew)
“Watch a couple of dogs play, and you’ll probably see seemingly random gestures, lots of frenetic activity and a whole lot of energy being expended. But decades of research suggest that beneath this apparently frivolous fun lies a hidden language of honesty and deceit, empathy and perhaps even a humanlike morality.” (includes video and slide show)
How They Made A High-Tech Replica Of King Tut’s Tomb
In order to protect the actual 3,300-year-old tomb from the wear and tear of thousands of tourist visits, a team used high-resolution laser scanning and digital photography, high-density polyurethane and resins, and high-definition printers to “rematerialize the physical site”.
Can Conservatives Actually Do Comedy? (And What Do They Find Funny, Anyway?)
Frank Rich: “It’s an article of faith on the right that conservative comedians, like conservative entertainment-industry workers in general, are either blacklisted by Hollywood’s liberal mafia or are in daily danger of being so, thus giving the left a near monopoly on comedy as practiced in the vast cultural swing district of American television. … Still, the hysteria of the anti-Colbert claque made me look at the right’s case again.”
No, Students Have Not Become Too Critical
Noah Berlatsky criticizes the very suggestion. “Critical thinking is inseparable from just plain thinking. You don’t turn off your brain when you watch a film. How can my enjoyment of Roth’s essay be separated from my evaluation of what Roth is saying?”
Not Your Grandfather’s Children’s Theatre
“Theatre for children and young people has changed a great deal in recent years. It tackles many subjects traditionally considered too weighty for a young audience. These range from death … to the environment … We even tackled the banking crisis in 2013’s Bank On It, a show about economics for five to 10-year-olds.”
Dances With Drones
“Surrounded by an all-white stage, sprinkled with black computer monitors facing the audience, the three dancers and their accompanying drones put on a mesmerizing and eerie display. … Upon first viewing, I had so many questions. What does it mean to make beauty with drones? Why is this tension between human dancer and robot so palpably moving? Is this a gimmick?” (includes video)
What Cameron Mackintosh Means To London Musicals
“Without his hands-on approach, acumen and flair, which first started reaping immense rewards with Cats in 1981, the British-led musical would be far less of a global force to be reckoned with. But the West End can’t thrive on hits spawned 30 years or so ago indefinitely, can it?”
Will Kickstarter Save Culture Funding?
Five years after it began, “Kickstarter has funded more than 60,000 projects all over the world, from organic food companies and public parks, to photography exhibitions, museums and fashion lines. It has given life to new novels, operas and musicals, a skatepark in Philadelphia, an underwater robot, several mini satellites, and…”
Netflix: Here’s What Television Will Look Like in 2025
Netflix is now working to perfect its personalization technology to the point where users will no longer have to choose what they want to watch from a grid of shows and movies. Instead, the recommendation engine will be so finely tuned that it will show users “one or two suggestions that perfectly fit what they want to watch now.”