“In this sense, a philosopher, academic, or any kind of writer is the worst person to ask about how to live a fulfilling life. Their obligation to themselves is not to resolve their own problems, but to plumb the depths of their own discontent, seeking after a truth in unhappiness. It is not likely that anything that can be articulated in an intellectually honest essay can bestow a fulfilling life on you.”
Tag: 06.02.15
Virginia Symphony Loses So Much Funding, It Won’t Play At Colonial Williamsburg On The Fourth Of July
“They approached the Williamsburg City Council, which indicated it would kick in about $23,000 to pay for the orchestra. And they launched an online Kickstarter campaign to raise another $31,000 to pay for the staging, audio set-up and large video screen. But this year’s efforts weren’t successful.”
The Poky Little Puppy Problem, Or, Why So Many Terrible Children’s Books Are Such Classics
“The problem is that young children have terrible taste and enjoy garbage. Another problem, which compounds the first problem, is that they want to hear the same books hundreds of times in a row. So for all the joys that storytime can offer, it frequently entails a kind of dismal self-abnegation that’s too excruciating even to describe as tedium.”
Government-Sponsored Special Departments For Trolling
“The Columbian Chemicals hoax was not some simple prank by a bored sadist. It was a highly coordinated disinformation campaign, involving dozens of fake accounts that posted hundreds of tweets for hours, targeting a list of figures precisely chosen to generate maximum attention. The perpetrators didn’t just doctor screenshots from CNN; they also created fully functional clones of the websites of Louisiana TV stations and newspapers. The YouTube video of the man watching TV had been tailor-made for the project. A Wikipedia page was even created for the Columbian Chemicals disaster.”
The Rock Critic, R.I.P. (All But The Burial)
“What Robert Christgau once called the ‘rock-critic establishment’ has been eclipsed by a more assertive culture of fandom. And although music criticism as an art form—a window onto literature or painting or new forms of journalism or politics in the broadest sense of that term—still exists in pockets, the idea that the critic could serve as a gatekeeper of popular taste sounds preposterous.”
Politically Correct? What’s Wrong With That?
“What has come to be called “political correctness” used to be known as “good manners” and was considered part of being a decent human being. The term is now employed to write off any speech that is uncomfortably socially conscious, culturally sensitive or just plain left-wing. The term is employed, too often, to shut down free speech in the name of protecting speech.”
Investing In Broadway – A Fun Way To Lose Money
Broadway producers may use the Internet for all sorts of things, but rarely for raising money. Shows are financed pretty much the same way they were 50 years ago, face to face and on the phone.
The Brooklyn Museum’s Dynamic New Director Has Big Plans
As visionary, ambitious, and successful as Anne Pasternak’s programming has been at Creative Time, it’s a leap, to say the least, for her to assume leadership of the encyclopedic Brooklyn Museum, which has a staff of more than three hundred and fifty and resides in a five-story McKim, Mead & White building, whose oldest bits date back to 1893.
Iraq’s National Museum Reopened In February. It’s Struggling
“Three months later, however, and the museum is struggling to attract visitors. Some Baghdad residents insist they aren’t aware of its existence, despite a much publicized ceremony to mark the occasion, while others have stayed away because of a recent uptick in terrorist attacks—one of which struck a nearby café—that has persuaded many to cut down on nonessential movement.”
This Just In: Arts Criticism Isn’t Dead
“Digital-age publishers are obsessed with the idea of community; of building it and/or finding it and/or representing it. There is no such thing as “community,” at least as far as it relates to how people consistently or predictably respond to the things you put in front of them. Therefore, don’t take any “community” for granted. It doesn’t really exist.”