“The project’s many critics, including local residents’ groups, political parties and heritage organisations, have lodged multiple appeals, angry that the centre, to be built next to the National Museum on Blasieholmen peninsula, will replace a 140-year-old customs house and other historic harbourside buildings.”
Tag: 06.02.16
The Years When Promoters Could Just Pluck Musicians From Anywhere And Pretend They Were A Famous Music Group
“The Zombies, unaware of their stateside success — this was possible in 1969 — had already moved on to new musical projects or day jobs. This vacuum meant anyone could tour the United States pretending to be the Zombies, even a four-piece blues band from Dallas.”
Voice Interfaces Are Starting To Take Over Our Lives
“Mumbling ‘buy more paper towels’ into the air in your kitchen is about as frictionless as a user experience can get—compared to opening up Amazon on your computer or phone, searching for paper towels, adding them to your cart, and checking out. That makes Alexa—the machine-borne personality that lives inside Echo devices—the ultimate salesperson, and she’s just getting started.”
New Research: Maybe Background Music In Stores Doesn’t Make You Buy More
Background music in shops – disparagingly referred to as “muzak” – has been shown to have an effect on our buying habits, but Marks and Spencer has decided to ditch it completely. The company is removing it from all its UK stores, following “extensive research and feedback” from staff and customers.
Grand Rapids Symphony Gets A New Music Director
The Brazilian-born conductor, who has led the Grand Rapids Symphony twice in the past two seasons, becomes the 14th music director in the 86-year history of the orchestra.
Adverbs Are Cheap? That’s Ridiculously Wrong-Headed
Colin Dickey: “Who will speak on the adverb’s behalf? For once again, it would seem, it is under attack. … We desperately lack a full-throated defense of this runt of the grammatical litter. We need an outright celebration of adverbs, and it is that celebration that I offer – stridently, boisterously, unapologetically.”
Do Movie Box Office Boycotts Work?
What extent do these buzzy boycotts actually affect the spending habits of the general moviegoer? Users of Twitter, where protest hashtags are predominant, reflect only 23 percent of all Internet users, many of them young, affluent, and living in urban areas, according to the Pew Research Center. Moviegoers, meanwhile, are a very diverse bunch, spanning all ages, geographic locations, and household incomes.
The Painting That Put An End To Picasso’s Cubism
“Picasso’s Fall of Icarus, done in 1958, is a defining and appalling statement of [Hannah] Arendt’s post-epic perspective. It aims to put the era of Guernica behind it.” T.J. Clark looks at both how Picasso created the mural and the contention surrounding its commission for the new UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
Voice-Recognition Technology Will Kill ‘All Things Considered’, Says Ex-NPR Exec
Steve Lickteig: “Here’s what I think the future sounds like: You will get in your car and say, ‘Play my news briefing, plus all of last night’s baseball scores, including highlights from the Yankees game. Oh, and give me last week’s Vows column from the New York Times.’ Then, like magic, your audio system will assemble this playlist. That news briefing you asked for? It will come from sources you pre-selected, places like NPR and news organizations yet to be created.”
Why Yannick’s New Job At The Met Is Good For Philadelphia (And Not Just For The Orchestra)
“The orchestra was able to retain Nézet-Séguin even as he was wooed by the Met – which is being seen as something of a feather in the cap of the city.” Said one local arts executive, “He could have so easily just walked away. Everyone is talking about attracting and retaining talent, and the fact that we’ve kept the talent is beyond brilliant. This is such a good story for Philadelphia.”