Can Computers Help Us Understand Art Better?

“A new field of research aims to deepen, and even quantify, our understanding of this intangible quality. Inherently interdisciplinary, visual stylometry uses computational and statistical methods to calculate and compare these underlying image features in ways humans never could before. Instead of relying only on what our senses perceive, we can use these mathematical techniques to discover novel insights into artists and artworks.”

How The Young Ernest Hemingway Invented ‘Ernest Hemingway’

“When it came to selling copy, Hemingway was one of America’s most versatile leading men, and certainly one of the country’s most fascinating entertainers. By then, everyone had long forgotten one of his earliest roles: unpublished nobody. It was one of the few Hemingway personas that never really suited him. In fact, in the early 1920s – strapped for cash, ravenous for recognition – he was frantic to rid himself of it.”

Hollywood’s Box Office Crisis

“What’s really happening? How did Hollywood become overrun with sequels, and why does it suddenly seems as if nobody wants to see them? The short answer is that the movie industry has over-learned the lesson that sequels perform well at the box office and has tried to sequelize every marginally successful movie. The deeper answer is that, on top of long-term structural declines in movie attendance, Hollywood is losing its grip on young people.”

First Time In 70 Years: Edinburgh Festival Offers Fewer Shows

“The 1.3 per cent drop is also mirrored in a six per cent slide in the number of Fringe venues this summer, when the event will go head-to-head with the Rio Olympics. Fringe organisers said the drop in the number of shows was down to a number of site-specific venues not reappearing this year and a decision not to include events in its own headquarters.”

A Rotten Tomatoes For Books

“Book Marks will showcase critics from the most important and active outlets of literary journalism in America, aggregating reviews from over 70 sources – newspapers, magazines, and websites – and averaging them into a letter grade, as well as linking back to their source.”