“This sentiment has a name: declinism. And it has a history, a scholarly one that amounts to much more than the perennial grousing of adults about kids these days. The notion of studying how things go to hell is almost exactly as old as the modern practice of historiography.” Laura Miller casts a gimlet eye on declinism from Gibbon to Spengler to Vargas Llosa – and points out the one way in which “culture” may indeed be dead (for now).
Tag: 06.14.15
Living (And Reading And Writing) In A True Surveillance State
Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran): “It transforms your perspective, your manners, your relationships with friends, colleagues, students, with every waiter and cabdriver you meet. It changes your relationship with yourself.”
The Guy Who Makes Netflix’ House Of Cards Has No Clue How Many People Have Watched It
“They have never given me any data whatsoever. All they say is, ‘Well, we’re doing well and we’d like another season.’ And that’s really all I need to know.”
Houston Ballet Cancels Performance When Crews Discover Serious Rain Damage
“Someone left open the exhaust flues at the very top of the Wortham stage, which let in all the rain. The wood stage floor buckled, the stage lamps were full of water, and the legs and some of the scenery got soaked.”
Art Basel’s Powerful Jury Controls The Market
“The jurors, who separately operate German, Swiss, Italian and American galleries, begin their work about 11 months before the fair. In a series of gatherings, they and their advisers discuss their selections, vote, consider appeals and ponder larger questions: Should they include contemporary Chinese artists? Yes. Art by artists coming of age in the digital era? Definitely.”
Something Rotten! Capitalizes On Its Loser Status
“If by ‘loser’ you’re referring to a man who is greeted eight times a week by a thousand people who stand as one, applauding until their hands are raw, cheering until their voices are spent, whispering, ‘He’s so much better looking in person!,’ and laughing until their faces are contorted in an anguished mask that can best be described as a sort of Bell’s palsy … then yes, I am a loser.”
China’s E-Commerce Giant Alibaba Will Soon Launch ‘Netflix-Like’ Streaming Service
“As an online marketplace, Alibaba is more profitable than Amazon, but the move falls in line with Amazon’s ambitions to make Amazon Prime Instant a popular destination for video streaming.”
How Hollywood Sets Up Women Superheroes To Fail
“That’s our double standard. Poorly penned scripts. Rom-com female superheroes. A lack of female writers. A lack of understanding female audiences. Unknown directors. Significantly lower budgets. Little, if any, merchandising.”
How Did Pixar’s Newest Movie Get Emotions So Right In Image And Word?
“As the filmmakers were working, they would fire off emails to Keltner and to Paul Ekman, a pioneer in the study of emotions. The process helped create a movie that’s true to the underlying science when it shows things like how emotions tend to color Riley’s perception of the world.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs For 06.14.15
Rethinking Multimovement Form
AJBlog: PostClassicPublished 2015-06-14