“Once we buy into a specific apparatus, it’s awfully hard to leave it. Your cultural artifact is locked within that system, constrained by its programming. Notice how another user’s Instagram photo can’t be resized, emailed, or downloaded to your hard drive. It can’t exist within any other ecosystem than Instagram’s.”
Tag: 06.14.15
Iconic Victorian Gas Structures Are Going Down All Over The UK
“Gasometers were crucially important to the growth of London as a modern city and to Britain as an industrial and post-industrial nation. The use of gas in street lighting, for instance, is a central element in the creation of the modern city and these amazing floating structures are where the gas was eventually stored. They are important as scientific as well as architectural icons and we should preserve the best of them.”
Crowd-Sourced Piracy Gets Crowd-Sourced Chinese Novels Translated
“Vietnamese writer and translator Trang Ha condemned the conservatism of Vietnamese literature, and the paucity of good-quality fiction available to her compatriots. She was speaking in response to the increasing availability of Chinese novels in Vietnam – works which have often taken a convoluted and heavily mediated route to market.”
Can You Make ‘Othello’ Fresh With Your Casting Choices?
“Might [race] be erased, no longer an issue between the two men – or for the audience, who just get to watch two top-drawer actors? Or might it be highlighted, even encouraging us to see both as victims of prejudice, an Iago consumed with self-loathing?”
Nah, TV Doesn’t Have A ‘Rape Glut’ – It’s Just Keeping Things Real
“Numerically, the depiction of rape on television is much closer to reflecting reality than, say, death by terrorist, serial killer, rogue CIA agent or the many clever murderers that fuel our detective series.”
What It’s Like To Lead A Ballet Company In New Zealand
“I was still amazed at the high standard of dancers. Every company has its own strengths and atmosphere but the RNZB is very strong. The dancers are hungry to learn, they are looking for coaching, they want to be the best they can. I always tell dancers that to be good you have to put your heart in your legs, that you can’t dance without heart, and that’s what I’ve found here.”
If ‘Ulysses’ Were Published Today, What Would Folks Make Of It?
Charles McGrath: “By the standards of today’s dirty books, Ulysses seems pretty tame, and it’s hard to put yourself back in the mind-set of those who took such strenuous offense in the 20s.”
Rivka Galchen: “I can report that in my research I did not come across a single contemporary reviewer describing the book as obscene. Perhaps this accounts for why there aren’t really that many raves out there.”