Reading an e-book “still feels like, well, reading a book: tabbing through pages, digesting information linearly.” But the tech company Semi-Linear’s new Citia iPad app “reinvents long-form non-fiction for the tablet, turning books into something that resembles less a sequence of chapters and more a digital spread of sharable, customizable, collectible cards.”
Tag: 06.21.12
American Theater And Its Secret, Wayward Brother: Boxing
“[The] truth is that pugilism and the American theater have been in bed together from the very beginning. The idea of these two areas of amusement being totally segregated from one another is far newer. The common birthplace of these estranged siblings was the 19th-century saloon.”
Brazilians Flock To Theme Park To Experience Winter
About three hours from São Paulo, in a high valley planted with pine trees, lies Campos do Jordão, “a cozy cluster of German-styled beer halls, Gruyere-perfumed fondue joints and timber-framed Swiss chalets with steep A-shaped roofs designed to bear the weight of heavy snow.”
Will The Art World Support Obama?
“Despite the introduction of policies that have alienated sections of the arts lobby, it looks as though key figures in the US art world will once again step up to back Barack Obama as their candidate in the presidential race.”
Art Of Destruction
“Dedicated to creating works that reflect the fear and anxieties of a post-9/11 world–or at least challenge the notion that an artwork must withstand the test of time–many artists are incorporating elements of obliteration in their work. Not all of the productions are violent; some are simply chilling in their subtle references to everyday occurrences.”
How Major Universities Are Transforming Learning Online
“The first online course from MITx earlier this year had more students than the entire number of living students who have graduated from the university. In fact, it isn’t far from the total of all the students who have ever been there since the 19th Century.”
Sports Painter LeRoy Neiman, 91
“The accessible works of art he painted depicted sports and other leisure activities with bold, distinctive strokes on a canvas that invariably brimmed with color. He was so successful that as early as 1976 The [L.A.] Times called him ‘in market terms … a bigger success than Rembrandt – or any other painter’.”
Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago Drops The ‘Jazz’
Nan Giordano, artistic director of the company now called Giordano Dance Chicago (and daughter of the troupe’s founder): “We’ve grown into a repertory company. Our mission has always been to take audiences on a journey we call jazz dance. But I don’t think that means we necessarily have to perform to jazz music.”
There’s A Place Where People Still Flock To Bookstores – France
“The French, as usual, insist on being different. As independent bookstores crash and burn in the United States and Britain, the book market in France is doing just fine. France boasts 2,500 bookstores, and for every neighborhood bookstore that closes, another seems to open.”
Great Moments In Authorial Self-Promotion
“[H]istory shows us that many authors have been willing to go to the extreme in order to get noticed. Here’s a look at some of the more fabled attempts made over the years …”