“My question for the Twitterhood is this: Is a hashtag the racial absolver of all statements said before it?”
Tag: 06.21.13
The Return To Ghost Island – Funded By Crowdsourcing And Led By A Poet
“About 50 years ago, the threat of rock slides, the spread of tuberculosis and the loss of men to World War II forced residents to relocate to the mainland. King Island has been a ghost island ever since.” Will the visitors be able to find a thread of their identity?
That Time When The British Literary World Flat-Out Forgot One Of Its Stars
“Critics seemed embarrassed to praise her work even when they loved it, as if their enthusiasm were simply an idiosyncrasy. Reviewing “Excellent Women” (1952) in The Daily Telegraph, John Betjeman said many people would surely find it ‘tame,’ what with all the church bazaars and the boiled eggs and the cups of tea. He added, almost apologetically, ‘For me it is a perfect book.'”
In A Twist, Germany Is Protesting Russian Exhibit Of WWII-Looted Art
“After hours of thinly disguised recriminations on both sides, the two leaders announced, an hour before the exhibition was due to open, they would indeed attend but there would be no joint opening and Merkel’s speech had been cancelled.”
Why Are Fan-Made Trailers So (Often) Much Better Than The Official Ones?
“There are piss-taking projects like Honest Trailers and Literal Trailers, which point out the hyperbole in a lot of movie promos; those done in the style of the Shining remix, which recut trailers to make them different than their actual genre; and supercuts, which collect every instance of a certain kind of cinematic moment into one video.”
Design Fairs Sprout Up Like Weeds – And May Have About The Same Impact
“Are festivals and biennales dynamic catalysts to discuss and celebrate the city and architectural culture?… Or are they calculated devices of tourism and industrial promotion?”
Is Dancing A Beautiful Gift – Or A Sinister Burden?
“‘You have this massive dream to be this ballerina, to be out there onstage performing, and you pour everything into it,’ she said in an interview. ‘Then there is a point where you feel like you are trapped in it and cannot get out. And that is the curse.'”
It’s OK To Let (A Book) Go, Really. No, REALLY.
Watch out for “the Stockholm Syndrome Theory Of Long Novels: you start craving the achievement of finishing, whether or not a book’s worth it.”
When The Athletes And Parties Go Away, What Happens To An Olympics City?
Some cities do it right (Barcelona!), and some … well. Let’s just say Athens. So what’s the solution?
Does Making A Million Bucks On Kickstarter Make This Musician An Inspiration – Or Annoying?
Amanda Palmer “has made an art of asking for help, of trusting her crowd ‘to catch me,’ hence her determination to sleep on her fans’ couches, and have them draw all over her naked body in marker pens, and have them fund her music directly.”