Where Music Meets Meteorology

“Variable 4 is the brainchild of composer James Bulley and erstwhile computer scientist Daniel Jones. The pair met when they were shortlisted for the New Cross Art Prize in 2008 … This led them to the idea of a sound art installation where the music played was composed by contemporaneous weather conditions.”

Frank Gehry Finally Makes It In New York

“What Gehry, evergreen at 82, has been building up there on the site of a former parking lot on the border of New York’s financial district, close by Brooklyn Bridge, is an $875m (£543.3m), 870ft, 76-storey residential tower, clad in heroic, sculpted folds of stainless steel. It houses 903 rental apartments – none are for sale – with prices ranging upwards of $2,630 a month, and is due for completion in five months’ time.”

The Computer As Culture Machine

“The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production (you can make stuff), means of distribution (you can upload stuff to the network), site of reception (you can download stuff and interact with it), and locus of praise and critique (you can talk about the stuff you have downloaded or uploaded). The computer is the 21st century’s culture machine.”

Texting While Watching – Is It A Psychological Disorder?

“People are silently firing up their smartphone screens in darkened theaters everywhere. At the movies. During plays. At concerts. And it shows no sign of going away. That compulsion is real, and there are a number of societal, psychological and physiological reasons more and more people are reaching for their smartphones without giving it a second thought — frequently to the irritation of those around them.”

Boston’s Oldest Continuously Operating Theater Goes Dark

The Colonial “has weathered world wars, economic downturns, and changing tastes. But it now faces an unexpected shutdown because of failed negotiations between Emerson College, which owns the Colonial, and Broadway Across America-Boston, which has presented such popular touring musicals as “Mamma Mia!” and “Sweeney Todd” while leasing the 1,704- seat theater over the last decade.”