“For a while we thought we could choose our own music. Remember that? In the wake of the last century we seized the right to take our pick from all of the songs in the world (All of the songs in the world!) and told anyone who didn’t like it exactly where they could go. And when it turned out that was too many songs after all (how many lifetimes are needed for a complete survey of Memphis soul? Or Brazilian funk?), a new category of music services appeared to ease our burden.”
Tag: 07.12.16
Some Happy News From Turkey: Antiquities Traffickers Arrested With 2,000-Year-Old Statue Of Aphrodite
“Istanbul anti-smuggling police units contacted two suspects who were trying to sell historical artifacts obtained from illegal excavations upon received intelligence. The two suspects, identified as A.Ş. and Y.Z., demanded 1 million Turkish Liras for the 13 artifacts, which included the Roman period statue of Aphrodite, seven bottles, two wine cups, two cubes and a piece of sheet glass sent as a gift to a princess.”
Is It Time To Establish Quotas For Female Choreographers?
A debate and forum in London earlier this month came to close to recommending just that: one of the action points was “Implement strategic equality quotas with Boards, funders, Associate Artists and artistic programmes.” The conclusion was that “‘strategic quotas’ could be beneficial if, and only if, they created a trickledown effect. But how effective can quotas be?” And would it help or hurt if government funders required them?
This French City Was Once ‘Culturally Dead’ – And Free Public Art Brought It Back To Life
“‘The city was culturally dead when I arrived here,’ says Jean Blaise, an artistic director and cultural impresario who has been based in Nantes since the mid-1980s. ‘There was one interesting festival and the opera house, that’s all.'” Now it’s France’s fastest-growing city and has real cachet. The key? “‘If you make people pay for culture, or only offer it in enclosed spaces like theatres or museums, you will only ever reach a small percentage of the population,’ Blaise says.”
An Oregon Community Talks Race (In The Theatre)
“One thing that did not get spoken on Monday night – the subject is vast, and the time was brief – is the role that theater people and other artists bring to the telling of stories. Whose stories get told, and whose get ignored? How are the stories told? Who tells them? Who listens? What is the role of theater and other arts organizations in expanding the conversation, in making it emotionally understandable and at the same time spreading more light than heat? Who gets hired? Who doesn’t? These are essential questions that contemporary artists and their followers need to confront.”
New Evidence In Case Of Three Picassos Stolen From His Stepdaughter
“Art dealer Olivier Thomas has been placed under investigation once again as new evidence has emerged in the ongoing investigation into stolen Picasso paintings. Last year, Picasso’s stepdaughter Catherine Hutin-Blay accused the dealer … of stealing three works from her.”
Will We Still Need Dancers In The Age Of Robots?
“I cling to the slim hope that some human labor will always be necessary. Somebody will have to program the prima ballerina to dance. But choreography will be taught at schools like MIT. Humans will still be needed to build and repair the prima ballerina robots, unless other robots are built for the purpose of building and repairing prima ballerina robots. But even then, humans will still be needed to build and repair the robots that are built for the purpose of building and repairing prima ballerina robots, unless other robots are built for the purpose of building and repairing those robots. But even then, humans will still be needed to build and repair those robots. Right?”
The Critic As Crime Detective (Suspicion Abounds)
“What suspicion as an interpretive approach implies is that literary texts are always hiding something. The meaning of a work is buried, a brilliant jewel whose rays can only be glimpsed once the layers of obfuscating sediment have been flensed from the text. So, like a patient in analysis, whatever it seems on the surface to say, it must really mean something else. Under this cool, post-Freudian gaze the motives of authors, narrators and readers themselves are revealed as equally obscure and unreliable.”
No, It’s Not Your Imagination – Pop Music Is Getting More Narcissistic (We’ve Got The Data)
“Compared with earlier years, songs in 2010 were more likely to include the singer referring to the self by name, general self-promotion, and bragging about wealth, partner’s appearance, or sexual prowess,” the researchers report. “A similar, albeit nonsignificant increase, was also seen for bragging about musical prowess and demands for respect. Overall, the most popular music from 2010 contained more self-promotion than music from 1990 or 2000.”
‘Being John Malkovich,’ ‘Adaptation,’ ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ – And Charlie Kaufman Thinks He Blew His Career
“I don’t feel like I’ve got that cachet that I had at a certain point [after those three films]. I see people seizing the moment when they have the same kind of explosion that I had, and I just didn’t do it. I didn’t know how to do it – I didn’t want to do it. I just thought ‘Oh, this is good! I’ll be able to just keep working.'”