Zoom fatigue is the feeling of utter hopelessness after your ninth video call of the day, and experts say it’s brought on because the technology overtaxes your brain. Presented with a cropped, often blurry image of a human and a few milliseconds of lag throughout the conversation, your mind splits its attention between what people are saying and what’s happening on the screen, longing for nonverbal cues that just don’t cross over. – Vox
Tag: 08.17.20
What Happened To The Lost Colony Of Roanoke Island? Researchers Say They Have The Answer
It’s American history’s oldest mystery: in 1587, 100-odd colonists sent by Walter Raleigh settled on Roanoke Island in what is now North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Within a few weeks, their leader had to go back to England for supplies, and he wasn’t able to return for three years. When he finally did, he found the settlement abandoned — with the word “CROATOAN” carved on a post. No Europeans ever found the missing Roanoke settlers, and there’s been speculation ever since about what became of them. Now a writer working with a group of archaeologists says that the solution to this puzzle has been hiding in plain sight all along. – The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.)
Two Actors Pursue Berkeley Rep And Their Union For Violating Contracts On Last Day Before COVID Shutdown
On the day in March when the Bay Area got lockdown orders, Berkeley Repertory Theatre called the cast of Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, which was still in rehearsal, to come in on their day off. When the actors arrived, they were told to get into costume and perform the play for video cameras before the company closed for the duration; Berkeley Rep then sold tickets to stream that video in lieu of the cancelled performances. Now two members of the School Girls cast argue that that day constituted a series of contract violations, and they’re pursuing action against both Berkeley Rep for doing what it did and Actors’ Equity for permitting it. – San Francisco Chronicle
Why Rebuilding Beirut’s Arts Ecosystem Will Be So Much Harder Than It Would Be Elsewhere
Artists and institutions in Beirut, large and small, have rebuilt several times since the outbreak of Lebanon’s 15-year civil war in 1975 and through subsequent conflict. But even before the explosion that has wrecked the city, the country’s long-dysfunctional political system was spiraling, taking the currency, the economy and even the electricity grid along with it. Now, say many key figures in Beirut’s cultural life, Lebanon could really become a failed state. – Artnet
Judge Raises Amount Tavis Smiley Must Pay PBS To $2.6 Million
In late 2017, PBS suspended Smiley’s late-night talk show following sexual harassment allegations from staffers. Smiley sued the network, which countersued, and in March 2020, a jury awarded PBS $1.7 million. But PBS argued that Smiley should pay additional money pursuant to his contract’s morals clause. The judge has agreed, and has, in effect, ordered Smiley to pay back the network and the show’s underwriters for the last two seasons. – Variety
Four Indiana Cities Sue Netflix For “Cable-Franchise” Fees
The lawsuit was filed against Netflix, Disney, Hulu, DirecTV, and Dish Network on August 4 in Indiana Commercial Court in Marion County. The cities of Indianapolis, Evansville, Valparaiso, and Fishers want the companies to pay the cable-franchise fees established in Indiana’s Video Service Franchises (VSF) Act, which requires payments of 5 percent of gross revenue in each city. – ArsTechnica
What Pro Wrestling Has To Teach Us
We all know that pro wrestling is not a sport in the sense that boxing is. Pro wrestling presents as a genuine struggle between wrestlers for victory, but it does so with a complicit nod to the audience: we realise that what we’re seeing is people playing characters and working together put on a show. As Barthes puts it, this show is often a spectacle about suffering, defeat and justice – or, more brightly, it tells stories of virtue and vice, heroism and villainy. Here we have a reality – the elaborate pantomime and character development behind the constructed reality of the show – and the superficial appearance of a genuine contest. – Psyche
Libraries (Re)Ponder Their Role Beyond Books
“A lot of libraries are thinking about their civic role a little more, and how they might help people coming out of the pandemic. They’ve always done that stuff, but will need to do it 10 times more at this point.” – Boston Globe
The Untenable Choices In Today’s Music Education
With fewer or no opportunities to perform live at school, can music degrees live up to their mandate to prepare students for a career? In other words, what is the value of a socially distanced degree in music performance? And if the value is significantly reduced, and given the extraordinary financial stress on young music students and their families, what is the best course of action? – Middle Class Artist
Woman Attacks Britto Sculpture – And The Motivation?
A viral video has surfaced of a woman confronting Brazilian artist Romero Britto at a busy gallery and shattering one of his sculptures in front of him as he fumbles to retrieve the work. Shared last week with hashtags such as #moodflip and #karen—a pejorative term used in the US to describe a white woman who uses her privilege to demand her own way at the expense of others—the video has received nearly three million views. Yet some users called the act “well-deserved” and said that they “had no choice but to stan” but the woman. – The Art Newspaper