“The King James Bible may well be the greatest work of literature ever written by committee – and now we know a bit more about the collaboration that produced it.”
Tag: 10.19.15
The Shape Of Things To Come: Is History A J-Curve, An S-Curve, Or A Spike?
“For some ancient Greeks and Romans, history was a downhill slide. … Nowadays some optimists think that history slants in the opposite direction. Some techno-utopians argue that technological progress is following an exponential curve, a J that is bending upward toward the vertical. … At the other extreme are today’s gloomy Malthusians. They view history as a spike, in which industrial and population growth overshoot the limits to sustainability, followed by a sharp crash likely to involve the collapse of industrial civilization … There is a third alternative: The shape of things to come may be a logistic curve or S-curve.”
The Business Of Broadway: An Infographic
“Using data provided by the Broadway League, the industry’s trade association, The Wall Street Journal examines the business side of show business, from hits and flops to cyclical realities.”
How Did The ‘Night Vale’ Podcast Go Viral, And End Up With A Novel Contract?
“If the Night Vale novel succeeds, it could inspire more podcast-to-book projects as publishers search for new mediums to mine.”
How Amazon Became The Biggest Publisher Of Translated Literature In The U.S.
“Amazon Publishing typically distributes its books only through Amazon.com. As a result, you won’t see them on the New York Times bestseller list, which discounts books that are only available from a single retailer, or on the subway: most are sold in electronic form. … It wasn’t necessarily supposed to be this way.”
Digital Journalism Tries To Straddle The Apple-Google, App-Web Divide
“Apple wants mobile devices to be filled with apps. Google supports a world where people browse the web for most things. Now websites are increasingly caught in the middle of those competing visions.”
Examining Steven Spielberg’s Fascinating Shift From Popcorn Movies To Politicized Ones
The films propelling his swift ascent – Jaws (1975), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), or E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982) – were free of anything resembling politics or ideology. But over the course of his career, Spielberg’s cinema has become increasingly self-aware and culturally engaged. His latest movie, Bridge of Spies, is a Cold War spy drama that’s interested not so much in the cloak-and-dagger espionage stuff, but rather in the moral and political issues at stake, both within its narrative and in present-day America. This is a fascinating reversal from earlier in the director’s career.”
What Does It Mean to Be a Private Intellectual?
For thirty-five years at Harvard, George Scialabba did his clerical duties, and then wrote commanding philosophical essays after work.
Theater J Hires A New Artistic Director, 10 Months After A Controversial Firing
“The controversial dismissal of Roth means Immerwahr and Theater J — a 240-seat company operating within the D.C. Jewish Community Center — will be closely watched regarding its programming and response to pressure.”
The (Illusory) Line Between Indian Dance And Modern Dance
“‘I needed to look at the body as body, movement as movement,’ he says, ‘not as defined by someone else’s aesthetic.’ The piece was developed from everyday actions: there are no formal hand gestures, no folk steps.”