“This is city-as-marketing-exercise, with all the blandification so implied. Addressing the annual conference of the Chicago-based Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat in Sydney last week, I was struck both by the extraordinary chromosome imbalance of the audience – at least 90 per cent XY – and the competitive tone of the lexicon. It was all about the tallest, the wildest, the thinnest, the greenest, the most expensive. Even the richness of place-making was discussed primarily in terms of competing for global workers. Erectile? It was positively ejaculatory.”
Tag: 11.06.17
Cosby Production Company Sues BBC Over Use Of Cosby Show Clips In Documentary
“The production company that made The Cosby Show has sued the BBC over a documentary the British network aired about the rape allegations against Bill Cosby. Carsey-Werner, the production company that is the plaintiff in the case, says that the documentary is infringing its copyright because it uses eight audiovisual clips and two musical cues from The Cosby Show.”
Study: Why We Love Sad Music
“When listening to sad (as opposed to) happy music, people withdraw their attention inwards, and engage in spontaneous, self-referential cognitive processes,” reports a research team led by Liila Taruffi of the Free University of Berlin. “Our study suggests that the multifaceted emotional experience underlying sad music, often described by listeners as melancholic yet pleasant, shapes mind-wandering in a unique way.”
Our Interactions With Computers Will Soon Be Screenless. That Will Change How We Communicate
“Gartner estimates that by the end of the decade at least 30 percent of human-computer interaction will be screenless—activated by voice or location—and the coupling of S3+A combined with the rise of smart speakers will be a big part of how this prediction comes to life in the real world. It is hard to overstate how big this change will be for marketers. Just as the industry has begun to figure out how to bring mobile, social, and search together to be effective in digital, the game is poised to change yet again.”
Mir-Anon: Inside The Support Group For Ex-Employees Of Harvey Weinstein
Yes, that’s short for Miramax Anonymous. Says one longtime “member,” “When you weren’t feeling terrorized, the people you were meeting were extraordinary. And the glitz and glamour of the lifestyle would make you forget about the horrors.”
Nancy Friday, Best-Selling Author On Women’s Issues, Dead At 84
“[She was] a dissatisfied daughter of the sexual revolution whose best-selling books” – My Secret Garden and My Mother/My Self – “aimed to liberate women from embarrassment over their erotic fantasies and from fraught relationships with their mothers.”
21st Century Fox Is Trying To Sell Most Of Itself To Disney
“The talks have taken place over the last few weeks and there is no certainty they will lead to a deal. The two sides are not currently talking at this very moment, but given the on again, off again nature of the talks, they could be revisited.”
For Edinburgh’s Planned New Concert Hall, They Picked The Acoustician Before *Anyone* Else
“And this is key: [Yasuhisa] Toyota” – known for Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Hamburg’s new Elbphilharmonie – “played a leading role in choosing the team that will make it possible, as [former Edinburgh International Festival director Jonathan] Mills puts it, ‘to build from the inside out rather than the outside in.'”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 11.06.17
Take A Look At Folk Art Masterpiece(s) in We The People
It is John James Trumbull Arnold’s Portrait of Mary Mattingly (1850). She is, as many people have told me since Saturday, after reading my piece, just adorably cute and well as beautifully executed. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-11-06
Ballet Up Close and Personal
New York Theatre Ballet’s Legends and Visionaries series at Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-11-06
Comedian Dick Gregory and The Wallis in Beverly Hills
When I moved back to Los Angeles about a year ago, I was not surprised that the cultural life was rich and wide-ranging. But one spot surprised me: The Wallis Annenberg in Beverly Hills. … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-11-06
Lost Music
My head is always whirling with music. For a long time, I assumed that was true for everyone, but it’s really one of those phenomena we can describe to one another without ever being sure we are experiencing the same thing. … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2017-11-06
Blockbusted: Is Directing A Marvel Superhero Movie Good For Your Career?
“It’s actually hard to detect much of a career bump for filmmakers who have enjoyed success with the studio in the past—which is puzzling, considering the sheer volume of popular and profitable films Marvel has made. Nine years after the studio launched its “cinematic universe,” directing a Marvel movie still mostly seems to set you up to make more Marvel movies, or other franchise entries like them. It’s a far cry from the older blockbuster model.”