How is each of us our own center of experience, receiving information about the rest of the world out there? Why are some things conscious and others apparently not? – The Conversation
Tag: 11.09.19
Comedian David Mitchell: The Internet Has Been A Disaster For Culture
“Genuinely, I think the internet and the smartphone have been a disaster for civilisation,” he says. “I think it would be very helpful for us to see it as a disaster, see it as something like nuclear weapons or . . . I was going to say the invention of heroin, but morphine is a wonder drug, so there’s an upside to heroin which I really can’t f**king see with the internet. It’s easier to get taxis, but that’s it. It’s addictive. It changes the nature of discourse in a horrible way. What was billed as the democratisation of knowledge has turned into the death of truth.” – Irish Times
Porgy — Take Four
To my ears, Porgy and Bess is the highest creative achievement in American classical music. Conrad L. Osborne is not convinced. A crucial sticking point is the anomaly my book exposes: it is an opera with two endings. – Joseph Horowitz
Sesame Street Had A 50th Birthday Party, But Who Was The Audience?
Was it kids? Maybe, if they truly love music. It was shiny, with a ton – a ton – of celebrity appearances, as befits, well, a show that’s on HBO. That’s a problem: “The celebration is also slightly dulled by the fact that the once widely accessible show is getting harder to access.” – Los Angeles Times
The Paris Review’s New Poetry Editor Has Hope For The Future Of Literature
Vijay Seshadri, who became poetry editor for the legendary literary magazine in August, says that going through the Review‘s slush pile is invigorating. “You kind of feel that something new is happening, among all of this chaos and turmoil.” – NPR
Why Does The Minnesota Orchestra Do Overseas Tours?
Apparently, it’s not the money. There’s diplomacy, there’s prestige, and there’s the desire of areas of the world – China definitely included – to be seen as supporting Western classical music. – The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Instagram Wants To Kill ‘Like’ Counts
Why? It might actually be good for some people – the youth, as they say, or those chasing social media influence. “The hope is that the change can reduce anxiety among Instagram users, to make social media less of a competition, especially among younger people, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri explained in announcing the U.S. test.” – Variety
Douglas Q. Barnett, Seattle’s Black Theatre Founder And African American Theatre History Author, Has Died At 88
The Greta Thunberg Of The Theatre
Isabella Madrigal, a tribally enrolled member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians in California, and a 17-year-old, figured out, as she had a hard time finding good roles, that she could shape her own narrative. She explains, “if there is a lack of Native actors, it’s because there’s a lack of Indigenous storytellers. This lack of representation goes beyond just not seeing a Native face in the media. That’s certainly part of the issue, but it’s not the entire thing because our defining stories are also missing from the national narrative.” – The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)
A Bookstore With A Mission, Surviving In The Midst Of Book Business Upheaval
Must be nice to be able to say that people wanting bestsellers can just “ge them elsewhere.” Another Story Bookshop in Toronto was founded with a mission of social justice, with the purpose of getting “diverse books into diverse hands” – and though the founder died two years ago, the new owners are continuing the mission despite Toronto’s rising real estate market and, of course, the ever-present threat of Amazon. – The New York Times