“In recent years, not just in novels but in movies, television, poetry, video games and the visual arts, drones have taken on a life of their own. As a character, they are menacing, melancholy or gallant; beastly, blind, snub-nosed, noisy and fast … They show off the military talent of their users, or they are an expression of unbridled hubris. They represent protection or extermination – and they carry out both things at once.”
Tag: 11.11.14
Why Is Reason Frightening?
The ideal of “clear and intelligent thought,” stripped of its condescension and its indifference to the non-rational dimensions of human life, deserves to be defended. We need not be a nation of intellectuals, but we must not be a nation of idiots.
Are Readers Really Open To Changing Their Taste?
“A new kind of book might offer pleasures we haven’t yet learned to enjoy and deny us pleasures we were expecting. Rather than fitting in with something we are long familiar with, it is asking us to change. And how many people are genuinely open to changing their taste?”
Could We Ever Really Program Computers To Write Fiction? (Maybe)
There are challenges, of course – getting machines to understand a plot arc, let alone metaphor or irony. But scientists are working on three programs – Scheherazade, the What-If Machine, and Metaphor Magnet – to tackle these problems. Tom Meltzer talks to the creators, while Nicholas Lezard reviews the stories.
Gabriel Prokofiev Is Bringing His Alt-Classical-In-Clubs Franchise To New York
“Nonclassical, the London-based indie-classical new-music label and club series run by the composer and producer” (and yes, grandson of the composer), “will present the first New York installment of the Classical Club-Nights series it presents monthly in London.”
John Leguizamo Tortures His Kids With Black-And-White Movies
“I bring plenty of adversity into their lives. … I mean, I’m a fun dad, but I’m a tough dad. They have to play a musical instrument while they’re under my roof, they gotta read all the time … I make them watch black-and-white movies, and foreign movies, so they have to read subtitles. … They’re like ‘Why?! Nobody else watches black-and-white movies.’ And silent films! I make ’em watch silent films. They’re being tortured.”
El Sistema Is A “Model Of Absolute Tyranny”, Says UK Academic
Geoffrey Baker: “I went to Venezuela in search of the program’s secret. But to my surprise, Venezuelan musicians and cultural observers told me privately about a different Sistema … Seen overseas as a beacon of social justice, at home the program was characterised variously as a cult and a corporation.”
No, El Sistema Isn’t A Tyranny, It’s A Flawed But Important Project
“I have to wonder if [Baker] spoke to any of the parents of the kids from the barrios, the slums, who are desperate to get their kids into El Sistema because for them the alternative is these kids getting involved in drugs or crime,” responded one Venezuelan.
At Harvard, Three Museums Become One
“The Renzo Piano-designed scheme on the edge of the Harvard campus doubles the museums’ combined square footage, increasing gallery space by 40%. But the changes at Harvard extend well beyond bricks and mortar and creating extra space to show more of its 250,000-strong art collection.”
The Golden Age Of Telegraph Literature
During the 1870s and 1880s in the U.S., there developed a huge body of stories, plays, and poetry written about – and often by – telegraph operators. “There’s something incredibly modern about these amateur stories and the way they handle technology, the influence of corporations, gender, and love in the time of hyperconnection.”