The type of shameless promotion that YouTubers engage in on a daily basis is radically different from what Vaccarino had experienced with traditional artists. “When it comes to selling something, with bands and traditional musicians, it’s not their priority. They’re like, ‘How do I make good music?’ And just assume the money will follow. They will be apologetic about selling merch. YouTubers are like, ‘How can I sell as much as possible to these fans who want to be sold to?’”
Tag: 12.13.17
Kurt Vonnegut’s Basic Story Arcs
This archival video features Vonnegut using a chalkboard and his famous deadpan wit to map out three highly familiar narrative arcs that seem to have lost none of their popularity despite countless iterations.
All Of This Year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards Will Be Presented By Women
The motion to prioritize female visibility at the televised event is designed to be a response to the slew of sexual harassment scandals in Hollywood. Traditionally, a man and a women have been paired to present each category’s winner at the SAG awards. The ceremony’s list of presenters have not yet been released.
As Our Machines Get Smarter, Do Humans Need An Upgrade?
Brain augmentation might sound like science fiction, but the technology is already a well-established field of neuroscience. There are noninvasive forms of tech like EEG, in which sensors use electrical signals to communicate with our brains, and cochlear implants that interface with auditory neurons to restore hearing. Brain-computer interfaces already play a crucial role in treating diseases such as Parkinson’s, epilepsy and ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease or motor neurone disease.
The Art Of Book Acknowledgments (Dreary And Mundane, But Sometimes Quite Revealing)
Some revelations are inadvertent, and not especially flattering to the author. In my head, I have an informal taxonomy of acknowledgments, and one species is the Name-Dropper. Do writers know the kind of insecurity they’re betraying when they do their Trump Towers of thanks, their gold-plated word-piles of self-regard?
When A Pack Of Opera Stars Goes Out For Karaoke
“It was a bit like going ice skating at Rockefeller Center, only to discover that Michelle Kwan was also there, breezing through axels and lutzes.” A reporter follows Susan Graham, Paul Groves, Jamie Barton, Barry Banks, and other singers currently at the Met as they let loose at a karaoke bar. “Bohemian Rhapsody”? Piece of cake.
Here’s What Happened When A Bot Tried To Write A Harry Potter Book
“After the team at Botnik fed the seven Harry Potter novels through their predictive text keyboard, it came up with a chapter from a new Harry Potter story: ‘Harry Potter and the Portrait of What Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash’.” Here’s one choice sentence: “He saw Harry and immediately began to eat Hermione’s family.”
How Ridley Scott’s Team Erased Kevin Spacey From A Film And Edited In Christopher Plummer
When allegations of sexual abuse and harassment by Spacey came out in the fall, he became PR poison, and all Hollywood ran the other way. Sony was inclined to withdraw the planned Christmas release All the Money in the World, in which Spacey played the late billionaire J. Paul Getty III – until director Ridley Scott convinced the studio to let him – on an incredibly tight schedule – reshoot and splice in Getty’s scenes with Christopher Plummer in the role. Brooks Barnes reports on how they pulled it off.
A ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ For The #MeToo Moment
“Since Harvey Weinstein’s unraveling, the list of cultural heavy-hitters accused of sexual misconduct has been growing at a dizzying clip, particularly in Hollywood. Enter Rotten Apples: a searchable database introduced on Tuesday that informs users which films or television shows are connected to those accused of sexual harassment or worse.”
Pianist Willie Pickens, 86, Giant Of Chicago Jazz
“[He was] revered in Chicago – and around the world – not only as a colossal piano virtuoso but as a symbol of Chicago jazz. … [He] summoned immense masses of sound at the piano without succumbing to a percussive clatter. Add to this the extraordinary velocity he could achieve, as well as the melodic and harmonic ingenuity of his improvisations, and you had a pianist held in awe by colleagues and students alike.”