“To be sure, the current mania over data-driven thinking and its seemingly limitless applications to journalism, education and all aspects of government has huge upsides that are themselves incalculable. But in focusing too heavily on economic multiplier effects and other such pieces of data, we risk standardizing cultural experiences to meet those fantasy numbers in the same way education has been standardized to achieve acceptable test scores.”
Tag: 12.18.15
The First Woman Ever To Write A Book In English Lived Walled Into One Room Alongside A Church
What’s more, it’s possible you’ve heard of her and didn’t realize she was a woman. And nobody knows her real name.
Mandy Patinkin Explains The True Meaning Of ‘The Princess Bride’ To Ted Cruz
“Inigo Montoya spent his life trying to avenge the murder of his father. He found the six-fingered man, and he killed him. But he realized that that did not bring his father back. It didn’t do any good. Inigo realized that he might have made a different choice to do something else with his life. If they ever did a sequel, you would see all the good he has done for the world.”
We Can All Learn To Be Better At Christmas … From Pre-Conversion Scrooge
“The point of the tale is this: Most people are irritating and selfish, especially around Christmastime. They march around in gaudy cheerfulness, braying good wishes to everyone within earshot, repeating the tiresome pieties of the season—Happy Holidays!—and pestering friends and relations and employers for all sorts of favors and boons and cash gifts.”
Can We Even Call This Thing ‘Television’ Anymore?
“The soul of television has escaped the box, and is now flowing and taking on a whole range of different shapes, each with its own unique characteristics.”
The Australian Ballet’s Director Talks About The Hidden Side Of Sydney
“When you go up Argyle Street and there’s that big arch, you feel like you’re taking a step back in time. There’s a real sense of history there. I like when you’re off the tourist path and there are these beautiful old terrace houses.”
Detroit Is An Underappreciated Theatre Town
“I have found an artistic home in Detroit as it has launched my professional theatre career in many ways. It is the first place I was paid to act, direct, and write. Without Detroit, I would probably still be in SoCal working at the YMCA, and hoping for a big break … or any break.”
The Tension Between French Literature And Real Life In The Arabic World
“Well before tensions between France’s Muslim and non-Muslim populations rose in response to the terrorist attacks last month, the Islamic world had been looming large in French literature this season — a sign of the powerful influence the Middle East and North Africa play in the nation’s cultural imagination.”
Disney Scores Big With ‘Star Wars,’ But Sees Its Stock Fall Anyway
The problem is ESPN: “Richard Greenfield, media analyst with BTIG Research, said in a report released Friday that Disney has overpaid for sports rights ‘based on overly aggressive multichannel video subscriber projections.'”
The Numbers That Make Something – A Vine, An Instagram Post, A Broadway Show – A Hit
“Identifying a hit movie, record or book is easy, because it follows well established criteria. But what about a hit tweet? Or a hit podcast? When it comes to other creative works, defining a blockbuster is not so simple.”