That god-awful ringing in the ears is likely to be a growing problem for those of us who’ve lived through the transitions from boom box to Walkman to iPod. But researchers have found that “tinnitus loudness can be significantly diminished by an enjoyable, low-cost, custom-tailored notched music treatment.”
Tag: 12.28.09
A History Of Vengeance: Why Audiences Love Revenge Stories
“The formula’s popularity stems from the permission it gives viewers to experience the rush violence provides without feeling guilty about it. … The trick … is to have audience members thinking, and sometimes shouting, ‘Yes, yes, yes’ in response to actions they would never countenance, never mind perform, in real life.”
Paul Taylor And The ‘Zunch’ Factor
“All Taylor dancers have emulated his insatiable appetite for doing what should be impossible, for persevering against all odds, for challenging the very laws of physics, for conjuring brave new worlds. Taylor even invented a word – zunch – to describe this heroism.”
Quit Picking On James Levine!
“Levine is 66 and he’s been in lousy health for parts of the last three years. … But not only is Levine’s vision not outdated, he’s been an absolute tiger for new music and for the highest performance standards of the classics.” And besides, “[Elliott] Carter’s music is a real challenge for audiences. It takes guts to bring him back to the stage again and again.”
Israeli Dance Legend Nira Paz Explains It All For You
Says the 73-year-old, in her plainspoken Israeli way: “It is very hard to be a member of a group of megalomaniacs and egoists, every one of them … I don’t miss that life; it was a life full of tension. … [The stage is] like a drug, you need to have it.”
Um, Those Kindle ‘Bestsellers’? Most Of Them Are Free.
“Amazon’s top 10 Kindle bestsellers currently include a large portion that are free. The list now has eight free books. Only two in the top 10 — one each from major bestselling authors Dan Brown and James Patterson — will generate any revenue.”
Another Thing Real Books Are Good For: TSA Freak-Outs
“After Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly attempted to set off explosives on a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day,” airline “passengers want to know what they can do to keep themselves entertained” on board. The safest bet? An old-fashioned, non-electronic book.
How Those Accountants Tally Oscar Nominee Ballots
“This is a very low-tech process, one that involves stacking ballots on a table — and not leaving a paper trail. Called the ‘preferential system,’ it’s an intricate and little-used process also known as instant runoff voting.”
The ’00s In Architecture
“It was an era when architecture became hotter and hipper than ever, yet too often was treated as a three-dimensional marketing tool. In fact, it’s the art form that shapes the world in which we live, with long-term implications for the environment and our civic culture.”
Mass. City Seeks $3K To Preserve Frost’s Attendance Log
Robert Frost used the log “when he taught grammar school more than a century ago. … ‘It’s very important,’ [Methuen] Mayor William M. Manzi III said in a telephone interview today. ‘It’s actually more than a book just with a signature in it. It’s actually in Robert Frost’s hand.'”