Author: Douglas McLennan

Big Live Arts Experiences Are Crucial And We Ought Not Lose Them

It’s a brave new world out there, and we’re all going to have to adapt. There are no limits to what our artists, technicians, actors, creators, musicians, dancers and designers can imagine to bring back live outdoor experiences for audiences stupefied by the isolation of the omnipresent screen. We all want to protect our national culture in its glorious diversity – but it’s the creative workforce who are really under threat at the moment. As the Red Alert campaign demonstrates, there are horrifying figures of up to 1m creative jobs at risk in an industry worth more than £100bn a year to the economy. – The Guardian

Claim: Leaders Who Read Fiction Have Governed Better During The COVID Crisis

Governments that seem to have done best “are led by people who read fiction” she said, naming Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland, Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand, Katrín Jakobsdóttir in Iceland and Sanna Marin in Finland among them.“They are all people who read fiction. What fiction gives you is the gift of imagination and the gift of empathy. You see a life outside your own bubble. If you’re sitting there reading your endless biographies of Churchill or Attlee or whatever, you’re not looking at the world outside your window. You’re not understanding the lives of ordinary people who populate the country you’re supposed to be governing. – The Guardian

In The Digital Age What Does It Mean To “Withdraw” Problematic Content?

Rarely discussed is what “pulling” something actually entails in the digital production age, when film or tape hard copies rarely exist, as well as what the risks are of losing some content forever. Then there is the ethical dimension: While it’s natural for creators and corporations to want to distance themselves from offensive episodes, is the best approach really to erase history, rather than put it in context? – The New York Times

Survey: Consumers Are Against Any Bailout For Movie Theatres, Concert Venues, Etc.

According to the survey of over 1,000 people in the U.S. conducted between Aug. 3–10, 70% of consumers believe COVID-19 has had a severe negative impact on movie theaters, and 69% see a severe impact for live music concerts. In comparison, 65% see a severe impact for fairs and festivals and live theater, 61% for airlines, 57% for sit-down restaurants, 50% for hotels and museums, and 44% for independent and non-profit arts organizations. But when asked whether they would support federal relief money being earmarked for those industries, the results are practically reversed. – Variety

Networked Neurology: A Radical Reimagining Of How The Brain Communicates

Some researchers have demonstrated that disorders from schizophrenia to stroke appear to be dependent not on individual brain regions, but on the circuitry among those regions. Outside the realm of disease, other scientists have used brain networks to gain a better understanding of how our personalities and other traits differ. As the field continues to progress, scientists armed with network neuroscience may be able to predict who will develop a particular disease, understand the brain processes underlying its symptoms, and design better treatments for it. – Wired

A Florence Music Festival Reconceives Itself In A Much Bigger Way

The festival has been renamed Re-Generation, and a temporary theatre constructed that, were it at normal capacity, would seat around 1,500, but for the late August event will house only 500. “It’s absolutely enormous. Similar dimensions to the Bolshoi in Moscow,” says Granville. Enormous, too, was the paperwork required. “The permissions stage was about 7,000 pages worth … I’m not exaggerating. Italians love a bit of paperwork. Every single thing has to be submitted and approved.” – The Guardian

Why “Bad” Movies About Dance Are A Guilty Pleasure

Sure, the acting is off, critics universally pan them and the dancing can be just so-so, but the category endures because there is still something so great about the completely nonsensical yet formulaic comfort of a good bad dance movie. And yes, while some of the films below are eye-roll-inducing and others are genuinely entertaining, let’s face it: None of them ever stood a chance on an Oscars shortlist. – Washington Post

Global Warming In Historical Perspective

The past six hundred million years have been mostly a span of relentless heat, during which plants and then animals first climbed up and colonized Earth’s great, empty landmasses. Extreme heat was the backdrop for the rise and fall of the dinosaurs, and equally the setting for the subsequent ascendance of mammals. The heat reached its greatest extremes some fifty million years ago, with carbon-dioxide levels nearing 2,000 ppm (versus ~414 ppm today) around the time when our tiny, early primate ancestors were just starting to spread and diversify through the world’s forest canopies. Those early primates arose in the heat, adapted for the heat; but Earth continued to change, and the climatic conditions that gave rise to Homo sapiens would be very different. – 3 Quarks Daily

What Animals Have To Say

Humans have spent decades trying to teach other animals our languages—sometimes for convenience or amusement, sometimes out of scientific curiosity—but we’ve made little effort to learn theirs. Today, as a virus from another species upends human society, the usefulness of communicating with animals on their own terms is suddenly more imaginable. – New York Review of Books