“Critics can and have read Other Music’s bow-out as representative, in an allegorical way, of any number of bigger Ends: the End of music as a physical medium to be collected and doted over, the End of curated off-line retail, the End of curation, the End of the East Village, the End of New York. Most of those Ends—whether real or imagined—have already been eulogized so aggressively that to revisit them now seems plainly indulgent.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
University Of British Columbia Fires Director Of Creative Writing School Ove “Breach Of Trust”
“The school says acclaimed writer Steven Galloway was suspended in November of last year while an investigation was completed over what it said were serious allegations of misconduct. Addition complaints were also received after he was suspended and former B.C. Supreme Court justice Mary Ellen Boyd was appointed to conduct an investigation.”
Christo’s Water Walk Is “Too” Popular, Has To Cut Back Hours
“Plans to keep “The Floating Piers” open day and night until July 3 have had to be shelved as it is being worn out faster than expected, local officials said.”
The Video Game Experience As Art
“What’s the mechanism through which a game can give you an artistic experience?” When we watch a movie or read a novel, he said, we consider characters’ dramatic conflicts and imagine what we’d do; he wanted to replicate that in a game, in which the player could actively participate.
American Charities Are Being Undermined (And It’s A Growing Problem)
“Donor-advised funds have been a bad deal for American society. They have produced too many private benefits for the financial services industry, at too great a cost to the taxpaying public, and they have provided too few benefits for society at large. When we consider their overall effect, we see that rather than supporting working charities and the beneficiaries they serve, they have undermined them.”
A Place Where Typewriters Still Hang On
“The manufacture of typewriters in India might have come to a halt, but in Goa, as in the rest of the country, there are plenty of machines still going clackety-clack. Government-run offices, village schools, and other rural administrative offices still use typewriters for work such as drawing up contracts or bills.”
Technology Will Make The World Better, Right? Not Always! (We’ve Gotta Change The Way We Think About This)
“Is it possible to get beyond both a naïve belief that the latest technology will solve social problems—and a reaction that rubbishes any attempt to offer novel technical solutions as inappropriate, insensitive, and misguided? Can we find a synthesis in which technologists look at their work critically and work closely with the people they’re trying to help in order to build sociotechnical systems that address hard problems?”
Luminato Festival Finds A Striking Venue And An Organizing Idea
“In its 10-year run, Toronto’s Luminato Festival has had lots of Whats – celebrated events such as last year’s Apocalypsis, the Joni Mitchell tribute of a few years past, shows by performance artist Marina Abramovic and many other first-rate attractions. But it’s always lacked a Why – a central idea or theme that has been able to knit together its varied and heterodox concerts, art installations, theatrical works and all-around happenings.”
Banff Center Reinvents Itself
“The name change is part of a rebranding endeavour that includes a new look (a monochrome colour spectrum inspired by snow and accented by red; the capital “A” in Banff resembling a mountain peak) and strategic plan. Among other things, the plan will see a heightened emphasis on public access, indigenous programs and training for cultural leaders.”
How NPR Unlocked A Ton Of Data About How Its Listeners Listen
“The largest age group listening to NPR One is 25- to 34-year-olds, according to NPR, with 40 percent of listeners under 35. More than a third of users who answered NPR surveys said they never or only occasionally listen to broadcast radio.”