“The glorious trajectory of Western European art, after sputtering to a pause with Pollock and Koons, would succumb entirely as does the world in “The Hollow Men,” “not with a bang, but with a whimper”—only the soft whirring of the computer hard drive will be audible.” – New Criterion
Author: Douglas McLennan
Pulling Apart A Critique Of Meritocracy
Some of the meritorious leaders out there were trade unionists, some Harvard professors. So what? And what’s the alternative? Rule by the meretricious, the stupid and the malevolent? – Literary Review
Against The Obscuring Orthodoxies
“Recently, I attended a panel at a dance studies conference. The buzzwords were so thick, and the presenter breezily buzzed through them at such a rapid pace, that I could not follow her argument. A second panelist presented her ethnographic study of a conservative popular-culture venue with such humor at her subjects’ expense—and commanded such regular laughter from the audience—that it was clear she counted on the near-complete homogeneity of the crowd. Had the sponsoring organization so successfully indoctrinated us with the party line that not a wisp of outrage, excepting my own, was stirred?” – The Massachusetts Review
Warner CEO Explains Why The Studio Blew Up The Movie Streaming Window
Hollywood thrives on hyperbole. But it would have been right to describe this move as unimaginable less than a year ago. While some moviegoers and studios have wanted for a long time to make it easier to see movies at home, the movie theater industry has hated that idea and has been able to prevent it from happening. – Vox
UK Redefines The “Treasure Act” To Protect Found Artifacts
They are intended to ensure significant artefacts are not lost to the public and will instead be able to go on display in museums. The move follows the growth in popularity of metal detecting. – BBC
Another Year Of Declines For UK Libraries
Annual figures from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (Cipfa) show that the number of books borrowed from libraries in the year to March 2020 – before the pandemic closed branches – fell by almost 9m year on year, to 166m. Public funding also fell by almost £20m, to £725m. In 2010, it had topped £1bn. – The Guardian
What Purpose Do Book Fairs Serve In Today’s Market?
Aching feet. Poor access to caffeine. But much more important, what business needs does a publishing trade show serve in the 21st century? – LitHub
The LA Times Asked Readers What They Thought Of Virtual Arts. Here’s What They Said:
Like Times critics Charles McNulty and Mark Swed, many of those who responded to the survey had mixed feelings about remote or distanced shows. The consensus? Some options are better than no options, but many lamented the loss of a shared, visceral experience of seeing art in person with others. – Los Angeles Times
How They Measure Happiness (And Why)
Within the U.S., a commonly cited data source is the General Social Survey (GSS). This has been measuring general well-being levels every one or two years going back to 1972, and since then, has always shown that the percentage of people who say they are “very happy” hovers between roughly 30 and 35 percent, while the percentage of those who are “not too happy” sits around 10 to 15 percent. – The Atlantic
US Senate Introduces Bill To Let Musicians Deduct Full Cost Of Production As Its Incurred
With many of the CARES Act provisions expiring, the Help Independent Tracks Succeed (HITS) Act, a bipartisan solution that would allow musicians, technicians and producers to deduct 100 percent of recording production expenses in the year they are incurred, rather than in later years — i.e. an individual could fully expense the cost of new studio recordings on their taxes, up to $150,000. This small tax incentive would alter the current tax policy that requires individual recording artists and record producers to amortize production expenses for tax purposes over the economic life of a sound recording. – Variety