“I’ve known periods of chronic depression, the most serious of which was in 1974. It was impossible for me to live without a plastic lobster that I took with me everywhere, leaving it behind only at the very moment I went on stage.” – The New York Times
Author: Douglas McLennan
Work Is Like Water – It Can Fill Up Your Life
The 18th-century poet and philosopher Friedrich Schiller warned against being driven purely by work in his “On the Aesthetic Education of Man.” He wrote, “Man only plays when he is in the fullest sense of the word a human being, and he is only fully a human being when he plays.” – The New York Times
Harlem Is Being Radically Remade And History Is Being Wiped Away
The gentrification of Harlem has been blamed on the disregard and greed of white people. The truth is much more complex. – The Guardian
Report: Radio Still Rules As Most Ubiquitous Medium, Millennials Listen To The Most Music
Across the board, the Ipsos-iHeartRadio survey found that radio reaches more consumers than any other audio channel, with 85 percent of consumers listening to a radio broadcast at least once per week, outpacing social media at 68 percent and live television at 56 percent. On a daily basis, radio has more than twice the listenership of audio streaming services, with 69 percent of consumers tuning in to the radio at least once a day compared to streaming’s 34 percent. – Ad Age
Mark Rylance Resigns 30-Year Association With Royal Shakespeare Company Over BP Sponsorship
Though the Wolf Hall actor last appeared on stage in an RSC production in 1989, his very public resignation as a longstanding “associate artist” is, at the least, a public relations blow to the prestigious company. – Deadline
Lorne Michaels: You Couldn’t Start “Saturday Night Live” Today
“You couldn’t do this show now. Mostly because of budget. The depth of costumes, design, film, all of those plus the talent office and all of the people working with each other…you can’t start that now because we’re in an age of narrowcasting.” – The Observer
New Berkeley Study: Our Brains Crave Information, Reward Us With Dopamine Shots
“To the brain, information is its own reward, above and beyond whether it’s useful,” says Assoc. Prof. Ming Hsu, a neuroeconomist whose research employs functional magnetic imaging (fMRI), psychological theory, economic modeling, and machine learning. “And just as our brains like empty calories from junk food, they can overvalue information that makes us feel good but may not be useful—what some may call idle curiosity.” – University of California Berkeley
Why Too Much Choice Leads To All Sorts Of Bad
It’s easier to pick one out of two meals than one out of 50. With more options, we spend more time analyzing and tend to get stuck. Often, we’ll choose to do nothing at all for a long time, and dragging your heels never feels good. – Good Company
Does Historic Preservation Speed Up Gentrification?
Using historic preservation to preserve affordability isn’t unheard of, but landmarking has something of reputation for hastening gentrification, not halting it. – CityLab
The Problem With Authenticity
“Here is the danger with authenticity: it has a tendency to make aspiration look fake. You are trying to be something you are not. But aspiring to be a better person—or better at anything—often involves trying to be something you are (currently) not. Hence the problem. Authenticity is often so bluntly insisted upon that all efforts at change or self-improvement appear phoney.” – Prospect