Yes, lots of us have trouble with this, even though we know we shouldn’t. But with robots likely to take more and more jobs, finding fulfillment outside one’s career will only become more important. “Though there are myriad ways to transcend one’s self, two of the most powerful and practical” are … [you’ll have to click through].
Author: Matthew Westphal
Teaching Computers To Read: A Short History Of Optical Character Recognition
“Optical character recognition, or OCR, is a technology that came up with computing in general. In a lot of ways, it still feels like magic – even though it’s a problem we solved long ago. Today’s Tedium tells its story.”
Jesse Green Had *Not* Planned On Being A Critic, Let Alone A Theater Critic (And Now He’s Headed To The New York Times)
Rob Weinert-Kendt talks to Green about how he got into criticism (sideways and reluctantly), all the things he did before, and how even he had hoped the Times wouldn’t hire another white guy.
Michael Chabon, Nostalgia, And A Hundred-Year-Old Jew
“My work has at times been criticized for being overly nostalgic, or too much about nostalgia. That is partly my fault, … but it is not nostalgia’s fault, if fault is to be found. Nostalgia is a valid, honorable, ancient human emotion, … the ache that arises from the consciousness of lost connection.”
David Arben, 89, Violinist Who Survived Seven Nazi Concentration Camps
In 1941 he was pulled out of a group of Jewish inmates who were digging their own mass grave by a guard who recognized him as a violinist and thus useful. Arben made his way to the U.S. after the war and ended up playing in the Philadelphia Orchestra for 34 years, retiring as associate concertmaster.
Could Programs For The Military And Veterans Help Save The NEA And NEH?
“All one has to do is review the extent to which President Trump spoke of veterans issues while on the stump to understand the potency of an issue like whether the nation provides adequate care for its servicemen and women. Now, with the fate of the National Endowment of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities in the hands of the Republican lawmakers controlling Congress, supporters of the endowments say mentioning the work they do with the military and veterans is important when lobbying lawmakers.”
‘Prestige TV’: 13 Ways To (Let Everyone) Know Your Series Is *Art*
“1. ‘It’s like a novel.’ It’s not TV – it’s literature, but with title credits and a ten-episode season order.
2. ‘It’s like a movie.’ …“
Why Can’t People Let Go Of The Idea That High-Quality Television Has To Be Like *Cinema*?
“For some reason, [people seem to think] TV can’t stand on its own as a ‘prestige’ narrative. For TV, prestige means getting reframed as something else and basking in the reflected glow of another art form’s cultural currency.” Kathryn VanArendonk looks at why this idea seems to stick, and why it’s so frustrating.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project Should Be Put On Ice, Says The Guy Who Thought It Up In The First Place
Thomas Krens, the longtime director of the Guggenheim Foundation and the driving force behind the global expansion of the Guggenheim brand, now says “The world financial crisis and the Arab Spring has [sic]changed the equation radically … It may not be such a good idea these days to have an American museum … with a Jewish name in a country [that doesn’t recognise Israel] in such a prominent location, at such a big scale.”
Pittsburgh Symphony Begins Five-Year, $75 Million Stabilization Campaign
In response to extensive financial difficulties that led to a musicians’ strike this past fall, the orchestra has launched this fundraising campaign with three large gifts totaling $6.5 million.