“The most troubling thing about ‘Anonymous’ is not that it turns Shakespeare into an illiterate money-grubber. It’s not even that England’s virgin Queen Elizabeth is turned into a wantonly promiscuous woman who is revealed to be both the lover and mother of de Vere. Rather, it’s that in making the case for de Vere, the film turns great plays into propaganda.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
He Saw Technology Coming – But Not The Emphasis On Consuming
Nicholas Negroponte: “All these devices are all about consumption, which is fine, but just surprising. My colleagues and I expected the future of computing to be much more interactive and constructive, with more people writing computer programs.”
In The Arab Spring, Publishers Gain More Freedom, And Face More Troubles
“While the political climate has eased, publishers still face practical problems. The Arab publishing world, made up of 22 diverse countries with a population of 300 million people, faces low revenues and inefficient distribution networks.” E-books may change all of that.
What The Library Has Been, What The Library May Be [Slideshow]
“What has changed, and will continue to change, is the library’s appearance. The way the library looks today is drastically different from the way it did 50 years ago. Many of the visual cues of library-ness are vanishing.” See some of those visual cues in the slideshow.
Embrace The Cloud, Let Go Of Control – And Create A Better World?
If only Congress ran like cloud computing – a system whose architecture works by decentralization. “Think about it: What better example is there in the entire world today of a system whereby a single point of failure derails the entire production process and jeopardizes the integrity of the system at large, than the United States Congress?”
Pairing Old Goya Prints With New Text, And (Maybe) Giving It Away
Toronto writer Larry Gaudet pairs Goya’s “Disasters of War,” print reactions to the Napoleonic wars, with his own prose about today’s violence. You can get his new book for anything from $45,000 to, he hopes, a free download.
Elaine May, Ethan Coen and Woody Allen Walk Into A Theatre …
Slight verbal mayhem ensues when Elaine May interviews filmmakers and fellow playwrights Ethan Coen and Woody Allen. Of course, she could have made the whole thing up.
Billboard With Real Art For The Stalled Commuter
For those stuck in traffic, flashing billboards aren’t exactly soothing – unless what they’re flashing is work from contemporary artists, with no consumer message attached.
The Rebel Star That Broke The Medieval Sky
When astronomers charted the course of Mira, “what ensued was a cultural earthquake. These variations challenged the idea that the realm of the stars was eternal and unchanging – the received wisdom of the time, underwritten by Aristotle.” Censorship and much Church drama ensued – and changed astronomy forever.
Why Invent An Artist, Or A Movement? A Hoaxer Explains
“The naivety of the art world is oft exposed and curiously celebrated, with hoaxers and fraudsters gaining the celebrated status of the anti-hero, perceptively beating the establishment at its own game. I can take pleasure from a good hoax, but more sinister applications leave you contemptuous, resentful and out of pocket.”