It’s not about self-control. Instead, it’s more like (not very good) emotion management. “Procrastination isn’t a unique character flaw or a mysterious curse on your ability to manage time, but a way of coping with challenging emotions and negative moods induced by certain tasks — boredom, anxiety, insecurity, frustration, resentment, self-doubt and beyond.” – The New York Times
Author: ArtsJournal2
Artificial Intelligence Can Now Write Fiction. Should Novelists Be Worried?
Maybe not, not yet. Garbage in (this AI was fed a lot of Reddit recommendations, ahem), garbage out: “Right now, novelists don’t seem to have much to fear. Fed the opening line of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four – ‘It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen’ – the machine continued the narrative as follows: ‘I was in my car on my way to a new job in Seattle. I put the gas in, put the key in, and then I let it run. I just imagined what the day would be like. A hundred years from now. In 2045, I was a teacher in some school in a poor part of rural China. I started with Chinese history and history of science.'” – The Guardian (UK)
The Strategies That Helped Lupita Nyong’o Make Her Voice Super Creepy For ‘Us’
Nyong’o heard a speaker (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) with a neurological order that makes the larynx spasm involuntarily – and then, of course, she worked with a vocal coach to inject the emotions that inspire the character. Her director, Jordan Peele, didn’t know what she was doing until preproduction. “‘She sat me down and said ‘Are you ready?’’ the director recalled. He wasn’t.” – The New York Times
How Can We Put Theory And Context Behind Video Games And The Worlds Of Gaming? [AUDIO]
Yep, videogames, gamers, and their lives online need to be placed into context by … well … folklorists, of course. Says one, a gamer and a writer: “We all want to be part of a community, we want to be accepted and find people who are like us, and Ultima Online was kind of the start of that.” – Wired
A Scandal Engulfing The Shiny World Of Korean Pop Music May Transform The Country
Yes, it’s about sex tapes. But in a music world of K-Pop dominance, it’s time for a reckoning: “The Burning Sun scandal, as it’s been called, comes in the midst of a national conversation about misogyny and power — as well as spy-camera porn epidemic — and the momentum behind it has the potential to dramatically transform Korean society, or at least put several powerful men in serious legal trouble.” – Vulture
Austerity Almost Killed This Spanish Cultural Institution, But It Just Got Saved
The Spanish Royal Academy (RAE), the institution in charge of defending and defining the Spanish language, had been reeling under cuts for more than a decade. Then it got a new director – and he never stopped saying the RAE was of concern to the country. That worked, to the tune of 5 million Euros. Now, “the RAE will be in charge of at least 20 projects of exceptional interest, including the elaboration of different dictionaries, grammar or, now, its work of ensuring the correct use of language in the digital era.” – El País
Dutch Researchers Confirm Disputed Painting As A Van Gogh
Add one back: A painting at the Wadsworth Atheneum, questioned by an art historian in 1990 and then shelved, has been re-confirmed as a Van Gogh. – The New York Times (AP)
A High School Theatre Club Puts On A Terrifyingly Great Adaptation Of ‘Alien’
And the internet is extremely pleased – the photos. The video. The too-real tension. “Also, apparently the entire play was crafted on the cheap out of recycled materials, which is awesome in its own right.” – AV Club
Please Stop Harassing Writers While They’re Working
And in specific, stop harassing Asian Americans authors. Listen to author R.O. Kwon (The Incendiaries) discuss her experiences at literary events: “Aside from the colorist comments about my skin, some of these words — adorable, cute, silky, shiny — could be taken, incorrectly, as compliments. I acknowledge that there’s luck, and privilege, in inhabiting a body that others might find appealing. But when I’m at these events, I am at work. I am talking about my profession, not about my hair or skin or any perceived cuteness.” – The New York Times
In Fiction, The Shadow Of Slavery Is Deep
Writers focusing on the time period itself, and its long aftermath, have a lot of conflicting desires for their books. “What comes across in all of the writing on the Atlantic slave trade is the sustained tension between a determination to close the chapter on slavery and the desperate fear of forgetting.” – The Guardian (UK)