“Because the competition for a place among the country’s well-off is so vicious.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
The Newspaper That Tried To Popularize ‘Bad’ Spelling
“On December 5th, 1846, in the first issue of a newspaper called Di Anglo-Sacsun, an introductory letter to readers heralded the day when ‘bad spelling, the monster that scares, and grins at, and harasses the people, will fall into fits, like the Giant Despair of Doubting Castle, and will die outright of his spasms.'”
Can These Architects Bring Back Mexico City’s Ancient, Buried Lakes?
“The Lakeside City (‘La Ciudad Lacustre’), which set out to recover the ancient Texcoco lake in the east of Mexico City, is the most comprehensive urban plan the city has ever seen. Kalach and fellow architect, Teodoro González de León, proposed to limit urban growth, clear and curtail development on the original lake bed, and allow the groundwater and rain to restore the body of water.”
Sesame Street To Concentrate Less On Puppets, Pop Culture
“Parents watching the show may notice fewer pop culture references in future episodes. That’s because, as humorous as they are to grownups, such references are typically lost on the preschoolers who watch the show. And as it turns out, fewer parents are watching Sesame Street these days, compared to when the show first aired.”
The New York Public Library’s Below-Ground Shelving Is Going High-Tech
“To fit all the books in the allotted space, the library will have to abandon its version of the Dewey Decimal System, in which shelving is organized by subject, in favor of a new “high-density” protocol in which all that matters is size. Books will be stacked by height and tracked by bar code rather than by a subject-based system, making for some odd bookfellows.”
Networks Are Starting To Negotiate With Netflix For Branding Rights
“As networks struggle to keep their brands relevant, making sure viewers know the origins of a show and where to go for fresh episodes is paramount. Also, if the network is identified, the hope is that users will eventually be able to search Netflix by network for content instead of just by show titles and actors.”
Amazon Names Its Top Books Of The Year (Just In Time For Holiday Book Shopping!)
“Amazon’s editorial director of books and Kindle Sarah Nelson described Groff’s language as ‘electric’ and praised her ‘ingenious plotting … fascinating and unlike anything I’ve read in years. … Our editor adored it.’ Reviewers were not as convinced.”
Are ‘Treescapers’ The Buildings Of The Future?
“Treescrapers have emerged as a popular typology in speculative architecture, a building scheme that pledges environmental gains and density—but exists mostly on paper. The porosity of these designs upends conventional standards for construction. They look futuristic, maybe so much so that they don’t look like the future of architecture.”
Saeed Jaffrey, Who Acted In Everything From ‘Gandhi’ To ‘My Beautiful Laundrette’ To ‘Coronation Street,’ Dies At 85
“When Jaffrey arrived in Britain, non-white actors were still a rarity and the theatre world was at a loss as to how to deal with them. Slowly his quality became recognised, even though the stage parts he was offered often depended on his ethnicity rather than his considerable professional abilities. Colour-blind casting was still in its infancy, and it is not surprising that much of Jaffrey’s early British work was in the BBC World Service, where his splendid speaking voice and his pure Urdu were invaluable.”
OK, So How Do Directors Who Practice Color-Conscious Casting Deal With The Audience?
“Since I first wrote about color-conscious casting, I’ve learned—by directing my own productions as well as casting plays that I did not direct—that color-conscious casting doesn’t guarantee a color-conscious production. Diverse casting is a cause; a more challenging and/or inclusive conversation is not inherently an effect.”