On July 1st, California became the first state in the nation to try to reduce the power of bots by requiring that they reveal their “artificial identity” when they are used to sell a product or influence a voter. – The New Yorker
Blog
How Jony Ive’s Designs Assaulted The Physical World
The late architect Robert Venturi praised the designers Charles and Ray Eames for bringing back “good old Victorian clutter” into modern design. Nothing similar could be said of Apple, whose designs are intended to absorb and centralize—and, in some cases, to wish the physical world out of existence. – The New Yorker
The Challenge of Doing Theatre In Mexico
“Currently, Mexico is going through a change of government, which has reduced the national budget for culture and has been removed a lot of art scholarships. On top of this, more and more states are moving away from the idea that arts hubs need to be in the capital cities, which is encouraging smaller communities across the country to create their own theatrical markets.” – Howlround
The “Pursuit Of Happiness” In The Collective Sense (Rather Than Personal)
The topic of what Hannah Arendt called “public happiness” is largely ignored by those who think and write about contemporary culture. Apparently, politics and happiness don’t go together any more. Collective happiness — as Socrates intended it, as a shared political experience — is largely out of the picture. – The New York Times
Max Wright, Stage Actor Who Became Known For TV’s ‘ALF’, Dead At 75
He never much enjoyed working on the popular series, though he acknowledged that that “doesn’t matter … ALF brought people a lot of joy. They adored it.” While he did quite a bit of other film and television work, his true love was the stage, with notable roles in The Great White Hope (opposite James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander), Andrei Serban’s staging of The Cherry Orchard, the Al Pacino Richard III, the Broadway revival of Chekhov’s Ivanov (for which he garnered Tony and Drama Desk nominations), and a famous 1998 Lincoln Center production of Twelfth Night. – The New York Times
How “Game Of Thrones” Is Like Chaucer
The fate of Chaucer’s unfinished works suggests there may be something to be appreciated in the peculiarly suspended state in which fans of A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones currently find themselves. Should Martin be compelled to abandon his saga for one reason or another, he can console himself with the knowledge that the unfinished state of Chaucer’s texts did nothing to prevent John Dryden from declaring Chaucer to be the “Father of English poetry”. – Times Literary-Supplement
With ‘AMC Artisan Films’, Big Theater Chain Tries To Give Smaller Movies A Boost
“According to a press release, the initiative will spotlight ‘character and narrative driven movies’ that big-budget box-office behemoths tend to overshadow. … If any of this sounds familiar to you, it’s because … the promise to recognize ‘artist-driven, thought-provoking’ movies that show ‘expertise in writing, directing, acting and/or one of the many component parts that make up a movie,’ echoes one of the company’s previous initiatives” — AMC Independent from 2010. – Slate
How A Caretaker With Little Training “Restored” (And Damaged) 200 Of Van Gogh’s Paintings
The 200 Van Gogh paintings which Jan Cornelis Traas restored for the family between 1926 and 1933 represent nearly a quarter of the artist’s works. It remains highly disturbing that a restorer with virtually no formal training and with little experience should have been given the task of restoring so many of Van Gogh’s paintings. – The Art Newspaper
In Barbershops And Laundromats, Bringing Books To Kids Who Can’t Get To Libraries
“This developing movement, supported by nonprofit groups, entrepreneurs, libraries and community fund-raising, is redefining the borders of traditional neighborhood public libraries by creating literary spaces in places where children find themselves with time on their hands. It is bringing the book to the child, instead of the child to the book.” – The New York Times
Non-Verbal Communication: A Dictionary Of What Our Gestures Mean
Francois Caradec’s Dictionary, newly translated into English by Chris Clarke, lists some 850 gestures that “successively address each part of the body, from top to bottom, from scalp to toe by way of the upper limbs”, and may be used as well as or instead of speech. They are numbered and ordered in a taxonomy running from 1.01 (“to nod one’s head vertically up and down, back to front, one or several times: acquiescence”) to 37.12 (“to kick an adversary in the rear end: aggression”). – Times Literary Supplement