Blog

The Computer That Calls The Hits

“Platinum Blue Music Intelligence is a complex computer program that turns music into mathematics. It breaks songs down into 30 or so component parts including rhythm, melody, harmony, beat, cadence, timbre, pitch, and gives each a number. What they have found is just about all hit songs, no matter what genre, fit the same pattern.”

A Building Ramshackle As The Commonwealth

There’s an attempt to tear down London’s Commonwealth Institute. “The fate of the Commonwealth Institute is one of those turning points in the history of taste… When it was new, this was as modern as official London got: a slightly shocking intrusion to the skyline against the backdrop of a Royal Park, with an interior that had something of the flavour of an expo. Of course, that fragile-looking roof leaked almost from the beginning and, as coup followed coup, the dioramas couldn’t keep up with changing political and economic realities. The building’s present ramshackle state, betraying brave hopes gone sour, is a pretty accurate reflection of the Commonwealth itself.”

Classical Music Groups Being Pushed Out Of Lauderdale?

Fort Lauderdale music groups say they’re feeling a scheduling squeeze from the Broward County Performing Arts Center because of touring Broadway shows. “Officials have privately complained for years that the Broward Center’s emphasis on reserving large blocks for touring Broadway shows has made scheduling their performances increasingly difficult.” With the imminent opening of the Miami Performing Arts Center, the groups may be looking at other options.

Are We Too Clean For Our Own Good?

“Studies give more weight to a 17-year-old theory that the sanitized Western world may be partly to blame for soaring rates of human allergy and asthma cases and some autoimmune diseases, such as Type I diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. The theory, called the hygiene hypothesis, figures that people’s immune systems aren’t being challenged by disease and dirt early in life, so the body’s natural defenses overreact to small irritants such as pollen.”

A Purge Of Film Critics

They’re dropping off the pages of American newspapers. “All around the country, experienced critics are being kicked out in favor of glorified interns…who seem excited merely to have been invited to an early screening of `M:I:3′ and who can be counted on to file frothingly appreciative, advertiser-friendly copy.”

The Blurbing-The-Critics Game

“The art of selective quoting is one of the oldest games in the hype business, and readers are generally wise to it. Ellipses are not a good sign, and if an advertisement features quotes from critics pruned to just one word (“Brilliant!” — Joe Schmo; “Powerful!” — Betty Burns), chances are good the foliage surrounding them is less fragrant with affection.”

Teaching In A Plagiaristic Culture

Student plagiarism has become a huge problem for teachers. “Teachers who still assign long papers — 10 pages or more with footnotes and bibliographies — often require students to attach companion essays that describe every step of their research and writing. Even then, teachers scour the Internet for suspicious turns of phrase. And some schools are paying thousands of dollars a year for software that scans work for plagiarism. Those programs reveal that about 30% of papers are plagiarized, either totally or in part.”