Instead of writing, the Inkas’ principal bureaucratic tool was the khipu. A khipu consists of a number of strings or cords, either cotton or wool, systematically punctuated with knots, hanging from a master cord or length of wood; pendant cords might also have subsidiary cords. The basis of khipuaccounting practice was the decimal system, achieved by tying knots with between one and nine loops to represent single numerals, then adding elaborations to designate 10s, 100s or 1,000s. – Aeon
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Esa-Pekka Salonen To Leave As Conductor Of Philharmonia Orchestra
Under his leadership, the orchestra has raised its profile and broadened its repertoire, excelling in early 20th-century music. It has also been at the forefront of imaginative and inclusive digital projects – its award-winning immersive installations, Re-Rite and Universe of Sound, gave audiences the opportunity to explore an orchestra section by section and experience music from a player’s point of view. More recently, virtual reality projects allowed those donning the goggles to get to the very heart of the orchestra and encounter symphonic music as if sitting under Salonen’s nose. – The Guardian
Trying To Understand The Met Museum’s Need For An Expansion?
Last year, we heard that the Met had deficits. It pushed people out, cut its budget, and instituted a terrible $25 admission fee for tourists. I’m not given to amnesia, so I’m having a hard time squaring a need to reduce deficits, an unprecedented admission fee, a $70 million gallery redo, and that second baby behemoth, a $600 million new contemporary and modern wing. – National Review
Ben Jonson Wrote A Play So Scandalous That It Got All London’s Theatres Shut Down And Was Wiped From History
“In 1597, Jonson and Thomas Nashe co-wrote a satirical play called The Isle of Dogs. Not much is known about the plot or contents of the show; what is known is that almost immediately after it took the stage, the British authorities not only banned it from ever being performed again, but they also threw Jonson in jail and shut down the entire London theater scene. While the curtains eventually began to ascend again, the play at the center of the controversy lived on only in whispers.” — The Daily Beast
Wherein I Try To Plug In To The Great American Songbook
“I was now connected directly to the heart of the Great American Songbook. It was like knowing a guy who knew a guy who knew God. If the comparison seems blasphemous, let’s recall the central role of the songbook in this nation’s culture. We don’t call them standards for nothing: they exude the off-the-cuff elegance and colloquial zing that are supposed to be our hallmark. Also, they’re beautiful, and economical enough to break your heart with a single phrase.” – The New Yorker
How ‘Creed’ Has Changed The Entire ‘Rocky’ Franchise
“The director Ryan Coogler’s 2015 film, … was an act of subversion by Coogler and his co-writer Aaron Covington, and an oddly moving act of humility by Sylvester Stallone, who allowed his career-defining character, an avatar of white masculinity, to be transformed into a vehicle of redemption for Creed’s black protagonist — a role traditionally played by black actors [for white protagonists]. … This is how the meaning of the series itself, particularly the first four films, changed: from the story of an indomitable white boxer, to one about the roots of a friendship that created a debt Rocky must repay.” — The Atlantic
Study Of Literature Has Become More About Policing Than Enjoyment
The current group of politically minded critics makes a different point. Greatness is a possibility, but only if you’re not politically benighted. The misogyny and racism of major authors don’t just make for bad politics; they make for bad writing. In parodying the stupid ways in which Updike, Philip Roth, or Ian McEwan describe women, feminist readers are offering a kind of aesthetic education — seeking to shame authors into no longer producing such horrible prose and less politically conscious readers into no longer appreciating it. – Chronicle of Higher Education
How MoMA’s Exhibition Designers Do Their Jobs
“When you walk through an exhibition in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, every step you take is part of a deliberate design that takes you from piece to piece in just the right way. And it all starts with a dollhouse-like version of the gallery and teeny-tiny art replicas called ‘chips.’ In this episode [of Slate‘s podcast Working], Jordan Weissman talks to Lana Hum and Mack Cole-Edelsack, director and senior design manager, respectively, of MoMA’s exhibition design and production department.” (audio) — Slate
‘The Tinder Of Television’ — The Advantages And Problems Of Anthology Series
“One of the biggest criticisms of the Peak TV era is the phenomenon of Netflix Bloat. We’ve all constantly got so much good television to watch that we’ve become much less tolerant when serialised programmes take their foot off the . … But with an anthology series, you can just dip in and out.” Problem is, “by their very nature, anthologies are notoriously patchy affairs. Every episode requires a brand new idea, and good ideas are hard to come by.” — The Guardian
John Waters Talks About Film, Art, And His Careers In Each
“I’m always trying to question those two businesses, art and film, in a way that’s celebrating the mistakes, and what goes wrong, and insider knowledge. … I would say that still many people who know my films have absolutely no idea that I have an art career. And I kept that very separate on purpose, because … celebrity is the only obscenity left in the art world, and it is the one thing I will always have to fight.” — The Believer