It’s tempting to ask if we can learn to be more creative. Creativity does have some genetic heritability: talent – mathematical, musical – runs in families. For example, the Dutch identical twins David Oyens and Pieter Oyens were both successful 19th-century painters. But, given that the human brain is plastic, constantly learning and changing, can we also learn to be creative, based on our experiences? – Aeon
Blog
Music Moves To Streaming Live – But First To Figure Out What Works
On an individual level, innumerable artists and bands have rearranged tours or scrapped them altogether. With streaming still offering low royalty rates for artists, most musicians rely on essential revenue from touring. So can a livestreamed show be a feasible replacement for the real thing? – The Guardian
Mighty Powell’s Books Goes Down
“We have been forced to make the unthinkable decision to lay off the vast majority of you in the coming few days. Many people have spoken publicly demanding we pay our employees and extend health insurance for the duration. No one can possibly know how much I wish I could make that happen. We are simply not that kind of business – we run on duct tape and twine on a daily basis, every day trading funds from one pocket to patch the hole in another.” – Powell’s
Alabama Will Open Museum For Remnants Of Last American Slave Ship
“Mobile County, the city of Mobile and the Alabama Historical Commission say work will begin ‘immediately’ on an Africatown Heritage House that will feature artifacts from the slave ship Clotilda … [which] is believed to be the last ship to bring a cargo of captive Africans into slavery in the United States, shortly before the start of the Civil War.” – The Press-Register (Mobile)/AL.com
Online Gaming Platforms Fail To Keep Up With Surge Of Players
Nintendo Online was unavailable for almost nine hours on Tuesday, preventing users from playing games such as Mario Kart 8 online or buying new titles on the console’s online shop. Steam, a popular platform for PC games, reported its all-time highest number of concurrent users over the weekend, with more than 20 million people logged in at the same time, and almost a third of those were actively playing a game. – The Guardian
What Coronavirus Content Is Showing Us About Ourselves (It Ain’t Pretty)
“The pandemic has clarified the dark bargain of our internet-connected devices: We look to them to protect our bodies and soothe our nerves, and in return, we hand over our minds.” – The New York Times
Be The Curator. New Online Tool Lets You Create Your Own Show
The charity Art UK, which lists every publicly owned oil painting on its online database and is in the process of adding every sculpture, has announced details of a new curation tool. It will allow members of the public to curate their own online shows, choosing from more than 200,000 oil paintings and 16,000 sculptures in UK galleries from the Shetlands to Scilly. – The Guardian
EU Asks Netflix To Stop HD Streaming As Internet Use Soars
With so many countries on forced lockdowns to fight the spread of the virus, hundreds of millions working from home and even more children out of school, EU officials are concerned about the huge strain on internet bandwidth. – CNN
Stuart Whitman, Oscar-Nominated Actor And Action Star, Dead At 92
“With his tousled dark hair, roguish smile and boxer’s physique, Mr. Whitman was a half-century staple of film and television, appearing in studio blockbusters and John Wayne epics as well as exploitation films and horror schlock. … [He] earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a child molester in The Mark.” – The Washington Post
What It’s Like Performing For An Empty Hall
“When you’re on stage and projecting to an audience they are relating in various ways to what you are doing on stage. When I perform I’m always trying to invite them to respond in any way they can. When you’re doing it just for your musicians, you have a different approach, delving into the intricacies so much deeper…you’re not trying to project something when you’re so intimate. I actually felt very intimate there.” – Van