This is the paradox of authenticity: In order to reap the many of the benefits of feeling authentic, you may have to betray your true nature. – Scientific American
Blog
Jazz Pianist McCoy Tyner, 81
Mr. Tyner’s manner was modest, but his sound was rich, percussive and serious, his lyrical improvisations centered by powerful left-hand chords marking the first beat of the bar and the tonal center of the music. – The New York Times
Superheroes As Metaphor For Technology
Superman and his contemporaries launched a fascination with technological superism that continues today. Here were individuals whose bodies and their capacities were somehow warped through being exposed to technology (the Flash); augmented by technology (Batman); or transported from one environment to another by technology (Superman). There is an underlying narrative in all their stories that treats technology as a source of powers that would traditionally have been described as divine. But, like Prometheus’ theft of fire from the gods, this has often been seen as a double-edged desire, seductive yet dangerous for humans. – Aeon
How A D&D Tool Helped Organize Our World Views
The pleasure of filling out an alignment chart is similar to that of playing a simple brainteaser, or completing an elementary-school worksheet: You’re making judgment calls, sorting, putting objects into little boxes—and you end up with something neat and composed. It has the allure of surety. If we could decide, once and for all, what is the exact best way to live, maybe everything would fall into place. – The Atlantic
Joyce Gordon, Pioneering TV Actress (And Voice You Know From Frustrating Phone Calls), Dead At 90
“During the germinal days of television, … [she] became famous as ‘The Girl With the Glasses,’ for un-self-consciously wearing her signature eyeglasses on camera as she delivered live, on-air advertising pitches for products like Crisco and Duncan Hines cake mixes.” Her voice was heard in many a dubbed foreign film and countless radio announcements — and whenever you called a number that was “no longer in service.” – The New York Times
Surge In Sales Of Books About Plagues
Camus’s The Plague follows the inhabitants of Oran, an Algerian town that is sealed off by quarantine as it is ravaged by bubonic plague. Penguin is rushing through a reprint of its English translation to meet demand, but said on Thursday it had sold out of stock on Amazon. The publisher added that sales in the last week of February were up by 150% on the same period in 2019. – The Guardian
‘Weimar On The Pacific’: When L.A. Was The Capital Of German Literature
Alex Ross revisits that odd period when the Nazi regime had driven the cream of pre-war German arts and letters — Werfel, Döblin, Viertel, Brecht, Adorno, three different Manns, along with composers, actors, and stage and film directors — into a disorienting exile under the palms. – The New Yorker
One-Year Surge In Women Songwriters In UK. But…
PRS, which collects and distributes royalties to songwriters, said 1,755 women signed up in 2019, versus 1,097 in 2018. Around 63% were under the age of 30. However, 5,580 men signed up in the same period, and only 18.4% of the total PRS membership – listed as “over 145,500” – is female. – The Guardian
Ethics Issue With Ousted Director Is Least Of Cooper-Hewitt Museum’s Problems
“The turmoil will only further damage an institution that has, for most of its existence, failed to live up to its name while presenting one mediocre exhibition after another.” Aaron Betsky argues that the root of the problems at the Smithsonian’s design museum (and its only branch in New York) isn’t the fault of anyone in particular, but it will require the equivalent of radical surgery. – Dezeen
Why French Conedy Has A Political Edge
“Politics has always been present in French humour. But standup brought forward a whole population left out by the system – the poor, uneducated sons and daughters of immigrants.” – The Guardian