“The scene: a crowded pub in the London district of Islington. Waitresses nudge through the crowd of about 100 people, carrying trays of hamburgers and cheesy fries, as patrons – East End hipsters, young professionals, students – saunter up to the bar to get more libations. Then one of the evening’s hosts asks for attention and introduces the live entertainment: a violinist, a violist and a cellist.”
Category: AUDIENCE
Is It Rude To Walk Out Of A Performance Before It’s Finished?
“Maybe 30 years ago walking out of a performance was a big deal. These days—with the lure of social media and 5 million TV options, not to mention over-the-top ticket prices—many choose to reject what isn’t working. And why not? It’s your money and time, so why be miserable?”
Rio Olympics TV Audience Way Down, Streaming Way Up (Sounds About Right)
“Nielsen data showed an 18% decline from the 31.1 million who watched the 2012 Games in London. But online streaming of live video on NBC’s apps reached 2.7 billion minutes, nearly double the amount for all previous Olympic Games.”
Sexist “Trolls” Protest Science Fiction Writing Awards
“Few in the speculative fiction community were surprised that the 2016 Hugo Award for Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy ballot was beleaguered for the second year in a row by a slate of trolls calling themselves the Sad Puppies, with their right-wing pals the Rabid Puppies in tow (seriously, these names).”
What Does It Mean That ‘Serial’ And ‘Making A Murderer’ Have Led To Changes In Criminal Verdicts?
“The real danger … is that a show or podcast can become so persuasive that audiences think they’re getting the entire story – the objective truth – behind a murder and the ensuing trials. ‘It’s wrong to think of any of these shows as being unmediated texts.”
This Week In Audience: Understanding Troll Culture
This Week: A look at online troll culture – were these awful people always among us?… Here’s who goes to choral concerts… A look inside the brain as it watches movies… Lin Manuel Miranda’s crusade against ticket bots.
When Hollywood Loses Control Of Its Own Narrative
“That’s part of what Searchlight was betting on: the simple allure of an auteur and his singular artistic vision to usher a film to greatness. They simply failed to fully research, contemplate, or understand the implications of that alignment.”
What Did Shakespeare Mean When He Had Coriolanus Criticize The Vox Populi So Many Times?
“With the Trump campaign and Brexit getting credit for drawing on populist angst, Coriolanus deserves a second look.The play can help us reconsider what populism is and the ways a ‘populist’ movement can be fostered by, yet not necessarily conducive to, democracy.”
Smacked Back Into Place: Pop Music And Musicians After 9/11
As the 15th anniversary of the attacks approaches, Scott Timberg talks with scholar Mark Anthony Neal about the taboos that sprung up in the wake of the events (and the ensuing wars) and what happened to the artists who tried to challenge those taboos.
We’ve All Been Misunderstanding Robert Frost’s Most Famous Poem
Even the first person to read “The Road Not Taken” first understood it the way generations of schoolteachers have explained it; Frost himself had to explain (several times) what he meant. Other readers have taken the poem to be a parody of the lofty individualistic sentiments of the interpretation we learned in grade school. David Orr takes apart both those readings, and provides alternative versions of the poem that would actually fit them, to highlight what Frost actually did write.