Kids still get picture books read to them. But now that we all communicate in writing so much more often, kids also read text messages. For a kid to get a text message written directly for them, and read directly to them, which they can reply to in some fashion, it teaches them something powerful about the written word—that it can be used to connect with people you care about. – Wired
Tag: 01.01.19
Prominent Literary Folk Who Died In 2018
It was a big year in literary deaths. End-of-an-era stuff… – LitHub
Want To Understand The Digital Revolution? This Essay Explains It
“We assume that a search engine company builds a model of human knowledge and allows us to query that model, or that some other company (or maybe it’s the same company) builds a model of road traffic and allows us to access that model, or that yet another company builds a model of the social graph and allows us to join that model — for a price we are not quite told. This fits our preconceptions that an army of programmers is still in control somewhere but it is no longer the way the world now works.” – Edge
Music As Universal Language? It Starts With Something Local
“Conceptually, one might argue, Western classical music is tailor-made for global promulgation since a score written in country A in year X could theoretically be rendered equally well by musicians in either country B in year Y or country C in year Z. But, of course, thanks to the advent of recording technology well over a century ago, those folks in A, B, and C can now easily listen to each other. As a result, any locally made music has the possibility of reaching a global audience. ” – NewMusicBox
Director Of The Uffizi Demands Germany Return Painting
Eike Schmidt, who is German himself, said Berlin had a moral duty to give back the painting, Vase of Flowers, by the 18th century Dutch artist Jan van Huysum. It was looted from Florence by German soldiers in 1944 and is now owned privately by a German family. – The Telegraph (UK)
Why Big Media Couldn’t Extend Copyright Terms Yet Again (And What It Means To The Public Domain)
The rise of the Internet and its remix culture means that a lot of people now benefit from a growing public domain in ways that weren’t true in 1998. That includes big companies like Google, but it also includes grassroots communities like Wikipedia editors and Reddit users. – Ars Technica
Is Netflix’s Streaming Dominance Coming To An End?
“Netflix is facing increased competition from some of its previous content suppliers,” said Richard Broughton, an analyst at Ampere Analysis. “Despite its major focus on original content the company is still hugely reliant on licensed content for subscribers and that carries risks.” – The Guardian
How Netflix Might Change The Movie Industry
“Netflix has clearly taken over TV in the last 10 years. It does not seem crazy to believe that they can do the same to the movie biz as they accelerate film production.” – Axios
The Writers Of Four Of Last Year’s Major Films Share Screenplay Secrets
Gillian Flynn (Widows) on how to write a thrilling heist, Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible — Fallout) on how to write high-stakes action, John Krasinski (A Quiet Place) on how to write family horror, and Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk) on how to adapt James Baldwin. — New York Times
Indigenous Performing Artists From All Over North America And Australia Gather In New York (Just In Time For APAP)
“In drawing attention to the breadth of contemporary Indigenous performance — with works spanning dance, theater, performance art and genres in between — the [First Nations Dialogues New York/Lenapehoking] are something rare for New York, if not unprecedented. Describing what to expect is not easy and not intended to be.” — The New York Times