What Does All That Data From The Internet Tell Us? (That We Lie To Ourselves)

“The obvious answer is that it teaches us what you’re interested in. The less-obvious, but equally true, answer is that it teaches you what you’re interested in. If we merely asked what you wanted, without measuring what you wanted, you’d just keep lying to us – and to yourself. … Ask audiences what they want, and they’ll tell you vegetables. Watch them quietly, and they’ll mostly eat candy.”

Using Improv To Prevent Rape

“Something you don’t hear too often in the middle of an improv set: ‘Okay, and for the next scene, my opening line will be ‘I really didn’t rape that girl’.’ That’s the moment when Sex Signals, one of the country’s fastest growing sexual assault prevention programs, stops being so funny.”

Why The CIA Distributed Pocket-Sized Copies Of ‘Doctor Zhivago’ In The USSR

“Pasternak did not think of his novel as a weapon for intellectual warfare. … He wanted [it] treated as a novel, not a pamphlet. The CIA, on the other hand, was delighted by the media spotlight on the anti-Communist passages. The CIA also recognized that the symbolism of the situation made the Soviet Union look at least as bad as the novel itself did.

Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.17.14

What’s Left Unsaid About the Delaware Deaccession
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-06-18

Come down from the mountain
AJBlog: Sandow | Published 2014-06-18

How Western Opera Came to China
AJBlog: The Great Flourishing | Published 2014-06-18

From Ashes to True Love
AJBlog: Dancebeat | Published 2014-06-17

Taking Stock of the Ojai Music Festival
AJBlog: CultureCrash | Published 2014-06-17

 

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Met Opera Cancels Movie Theatre Broadcast Of Klinghoffer

The Met decided to cancel its planned Nov. 15 Live in HD transmission of “Klinghoffer” to movie theaters and a radio broadcast after discussions with the Anti-Defamation League. The league praised the Met’s decision, saying that “while the opera itself is not anti-Semitic, there is a concern the opera could be used in foreign countries to stir up anti-Israel sentiments or as a vehicle to promote anti-Semitism.”