“Before the music begins, app users can read background information about the piece. When the music starts, a sequence of brief annotations begins, cued by an operator in the hall who follows the musical score. The annotations alert listeners to when an important theme in the work is coming up, for example, or describe important subtexts to the music.”
Tag: 06.19.15
The Rock ‘n Roll Hall Of Fame Just Ditched Half Its Nominating Committee. Why?
“They just got rid of the guys who have all the histories of thousands of artists in their heads. That’s like letting go the intent of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
Can An Algorithm Really Tell Us If A Play Is Authentic Shakespeare?
The case of Double Falsehood and the search for “function words.”
The Pollyanna Hypothesis: All Languages Have A Positivity Bias
All of them? That’s what the research says. Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield explain. (podcast)
Nina Simone’s Moment Has Come (Again)
“Simone is striking posthumous gold as the inspiration for three films and a star-studded tribute album, and she was name-dropped in John Legend’s Oscar acceptance speech for best song. This flurry comes on the heels of a decade-long resurgence: two biographies, a poetry collection, several plays, and the sampling of her signature haunting contralto by hip-hop performers including Jay Z, the Roots and, most relentlessly, Kanye West. Fifty years after her prominence, Nina Simone is now reaching her peak.”
Bookstores Will Not Go The Way Of Video Stores (Really!)
“Why is everyone so quick to write bookstores’ obituary? What is this cultural obsession with obsoletism? Perhaps it’s just in our bones—that technology always wins.”
How To Support Your Creative Friends When You Have A Mildly Boring And Stable Life
“Do you sympathize when they encounter adversity and cheer them on when they overcome it? Can you share in the bitter, bursting fruits of their outrage even when you find it mystifying? Then you are being a Good Friend. Really, I promise. You are exemplary.”
New Photo Shows Van Gogh, Gauguin And Other Artists Drinking Together
“The photograph was identified through discovering the names of the other figures in the picture (who include artists Paul Gauguin and Emile Bernard, no small discovery in themselves), fixing it in a place and time, and analyzing the photographic process.”
Do Open Auditions Ever Truly Work, For The Actors Or The Films?
“Film producer Kathleen Kennedy said they decided to have open auditions because of the film’s tradition of casting unknown actors in the past such as Mark Hamill, albeit through the traditional casting process.”
How Pixar Got Its Animated Groove Back
“While Inside Out has a personal connection, it also reflects the science-geek sensibility that runs through much of Pixar’s history.”