“Meet Gudetama, the anthropomorphic embodiment of severe depression. Gudetama … feels existence is almost unbearable. It shivers with sadness. It clings to a strip of bacon as a security blanket. Rather than engage in society, it jams its face into an eggshell and mutters the words, ‘Cold world. What can we do about it?'”
Tag: 07.31.16
Jonathan Franzen On His Battle For Ideas
“I go to extraordinary lengths not to hear what people are saying about me. But that is itself a form of, well, it’s a form of self-protection because I know that all I have to do is hear one phrase—somebody will report to me all innocently, oh, somebody said such-and-such about me or about something I wrote, like I did this piece for the New Yorker a year-and-a-half ago where I made some, I thought, sensible points about the reality of climate change and the unavoidability of radical climate change, and people said, ‘Oh God, somebody called you a birdbrain’.”
Is Everything Art? Is Everyone An Artist? Some Definitions Please…
“Yes there is music and yes there is painting, but is there such a thing as art? The arts? Do we need art to make sense as something other than a phantasm, or a useful fiction, to be able to advocate for it? Does that fabrication invalidate our efforts?”
Gloria DeHaven, 91, Star Of MGM Musicals And, Later. Of Soap Operas
She began her film career at age 11 with a bit part in Chaplin’s Modern Times and went on to appear as a perky sweetheart alongside stars from Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra to Lucille Ball, Rosalind Russell and Nancy Reagan. After MGM’s musicals went out of fashion, she developed a career as a character actress in such series as As the World Turns, Ryan’s Hope, and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
Massachusetts Legislature Reverses Governor’s 55 Percent Cut In Arts Budget
The fiscal year 2017 budget lawmakers sent to the governor’s desk in July included $14 million for arts, humanities and sciences programs through the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. But Baker vetoed $7.7 million, bringing the total figure down to $6.5 million, a 55 percent cut the agency called “devastating.”
How Babies Learn: They’re Like Scientists
“We take it for granted that young children “get into everything.” But new studies of “active learning” show that when children play with toys they are acting a lot like scientists doing experiments. Preschoolers prefer to play with the toys that will teach them the most, and they play with those toys in just the way that will give them the most information about how the world works.”
The American Indian Museum Has Been Stalled For Years, But A 2015 Agreement Was Supposed To Solve That
“The unfinished concrete-and-steel structure sits empty and construction is at a standstill while city officials and the Ada-based Chickasaw Nation work out the details of a complex partnership for operating and maintaining the 173,000-square-foot museum and developing the surrounding 200 or so acres of commercial property along the Oklahoma River.”
Hollywood Finds A New Mine For Source Material: YouTube
“YouTube has become a go-to place for budding filmmakers to share short movies that previously wouldn’t have had the opportunity to reach a wide audience.”
Can The Architects Chosen For The New Museum Of London Meet The Challenge?
“The chance is there to make a museum exceptional in Britain and the world, like none other. And yet – as the path of good architecture never runs smooth – there is still a risk the chance might not be taken.”
Hold On To Your Sorting Hats: The New Harry Potter Play May Be Bound For Broadway
“‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ is unlike anything that is succeeding on Broadway now. It is a play in an era dominated by musicals, it has a running time of 5 hours 15 minutes (staged in two parts to be seen either in one day or over two consecutive nights), and it does not (thus far) rely on celebrity casting.”