Given that cities need its citizens more than ever, can the lessons of Burning Man’s Black Rock City, which pushes citizen participation to the limit, be applied to modern cities?
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Tag: 08.21.12
Death Knell For College Book Stores?
“Campus bookstores’ long-term survival depends on abandoning literary pretense altogether. According to the National Association of College Stores, which represents approximately 3,000 campus retailers, course materials account for a smaller and smaller proportion of total bookstore sales, ticking down from 57 percent in 2009 to 56 percent in 2010, to 54 percent last year.”
Opera Australia May Cancel Its First Brisbane Season As Queensland Withholds Funding
The coming year was to be the first that included performances in Queensland’s capital on a regular yearly basis, as with Sydney and Melbourne. But OA’s inaugural season in Brisbane was planned with $1 million each from the federal and state governments, and Queensland’s new administration wants to cut back its share.
A Hurricane Of New Thinking In The Social Sciences
“Discoveries in biology are calling into question all kinds of ideas, historically important ideas, in the social sciences–everything from the origin of free will, to collective expression and collective behavior, to the deep origins of basic human behaviors. All of these things are being challenged and elevated by discoveries in biology.”
Elderly Neighbor “Helps” By Restoring Church Fresco (Oops)
The restored version is apparently the work of an octogenarian neighbor of the church, who, noticing the damage to the painting, took it upon herself to restore the painting “with good intentions” but “without asking permission,” as culture councillor Juan Maria de Ojeda put it. It became clear to the amateur restorer — quickly, one imagines — that “she had gotten out of hand,” and she confessed to local authorities.
Frank Gehry In Tropical Colors: Biomuseo Tries To Bring Bilbao Effect To Panama City
“Asymmetrically protruding, squiggling, and contorting canopies overlap like pieces of tinted cellophane, corrugated cardboard, and construction paper, catching the eyes of visitors arriving to the city by cruise ship.”
Construction Begins On $140M Overhaul Of Charleston’s Flagship Arts Venue
The Gaillard Municipal Auditorium, a mid-1960s concrete hulk whose 2,700-seat hall offered barren acoustics and poor sightlines, will be transformed into an 1,800-seat horseshoe-style hall with updated amenities and an exterior that blends better with the city’s historic architecture.
Music Protest From An Unlikely Place
“It’s been a long time since music had the whiff of danger, and longer still since it carried the beat of political change, at least in democracies. Hardly anyone would’ve expected that to come out of Russia, where both the songcraft and the messaging seem outdated, vestiges of retro power-pop and a barely concealed propaganda machine.”
This Summer’s Hit Song Shows How Social Media Has Changed The Way Music Spreads
“The success of this summer’s hit, Carly Rae Jepsen’s cheerfully flirty “Call Me Maybe,” shows how much the hitmaking machine, as well as the music industry itself, has been upended by social media.”
Study: Superheroes Make Us Feel Better
“For men, it turns out, close identification with a superhero can have psychological benefits–and perhaps even physical ones.”