Write someone else’s college papers, basically. Essay farms are a huge industry now, so blatant that one administrator says, “If we don’t do anything about it, we will turn every accredited university into a diploma mill.” – The New York Times
Tag: 09.07.19
Is Instagram Ruining Architecture?
Sometimes, but not always, because Instagram is filled with artists and designers. One architect recalls something she learned in the early days of the app. “‘You came, you saw, you stood there, you took your picture. … That was my first realization how status can be brought through a photograph.’ It is like bagging a seven-point Instagram buck.” – The New York Times
What Did The Venice Film Festival Just Say To Women And The MeToo Movement?
About the fest’s awards. The Daily Beast headline is “Child Rapist Roman Polanski Wins Venice Film Festival Award,” so there’s one point of view. A more reportorial version comes from Variety, which soberly says the wins for The Joker and the Polanski movie An Officer and a Spy capped “a festival marked by debate over gender representation and the impact of #MeToo in the industry.” You don’t say. – Variety
How Should Writers Deal With Climate Change?
Novelist Amitav Ghosh has some ideas, but most of all, he wants writers to deal with it in their books instead of ignoring it. “Something this big and this important, there have to be an infinite number of ways to just talk about it,” he said. – The New York Times
Nothing Says ‘This Movie Needs Your Attention’ Like A Mass Walkout
The latest in a long line of cinema that makes critics and others walk out in the middle of a film? The Painted Bird, a new adaptation of the Jerzy Kozinski novel. “Cinema seats don’t tend to flip back anymore, but it sounds as if the drama within the auditorium was impressive enough without those percussive thuds.” – The Irish Times
What’s Up With British Pathé Newsreels’ Terrifying Puppets?
Er, what were you doing, British Pathé? “At the height of the Blitz, the British government made the bold decision to communicate Nazi air raid safety tips to the population the only way they knew how: the art of ventriloquism.” – Slate
How Awkwafina Went From Her Trash-Talk Viral Video About Genitalia To Serious Starring Roles In Hollywood
Nora Lum – that is, Awkwafina – is everywhere in Hollywood now, including some new Disney properties. But she got her start through fangirling actress Lucy Liu – the only visible Asian American woman in Hollywood when Awkwafina was young. (Oh, and she also got her start as a self-taught trumpet player, that traditional path to acting stardom, going to LaGuardia High School in Manhattan.) – The Guardian (UK)
Ella Fitzgerald Is Influencing A Whole New Generation Of Musicians
Millennial Latinx musicians say that Fitzgerald’s influence lives far beyond her own time. Colombian neo-soul artist Mabiland: “I had no idea a woman could sing like that. … To hear that voice and understand the power of someone who could put her soul into her voice like that — for me, that is Ella.” – NPR
Francisco Toledo, The Mexican Artist Who Just Died At 79, Embodied The Soul Of Oaxaca
Toledo’s art met social activism at every turn. For instance, “in December 2014, from his studio in Oaxaca, Mexico, he made a series of kites adorned with portraits of the ’43,’ or the 43 college students who were missing — disappeared allegedly by criminal and state forces in the neighboring state of Guerrero that year.” – The New York Times
Rio De Janeiro’s Mayor Tries To Censor A Marvel Book With A Gay Kiss, But The Court Blocks Him
Predictable results of the homophobic censorship attempt (which was headed off by the judge as an issue of freedom of expression): “Copies of the comic book, Avengers: The Children’s Crusade, quickly sold out after the mayor’s intervention. The illustration that upset that mayor was also printed on the front page of Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo.” – BBC