“Data may be big and getting bigger, but it’s not exactly thick on the ground in the performing arts. There is no IMDB for string quartets, composers, ballets, or even plays (though in theater there are some who are trying to make one). Where clear data sets exist, there’s a lot we can learn from them, and we should definitely encourage our big institutions to make more of their data transparently available to the public.”
Tag: 11.21.14
Artificial Intelligence, Really, Is Pseudo-Intelligence
“Commentator Alva Noë argues that we don’t need to be alarmed that our machines are rapidly outstripping natural-born human cognitive power: We’ve got a millions-of-years head start.”
Minnesota Opera CEO Resigns
“The Minnesota Opera, which has become a national leader in generating new work, appears to be less than stable at the executive level. President and General Director Kevin Ramach resigned this week after about 2½ years in the role. Ramach himself had succeeded Allan Naplan, who quit in 2012 after a year in the job.”
Aereo Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
The company that streamed broadcast television over the Web “filed for voluntary bankruptcy on Thursday, a move the company says will allow it to ‘maximize the value of its business and assets’ without being dragged down by ongoing [intellectual property] lawsuits in several states.”
Ballet Has A Lot Of Rules – Including Precisely How, And To Whom, To Present Flowers Onstage
“At the Royal Opera House, however, there are flowers delivered onstage at almost every ballet performance, most provided by loyal fans who can spend hundreds of dollars each month to keep their favorite ballerinas supplied with floral tributes.”
Will The European Union Break Up Google? (That’s The Plan)
“The company has been criticized repeatedly, both for its commercial dominance and in regards to privacy.”
When Wikimedia Commons Tags Old Paintings As ‘Seduction’ (But They’re Actually Not Even Close)
“If a woman is sitting as far away from you as she possibly can, not making eye contact with you, completely turned so that her back is to you, clutching a bouquet of flowers and staring longingly at a plate of figs and wine, she wishes to be left alone with food/”
The Epic Result When Patti Smith Interviewed David Lynch For The BBC [VIDEO]
“They both discuss their memories first hearing the song ‘Blue Velvet,’ and Smith’s reflexive lyricism brings out something allied in Lynch.”
Whose Side – OK, Apart From The Movie Studio’s – Is The Hunger Games Series On?
In Thailand, “protesters showed up at the movie’s premiere in Bangkok and flashed the salute – only to be carted off by the police on the grounds that the Thai government has banned it. It’s an extraordinary blending of art and life that, although moving, possibly takes art a little too literally.”
How Can Thousand-Page Biographies Possibly Survive The Digital Era?
“I feel sorry for the biographers of the future. The questions we used to ask with such fervor — Where’s the archive? Do you have access? Are there letters? — will be irrelevant to our successors.”