“The current generation of fictional drugs, rather than bubbling up from nature’s underworld, parachute into stories and novels from the corporate-technological top down. The recent nightmare drugs — for they are, exclusively, nightmares — are pharmaceuticals. … The self’s integrity is under assault not by illicit indulgences but by capitalism’s imperative to market us shiny neurological upgrades — and by our complicit desire to be thus reworked.” — The New York Times Book Review
Tag: 12.24.18
The Complicated Story Of Frankincense And Myrrh
The plant-based aromatics are known to most people through the story of the Three Magi and the Christ Child, and frankincense is known to some through the incense used in some churches, but both substances have histories that go back to pre-Christian antiquity. In fact, over the centuries, even Christianity’s relationship with the pair has been ambivalent. — Aeon
Deborah Zall, Who Portrayed Great Women In Solo Dance Works, Dead At 84
“Ms. Zall was known for vivid portrayals of women drawn from history, including Mary Queen of Scots and the French author who wrote under the pseudonym George Sand, as well as fictional characters, like Amanda Wingfield from Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie. Lean, small of stature and angular of build, she gave performances that were praised for their commitment and focus.” — The New York Times
The State Of The Art Of Data Visualization
The ability to interpret data and analyze and communicate ideas about that data through design–has never been more important. 2018 brought a wealth of remarkable visualization work to the fore, and much of it changed our perception of the world around us. – Fast Company
In The Broadway Production Of ‘Network’, The Stage Manager Is Part Of The Show
In Ivo van Hove’s multimedia theatrical adaptation, the broadcast control room is a glass booth built into the set, and stage manager Timothy Semon calls the entire show from inside of it, in view of the audience. — The New York Times
Ah, That Simpler Time When Children Made Their Own Toys …
Rebecca Onion: “In mid-December, as I struggled to keep my own toy purchases under control, the idea of 19th-century children constructing their own playthings — probably by the fire, while calmly listening to their mother playing the piano — is eminently appealing. But as with many things in the history of childhood, children’s toy-making was less idyllic than it seems.” — Slate
Ireland’s Old Storytelling Tradition Revived By Rappers And Spoken-Word Artists
“The seanchaithe were Ireland’s traditional storytellers, itinerant poets, entertainers and historians who travelled the island regaling audiences with ancient lore. They thrived for centuries … before petering out in the era of radio and television.” But now they’re back. — The Guardian
For His Final New York Times Dance Review, Alastair Macaulay Goes To Staten Island
And if that’s not surprising enough, he chose as his subject a local Nutcracker. Why? Well, in Europe he grew quite tired of the Christmas chestnut, but over here, “Nutcrackering became for me — a British dance critic working in New York since 2007 — a happy way to discover America.” — The New York Times
The Biggest Streamers In Europe Brace For Content Quota Regulations
Here it comes, specifically for Netflix and Amazon, but others will be affected too: “The crucial clause in the E.U.’s audiovisual media services directive states that member states ‘shall ensure that media service providers of on-demand audiovisual media services under their jurisdiction secure at least a 30% share of European works in their catalogues and ensure prominence of those works.'” – Variety
How Cafe Culture Changed Debate
It wasn’t that the conversations in the café were necessarily intellectually productive; it was that the practice of free exchange itself—the ability to interact on equal terms with someone not of your clan or club—generated social habits of self-expression that abetted the appetite for self-government. – The New Yorker