Arts news

• Speaking Of AI, Why Are We So Creeped Out By Dancing Robots?

  08-01-2023 22:30 via nytimes.com
  “People have been afraid of robots for as long as robots have existed. But robots that can dance — really dance — are distinctly unnerving.” – The New York Times
  
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• The Science Of AI Art, And The Future Of Human Artists

  08-01-2023 22:00 via sciencefriday.com
  “It’s pretty wild and a little disturbing. It definitely provokes some mixed emotions.” – Science Friday
  
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• Talking To The Author Of The Most Banned Book In The United States

  08-01-2023 19:00 via npr.org
  Maia Kobabe, author of Gender Queer: “I drew as much as I felt like I needed to tell the story that I was trying to tell and get the points across that I was trying to make. And I honestly think the book is a lot less explicit than it could be.” – NPR
  
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• Please, Say No To AI Audiobook Narrators

  08-01-2023 18:30 via lithub.com
  Apple has new AI narrators. They’re not great. “Jackson sounds like a pretty standard—if maddening—customer service line voice. … Madison, on the other hand, sounds a little like a female version of Aiden Gillen playing American on The Wire.” – LitHub
  
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• The Music Of Antarctica

  08-01-2023 18:00 via theguardian.com
  “The space is alive with the sounds of thawing permafrost, cracking ice, grinding glacier. … ‘Sometimes, moving ice can sound like something that’s alive.'” – The Guardian (UK)
  
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• The Fraught Process Of Turning An 800-Page Government Report Into An Audiobook

  08-01-2023 17:30 via washingtonpost.com
  The head of production at Macmillan Audio started months ago. “Betting that the committee’s report would be substantial, accessible and ‘very narrative-driven,’ he hired nine experienced voice actors.” – Washington Post
  
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• The Rollout Of Prince Harry’s Memoir Has Been Chaotic

  08-01-2023 17:00 via nytimes.com
  But hoo boy, is it selling. (This year’s savior of publishing?) – The New York Times
  
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• Apple Tries To Perfect A Portable Karaoke Machine

  08-01-2023 16:30 via slate.com
  The claim: “Combining the same kind of vocal-erasing processors used by those bespoke karaoke creators and Apple’s prodigious lyrics database, Sing can instantly engineer a karaoke video out of any song in the Apple Music library, no matter how obscure.” – Slate
  
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• The Golden Globes Are Back On TV

  08-01-2023 16:00 via time.com
  But please, free to ignore them completely. They never deserved our attention in the first place. – Time
  
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• New Rules Of Reading For The New Year

  08-01-2023 15:30 via irishtimes.com
  “There are worse ways of groping through the opening murk of another miserable year. … [But] if you are going to take on a New Year Reading Project it is as well to get the rules straight.” – Irish Times
  
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• Is Poetry Dying, Or Already Dead?

  08-01-2023 15:00 via insidehighered.com
  The sales for poetry books – if your name isn’t Amanda Gorman – are hovering at approximately zero. What is going on? – Inside Higher Ed
  
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• A new start after 60: I became a naturist at 75 – and it felt like freedom

  08-01-2023 15:00
  Stuart Haywood made his debut as a naturist at a ‘clothes optional’ day at a country house garden. His parents would not have approvedShortly before his 76th birthday, Stuart Haywood made his debut as a naturist. He was visiting Abbey House gardens in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, with his wife Rhona (who is not a naturist), for a “clothes optional” day. He and Rhona share an interest in horticulture, but being able to walk around the gardens naked added a new dimension to Haywo
  
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• The United States’ Addiction To Applause

  08-01-2023 14:30 via washingtonpost.com
  What was the point of all that applause in the House? And what’s often the point at plays, for that matter? “Which beaming retinue can clap harder for its standard-bearer? It’s an endeavor as empty as that of coercing people into cheering for a dull comedy.” – Washington Post
  
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• Tar, Cate Blanchett, Ke Huy Quan Complete Film Critic Trifecta

  08-01-2023 14:00 via variety.com
  In the run-up to the Oscars, and the film Tár, its lead actor Cate Blanchett, and Everything Everywhere All at Once‘s Ke Huy Quan have swept film critic awards in L.A., N.Y., and now at the National Film Critics Circle. – Variety
  
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• What Climate Change Is Doing To Book Preservation

  08-01-2023 13:30 via nytimes.com
  “Many experts feel they are in a race against time. A 2018 study published in the Climate Risk Management journal assessed 1,232 archival repositories in the United States and found that nearly 99 percent were ‘likely to be affected by at least one climate risk factor.”‘ – The New York Times
  
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• Writer Hanif Kureshi Says He May Never Hold A Pen Again After Accident

  08-01-2023 13:00 via artsjournal.com
  The novelist and screenwriter (My Beautiful Laundrette) fell in Rome the day after Christmas. He wrote in a series of tweets that he can’t move his arms or legs after the fall and a surgery on his spine. – The Guardian (UK)
  
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