“From Erin Brannigan: Dancer, choreographer, performer, filmmaker and writer Yvonne Rainer, who began choreographing in 1961 and made her first film in 1967, is a key figure in the story of the New York avant-garde in terms of both her writing and practice. (2) Rainer provided a commentary on the influences that preceded her own aesthetic objectives and articulated her own project through practice and explicatory discourse, establishing her position as a key player within the New York avant-garde from the early 1960s through to the mid-1990s. During this period she produced twelve films, including silent short works for multimedia performances (which she calls ‘filmed choreographic exercises’) (3) as well as features. According to Rainer, her fascination with dance and film emerged simultaneously when she moved on from acting at 25 (p. 51). She is certainly a choreographer who had as many film reference points as choreographic, evidenced in…

I’m sure I don’t need to repeat myself, but I’m going to anyway … I’m a fan of Heather Cox Richardson. 😊 I read every newsletter she writes … and recently started reading some of the comments as well.

Awhile back, I posted the comments of an individual who had written what I was thinking … and today, I found another person who expressed my thoughts. And maybe yours as well. In any case, for the benefit of those who might have missed it, following is a portion of Eric O’Donnell’s remarks in response to Heather’s most recent newsletter where she talks about recent and upcoming elections.

Trump touched the dark places in tens of millions of American souls. He awoke and aroused those who hate and fear cities, hated a black President, hated the smug entitlement of Hillary Clinton, hated being preached to about climate, hated the speed with…

Enthusiasts of the maker movement foresee a third industrial revolution.

January 5, 2014: “In January of 1903, the small Boston magazine Handicraft ran an essay by the Harvard professor Denman W. Ross, who argued that the American Arts and Crafts movement was in deep crisis. The movement was concerned with promoting good taste and self-fulfillment through the creation and the appreciation of beautiful objects; its more radical wing also sought to advance worker autonomy. The problem was that no one in America seemed to need its products. The solution, according to Ross, was to provide technical education to the critics and the consumers of art alike. This would stimulate demand for high-quality objects and encourage more workers to take up craftsmanship. The cause of the Arts and Crafts movement would be achieved, he maintained, only ‘when the philosopher goes to work and the working man becomes a philosopher.’ … Although…

“When the latest sequel/reboot of Shaft hit screens this past June, one essential element was missing: the music of Isaac Hayes.  While the late composer-artist’s seminal ‘Theme from Shaft’ was referenced in Christopher Lennertz’s score, Hayes’ commanding voice was nowhere to be found – some said to the detriment of the film.  While the new Shaft underperformed in theatres, it had at least one happy byproduct as Craft Recordings revisited the classic original 1971 film soundtrack with a new deluxe edition.  This 2-CD iteration fused Hayes’ original album of the score (a mainstay on both CD and vinyl) with the original MGM soundtrack as actually heard in the film, previously released only as part of a 2008 limited-edition box set from the defunct Film Score Monthly label.  Shaft: Deluxe Edition offers the best of both worlds, and is a compelling addition to any soundtrack or soul library. The original Stax…

“Free Schools is a pragmatic and polemical sequel to Jonathan Kozol’s National Book Award‐winning Death at an Early Age. In the latter, Kozol described his brief career as an innovative teacher in the Boston Public Schools and his confrontations with its administrators, In the present book, he describes (and recommends) the far more wide‐ranging confrontations necessary to the founding of a Free School, such as the one he and a small group have successfully run for six years in the black ghetto of Roxbury, Mass. Set up in the ghetto by teachers and parents who can no longer tolerate public schools, supported by their mutual efforts and dedicated to the education of children in all the conventional skills, this kind of Free School isn’t to be confused with an operation like Ocean Hill‐Brownsville or other public‐school‐affiliated ventures that, however admirable, represent for Kozol merely an alternative within the…

Beatniks on parade 1958.

“Part I. In 1958, in Richmond, across the bay from San Francisco, I was in the twelfth grade. In Mrs. Weatherby’s English class, a history of literature, the mandatory play was Hamlet. We had come to Wordsworth about the time of the Howl trial in San Francisco. Beatnik life exposés filled the Chronicle. Grant Avenue seemed like a bizarre heaven of music, strange poetry, weird characters—a break from the Eisenhower ordinary. That spring I went over to the Grant Avenue Fair with my friend Bob. The afternoon was sunny, with a slight bite to the wind, and flooded with people. Up Grant were coffeehouses, booth after booth of craftspeople and artists, lots of sandals and canvas paintings. Inside a storefront two black musicians were playing, one the congos, the other a flute. … Bob and I walked up the street and stared…

“Experience should be gained before one reaches forty, so a wise man has said. After forty it is permissible for one to comment. I venture to say that the reverse might apply in my case. No one under forty was more certain of his theories and no one more willing to elucidate them than I was. No one knew better or could visualize more. But now that I am somewhat older I have become rather more cautious. The experience that I have gained, and which I am still sorting out, is of such a kind that I am unwilling to express myself on the art of the filmmaker. I know for a fact that my work involves technical skill and mental ability, but I know, too, that even my greatest experience will be uninteresting to others, except perhaps to the potential filmmaker. Moreover, it is my opinion that an artist’s…

Forbes has reported that Elon Musk’s net worth just reached $225.2 BILLION — very likely making him “the richest person to ever walk the planet.”

He has passed both Google co-founder Larry Page (#6), as well as Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg (#7) — and widened the gap between him and Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame.

When you begin the PhD you will be told to read, and read a lot. But you’ll find not any old approach to reading will do. It’s a particular kind of reading that’s expected. So it’s important to get a grip on the complex task that you are being asked to do. In the first instance your reading helps you to:

• Scope the field or fields that you are in, so that you understand what is relevant to your topic, and what is not. You also need to get clear on the “core” of your discipline(s) and its threshold concepts – the ideas that anybody doing any topic in the discipline, including you, need to take account of. Knowing them also means you can understand and join in the conversations in your disciplinary community.

• Map the field in relation to your particular topic so you can see key themes, major…