So serious–artistically and technically–for what is basically just an advertisement!
This short film is intrinsically interesting because it was made by the iconic designers Charles and Ray Eames, but it’s also fascinating as a time capsule of 1972… as a technical lesson on how a wonderful invention worked… and as a reminder of why–even in our age of instantly sharable digital imagery–people still desire this kind of tangible photography.
Note: The above YouTube version is inferior to a Vimeo version that I first posted. Unfortunately, it seems to have disappeared. If I can rediscover the better rendition, I’ll repost it.
It almost sounds as though Brian Eno has been reading Ted Gioia. Here’s Eno on “the death of uncool”:
We’re living in a stylistic tropics. There’s a whole generation of people able to access almost anything from almost anywhere, and they don’t have the same localised stylistic sense that my generation grew up with. It’s all alive, all “now,” in an ever-expanding present, be it Hildegard of Bingen or a Bollywood soundtrack. The idea that something is uncool because it’s old or foreign has left the collective consciousness.
Imagine waking one morning as heir to a major share of the planet:
“In 1689, Kangxi, the emperor of China, embarked on a tour to inspect his southern provinces, undertaking a two-thousand-mile journey from Beijing to the cities and towns of the Yangzi Delta and back…”
Religion poisons everything… God is a delusion… the end of faith… these are phrases lately found among the burgeoning supply of books by “new atheists” who take arms against a sea of holy rollers and jihadis. In an age of faith-based politics, resurgent creationism, and religious terrorism, aggressive atheists like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens have become bestselling authors.
A new book attempts to take a stand against both the religious fundamentalists and their militant atheist foes. The Case for God is a landmark work of intellectual and theological history by the renowned scholar of religion Karen Armstrong.
The book is nothing less than a comprehensive history of human religion in just over three hundred pages. From painted traces of Paleolithic hunter-shamans on the Lascaux Cave walls to hip postmodernist theology, Armstrong offers a lucid narrative of humanity’s relationship with the divine. In her telling, the story of God and man unrolls like an ancient tapestry richly embroidered with scholarly insights and references from the world’s many religious traditions.
It is a compelling story, but it isn’t clear that many people—secularists or religionists—will find it persuasive.
Fragments of test footage and moments in life and nature, beautifully edited into a short film by Martin Lang – composed of random clips filmed over five months on location in Sweden.
Has coolness runs its course? Are we living in a post-”cool” culture?
Musician and writer Ted Gioia talks about his new book, The Birth and Death of the Cool in episode 102 of The New Modern podcast. You can listen using the embedded player above or via iTunes. Please consider leaving a review and subscribing (for free) to future New Modern podcasts in the iTunes store.
Scott Timberg, the Los Angeles writer (and a pretty cool guy), recently posted a Q&A with Gioia on his new book. Though many will find much to disagree with in Gioia’s arguments, there’s a unquestionably a new fashion for authenticity and sincerity.
Whether that spirit marks the death of “cool” in the sense that Ted Gioia means it, remains to be seen. Listen to our interview, read the book, and decide for yourself.
[Watch this space for additional links and a full transcript.]
In addition to his renown as a professor of economics at George Mason University, Tyler Cowen is familiar to many habitual web surfers through his always absorbing blog Marginal Revolution.
A behavioral economist, Tyler is also deeply interested in culture, technology, and the arts. His latest book combines all these subjects in one absorbing read.
Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World is loaded with provocative ideas and surprising claims. I still haven’t wrapped my mind around a number of Cowen’s big ideas and insights, but (like it or not) I think he has identified some profound truths about our increasingly fragmented culture. [read on]
