Walter Benjamin and Oversharing

This is an aside titled 'Walter Benjamin and Oversharing' dated 8/20/08

I like Emily Gould a lot but, lets keep Walter Benjamin outta this. Baudrillard maybe, Bowling Alone, for sure, but there’s really nothing to glean about oversharing in “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility.” Sorry. (Update 8/21 Emily commented she was assigned both books. So it’s ok!)

Posted by Joanne on Aug. 20, 2008

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- A perfectionist is someone who finishes the backside of a drawer, which I consider completely unnecessary. - Helmut Krone. Krzysztof Kieślowski's grave. Post Internet. The cult of busy. Émilie Simon has a keyboard, a Tenori On, a Doepfer and a steampunk arm. The Bygone Bureau redesigned and an interview with OKTrends. Star Wars Modern on fascist fonts (more.) Tattúínárdælasaga, Star Wars in Old Norse. Would you pay $31.95 to read Vollmann on the Kindle? New Zaha Hadid designs for a business center outside Venice.
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- Marina Abramovic (in conversation with Laurie Anderson) explaining how she prepared the artists performing her work at the MoMA "I took them to the countryside — no eating, period, swimming in the cold river, all sleeping in the barn — in the beginning of September to create the community, to see what the strengths are, what I can do and what I cannot do. It’s OK to change your mind. But I’m talking about 36 people changing [their] minds, so they really have to have the stamina and dedication and mental health to stay there for three months. Anything can happen. This is unknown territory that we have to explore." An unforgettable show. More on the connection between performance art and economic crises. And her star-shaped home. Tino Sehgal show at the Guggenheim, another highlight of my week. A parent of two of the performers writes in WSJ Speakeasy. His son says, “People don’t understand the piece, dad... I ask them if they want to follow me and they say no and walk up the rotunda without me. Only five people said yes. I got like 20 nos.” Big travel plans. Any readers in Detroit especially want to get in touch? James Parker goes on “the wisdom of jet lag.” Mundane Tokyo. Pink Noise at the Movies. 5 Great Works Of Internet-related Art. Art Fag City on the Whitney Biennial ("Its good.") And also a review on the non-art show art show The Independent. Collaborating on the Computer with William S. Burroughs (A followup to Charles Bukowski, William Burroughs, and the Computer.) Dr. Seuss used precisely 236 different words to write The Cat in the Hat. An Elvis impersonator with an Elvis picture in his passport, made it through security in Amsterdam Schiphol airport.
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- Recently I read a story with the Hilobrow gang for the 2nd episode of “Parallel Universe: Pazzo.” Here's the podcast.
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- Not this Justin Wolfe. What is it like to share a name with someone (possibly) wrongly accused of murder? The other Justin Wolfe is a very talented writer and creator of two delightful websites, who can do better than the suburban wasteland that is Northern Virginia.
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