David Porter » Archive
Old Codes and Symbols Reinvented Through Modern Technologies
New technologies mean most old ways of doing things end in museums. However, some flourish with fresh applications and vital restyling for modern times. Technology for playing music has long been digital, consigning records (singles spinning on a turntable at 45 revolutions per minute, or long-players at 33 rpm) to history. Cameras with film developed in dark-rooms are by-gone curiosities. However, many people enjoy old film processes, including black/white, and prefer background crackles from scratched records. While the retro-nostalgia market is alive and many things are naturally recycled in music, film and the arts, others are absorbed into Now. Post Codes and ZIP Codes Have Modern Applications British Postal districts were named in London and large cities from 1857, refined in 1917 to include numbered subdivisions, extended in 1934 and incorporated into the UK … Read entire article »
Filed under: Articles at Suite 101
Folk East
Folk East at The Cut, Halesworth Review published in East Anglian Daily Times, 2 Sept 2011 A dry run for a major folk festival during next year’s August Bank Holiday, Halesworth’s Cut presented acts from the wide range of contemporary folk music during this year’s holiday. The final night started with Bridget Cousins, accomplished on celtic harp, followed by Horses Brawl, a talented pair of versatile craftsmen-musicians, taking fragments from medieval to Swedish. Mike Heron was co-founder of The Incredible String Band, and he brought a new ensemble which included his daughter Georgia, with new songs and a couple of ISB classics from the 1960s, ‘The Tree’ and ‘A Very Cellular Song’. He doesn’t look his 69 years, and his still-inventive music interpreted by talented young performers brought the era and the culture flooding back. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reviews
The Arts, Science and Technology Fuse Together for Mutual Benefit
Normally thought to co-exist in splendid isolation, science and the arts can work with technology in perfect harmony to push artistic boundaries. The arts have always been at the forefront of technological and scientific advances, from the latest in cave paints to computerised/digital film making/theatrical effects that cause some to wonder if real human actors will be needed at all in the future. Technology in the Arts explores the intersection between arts management and on-line technology. Many universities run joint department programs, conscious of the synergy between arts & sciences. When Science Fiction Becomes Science Fact There is a growing genre of stories and movies that started out as far-fetched ideas, but gradually found reality as science advanced. HG Wells’ 1898 story War of the Worlds doesn’t seem impossible today. While life may … Read entire article »
Filed under: Articles at Suite 101
National and International Days, Weeks, Years Around the World
The UN designates special days, weeks and years to celebrate something or somebody, or raise awareness about a cause. They’re not alone. Others cash in too. The United Nations designates dates ‘to draw attention to major issues and encourage international action to address concerns of global importance and ramifications’. For financial reasons and to avoid ‘trivialization’, they don’t name every year or day, but when other organisations do it too, their impact may be diluted. UN ‘Years’ Since 1959 First, was 1959/60, World Refugee Year; 1965 was International Cooperation Year; 1967, Tourism and 1968, chiming with the political zeitgeist, International Year for Human Rights. Then followed 1970 with Education; 1971, Action to Combat Racism & Racial Discrimination; 1974, Population; 1975, Women; 1978, Anti-Apartheid; 1979 was Year of the Child; 1981, Disabled Persons. 1982 … Read entire article »
Filed under: Articles at Suite 101