Taylor Swift at Long Pond, Aaron Dessner s Columbia County studio and residence. In September, Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Dessner assembled there to tape Folklore: The Long Pond Sessions, a documentary about the making of Swift s multiple-Grammy-nominated lockdown album. Welcome again to Mixed Media, wherein we showcase cultural news from within and around the Hudson Valley during these times of COVID-19. Although the impact of the virus has necessitated putting in-person events on hold, artists and arts organizations continue to make and present new work online and in other creative new ways. As we all anticipate the re-emergence of more in-person events, here is some of what has been going on recently in the regional arts community.
Entanglements: Tomorrow’s Lovers, Families, and Friends, Sheila Williams, ed. (MIT Press 978-0-26253-925-8, 240pp, $19.95, tp) September 2020.
Artificial intelligence, genome tampering (eugenics), sex bots, and other forms of technology descend upon the middle class in
Entanglements
Asimov’s. Originally launched in 2011 by MIT Technology Review,
Twelve Tomorrows is an annual anthology series that explores the role of technology in near and far futures. This year each author has written an original story revolving around the central theme of relationships, or “entanglements” as made infamous by Jada Pinkett Smith and Twitter memes. In these carefully constructed worlds, entanglements are built, destroyed, and sustained with AI and tech that serve as neutral forces, even if utilized by villainous tropes (greedy scientists, fundamentalist groups, ambitious women, etc.). As Sheila Williams’s introduction promises, technology might fill in the weaknesses of a wilting r
Twenty-twenty has been a year of disappointment for all of us except for Jeff Bezos, who gets to make money during a pandemic by exploiting his workers and avoiding taxes. Much has been said about the state of cinema this year and just how much of a disaster releases have been, what with arthouses and multiplexes alike having to close down for the safety of their workers and audiences alike. But this isn’t to say that there hasn’t been a lot of beauty in the world of film amid all the garbage we’ve faced.
With all of us stuck at home and new streaming options like the glorious HBO Max and the disastrous Quibi, the lines between what cinema actually is and isn t have started to blur together. Is watching a miniseries the same as watching a movie if you binge it all and there are no plans for a bad expansion? (See
11 great sci-fi books from 2020 to check out on your new Kindle
Ring in the new year with a new book Dec 30, 2020, 10:00am EST
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It’s not easy to make it to a library right now, and with a long winter stuck at home looming ahead for many of us, there’s never been a better time to hunker down with a good book. If you’ve been lucky enough to receive a new Kindle (or a non-Amazon-branded e-reader or just a device with an e-book app on it), you might be looking for some new books to read.