Weekend Reading: Christgau on the Decline, Spoon Holding Steady and Kismet on the Rise

Some found materials and reading collected while spending the weekend pondering the mind-numbing decline of Robert Christgau, Dean of American Rock Critics ((Truly a confounding title, no?)), who placed American Saturday Night by Brad Paisley atop his 2009 ballot for the Pazz and Jop poll. While I’ve little remaining appetite for further infographics, there’s likely an intrepid soul willing to take on the charting of Christgau’s decline in a format as easily-consumed as Paisley’s quasi-country-with-a-slice-of-the-21st-century pop. Until that day when The Village Voice takes a cue from Etsy and opens up its API, the Dean himself has made the data available.

Facilitation and the Sound of Cracking Glass

I awoke to a fantastic post on Make this morning about Youth Music Box – an installation at the Royal Music Hall in London that allows kids to construct their own original composition in a few short minutes.
Youth Music Box is a free, interactive musical experience, allowing you to create your own unique track and [...]

The Optimist Conspectus: Benjamin Schmidt

There are many paradigm shifts on the horizon for both the United States as well as the world, there are two that I am optimistic about; one very general, the other very esoteric.
First, I am optimistic about the future of science literacy. For years, there has been a difficulty in getting people in the United [...]