The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “culture”

The Dawn of Computer Music: A PBS Segment from 1986
The Dawn of Computer Music: A PBS Segment from 1986

A brief history of MIDI, or what the dawn of digital sampling has to do with air pressure.

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Built to Last: The Illustrated Secrets of Mankind’s Greatest Structures
Built to Last: The Illustrated Secrets of Mankind’s Greatest Structures

What gargoyles and mosques have to do with King Edward I and the secrets of Ancient Rome.

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Concord Free Press: Free Their Books and Their Minds Will Follow
Concord Free Press: Free Their Books and Their Minds Will Follow

Free press, priceless words, or what Paul Revere has to do with the future of grassroots publishing.

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Spomenik: Eerie Retrofuturistic Monuments of the Eastern Bloc
Spomenik: Eerie Retrofuturistic Monuments of the Eastern Bloc

The ghosts of communism, or what alien architecture has to do with societal memory and Serbia’s mountains.

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7 Essential Books on Optimism
7 Essential Books on Optimism

What the love of honey has to do with ancient wisdom, our capacity for hope, and the future of technology.

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Ordering the Heavens: A Visual History of Mapping the Universe
Ordering the Heavens: A Visual History of Mapping the Universe

From Copernicus to Ancient Korea, or what the Chinese concept of change has to do with Aztec astrology.

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Fuzz & Fur: Japan’s Peculiar Subculture of Fur-Suit Mascots
Fuzz & Fur: Japan’s Peculiar Subculture of Fur-Suit Mascots

What ancient Japanese castles have to do with costumed gadget-sellers and the legacy of anime.

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Remembering Louis Armstrong: Satchmo, the Documentary
Remembering Louis Armstrong: Satchmo, the Documentary

Celebrating the life, wizardry and legacy of one of the greatest musicians that ever lived.

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Before Walt Disney: 5 Animations by Early Cinema Pioneers
Before Walt Disney: 5 Animations by Early Cinema Pioneers

What a shape-shifting egg has to do with racehorses and the science of facial expressions.

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Slavoj Žižek’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in One Minute
Slavoj Žižek’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in One Minute

What vintage film archives have to do with electro-shocking dogs and the global economic meltdown.

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