Reading for Pleasure
I read somewhere recently (irresponsible, irresistible phrase!) that the proportion of us who read for pleasure is dropping, and has been for some time. The implication was that most of us, most of the...
Category: aesthetics
It’s concerns both perception and judgement. It’s is not logic or ethics.
An Abecedarium
The current issue of Flusser Studies marks the twentieth year this small, online journal has been publishing research and commentary on the life and work of Vilém Flusser (1920 – 1991). I’ve been a...
AI can’t dance
This morning I was about to ask my friendly local chatbot (OpenAI) whether Zumba (the joyous, global, immensely popular dance-exercise franchise) is feminist. Luckily, I stopped myself. Just in the nick of time, I...
The Spell of the Sensuous: Book Review
This book seems like “mine,” in a sense few ever turn out to be. That’s because it recognizes the difference between spoken and written language. It’s a subject of very long-term interest to me....
Luigi Ghirri: The Complete Essays 1973-1991. Book Review
I had already read a few of these essays when I realised that no one would try to persuade me that photography “records” or “represents” reality. A reader is credited from the start, that...
The Melody of Language
If language is like music, surely translators are in the best position to notice it, and to respond, whether with joy or foreboding. Probably all of us hear it. There’s a particular beat, a...