Welcome to Friday,
We are celebrating our birthdays this week, which means lots of cake and special meals are at the top of our plans for the weekend.
Here are the best cultural and historical finds from around the web this week:
I was happy to find this piece, “How to Look at Art and Understand What You See“, right after reading Robert Hughes’ deeply-researched and accessible The Shock of the New. (I also wrote recently about Hughes’ book in my newsletter, which you can get on the list for here.) This short piece walks the reader through different ways of looking at art, and explains why you might use different approaches for different pieces.
What do you get when you combine WWII, electric amplification, hip hop, and a 1942 musicians’ strike? The virtual disappearance of hit instrumental music over the course of eighty years.
While Mongol rule allowed for advances in technology to circulate more freely across Eurasia, inventions and religious tolerance were not the greatest influence the Mongols left us. This piece argues that the creation of Russia is the most consequential development from the Mongols.
Austin Kleon’s thoughtful musings about the reader approaching middle age.
How Disney’s beloved surprise hit, Lilo & Stitch, was made, in a satellite studio, drawn by hand, and on a small (for Disney) budget.
Currently reading: The Daily Laws by Robert Greene
Have a great weekend.
Photo by TOMOKO UJI on Unsplash
