Little White Lies: Explore Charlie Chaplin’s life and career via a new digital archive. “To coincide with Charlie Chaplin’s 130th birthday on 16 April, Roy Export and the Cineteca Di Bologna have created a digital archive dedicated to Chaplin’s life and illustrious 75-year career as a pioneering actor and filmmaker. Around 80 per cent of the materials from the Chaplin family’s collection, including photographs, scripts, notes, sheet music, telegrams, letters, legal contracts, and memos, is now available to the public for the first time.”
popular culture
CNET: YouTube to develop its own choose-your-own-adventure shows
CNET: YouTube to develop its own choose-your-own-adventure shows. “Video streaming site YouTube is jumping into programming where viewers can directly interact with a show’s narrative, according to Bloomberg. These choose-your-own-adventure shows will be overseen by Ben Relles, YouTube’s head of unscripted programming for YouTube Originals.”
Neowin: Criterion Collection resurrected with new streaming service; access to over 1,000 films
Neowin: Criterion Collection resurrected with new streaming service; access to over 1,000 films. “It was five months ago when many were crushed to learn that FilmStruck, the home for the highly revered Criterion Collection, would be closing down. Today, a new service has been erected that will host all of the classics of the Criterion Collection, making it available to stream once again.”
The Verge: ‘Old Town Road’ proves TikTok can launch a hit song
The Verge: ‘Old Town Road’ proves TikTok can launch a hit song. “Montero ‘Lil Nas X’ Hill’s parents were concerned when their son dropped out of college eight months ago to pursue a career in rap; as the country trap star told Time Magazine, his parents succinctly pointed out there are millions of rappers already crowding the scene. Hill didn’t listen. He had to compete with up-and-coming rappers on streaming services like SoundCloud and Spotify, but Hill had a secret card up his sleeve — a meme and TikTok.”
Mashable: Mainline 90s nostalgia with the forgotten cartoon channels of YouTube
Mashable: Mainline 90s nostalgia with the forgotten cartoon channels of YouTube. “For every Batman: The Animated Series there’s a Street Sharks. Did you know that Kid ‘n’ Play had their own cartoon? There could practically be a whole genre called ‘musicians or professional athletes fight crime.’ Shameless video game and movie tie-ins were the norm. Even Free Willy had a cartoon with a Captain Picard-looking cyborg villain. Where’s all the love for those old cartoons? Surely they were a memorable part of someone’s Saturday morning block, right?”
Wired: We Need More Videogame Folklorists
Wired: We Need More Videogame Folklorists. “As more and more of our lives occur in digital spaces, it becomes increasingly important to catalogue and contextualize those experiences. [Wes] Locher’s advice for aspiring video game folklorists is to explore the players’ lives outside the game as well as within it.”
Library of Congress: New National Recording Registry Class Is “Superfly”
Library of Congress: New National Recording Registry Class Is “Superfly”. “The classic radio western ‘Gunsmoke’; Ritchie Valens’ groundbreaking 1958 sensation ‘La Bamba’; Sam & Dave’s 1967 hit single ‘Soul Man’; the revolutionary 1968 Broadway musical ‘Hair’; and Neil Diamond’s 1969 ‘Sweet Caroline,’ which became a popular sports anthem, are the newest recordings inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden today named these and 20 other recordings as aural treasures worthy of preservation because of their cultural, historic and aesthetic importance to the nation’s recorded sound heritage.”
