Arts Archives | PONDERWALL

THE JOKER’S ORIGIN STORY COMES AT A PERFECT MOMENT: CLOWNS DEFINE OUR TIMES

One of the most famous jester figures of the modern age is the Joker, who made his debut in the first issue of Batman comics in 1940.

THE BEATLES’ REVOLUTIONARY USE OF RECORDING TECHNOLOGY IN ‘ABBEY ROAD’

Arts, History

The Beatles’ album “Abbey Road” holds a special place in the hearts of the band’s fans. But few realize how groundbreaking its tracks were for the band.

HOW SWEDISH LITERATURE REFLECTS THE BENEFITS OF A SHORTER WORKING DAY

Arts, Economics, Geography, Politics

The world should be inspired by Swedish culture, with more fika, more time for leisurely reading about non-work topics, and more lagom towards jobs.

I CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION, 50 YEARS LATER: THE SONG THAT ALMOST NEVER WAS

Arts, History

Fifty years ago, the Rolling Stones released their breakthrough single (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, which debuted during the first week of June 1965.

WHY DO ONLY SOME PEOPLE GET ‘SKIN ORGASMS’ FROM LISTENING TO MUSIC?

Arts, Science

The experience feels like waves of pleasure running all over your skin. Some researchers have even dubbed it a “skin orgasm.”

IN ANOTHER NEWLY DISCOVERED SONG, WOODY GUTHRIE CONTINUES HIS ASSAULT ON ‘OLD MAN TRUMP’

Arts, History

The invective was directed against a man Guthrie had dubbed his “worst enemy”: Fred C. Trump, the landlord of the Beach Haven apartment complex.

PLAGIARISTS OR INNOVATORS? THE LED ZEPPELIN PARADOX ENDURES?

Arts, History

Fifty years ago – in September 1968 – the legendary rock band Led Zeppelin first performed together, kicking off a Scandinavian tour billed as the New Yardbirds.

50 YEARS AGO, JIMI HENDRIX WOODSTOCK ANTHEM EXPRESSED THE HOPES AND FEARS OF A NATION

Arts

One of the most powerful, searing renditions of the national anthem ever recorded, Jimi Hendrix’s iconic Woodstock anthem, almost never happened.

KATY PERRY LIABLE FOR US$2.8M FOR DARK HORSE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT – BUT THE REAL LOSER IS THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

Arts, Misc

A jury has decided that Katy Perry should pay $2.8m in damages to Flame for copyright infringement of his song Joyful Noise.

MUSIC ENGAGEMENT AND ACHIEVEMENT PREDICTS HIGHER GRADES IN MATH, SCIENCE AND ENGLISH

Arts

Music matters for its own sake, but also because music engagement is significantly related to better high school achievement.

SYLVIA PLATH’S NEW SHORT STORY WAS NEVER LOST – SO WHY IS THE MEDIA SAYING IT WAS JUST DISCOVERED?

Arts

“Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom” has been preserved – and has been accessible to the public – at Indiana University’s Lilly Library.

IAN MCEWAN’S MACHINES LIKE ME AND THE THORNY ISSUE OF ROBOT RIGHTS

Arts

McEwan questions what it means to be human – if these machines are just like me, does that mean they have rights, like me?

JOHN LENNON DOPPELGANGER MEETS RICHARD STALLMAN

Arts

WE MADE A MOVING TECTONIC MAP OF THE GAME OF THRONES LANDSCAPE

Arts

The striking landscape of Game of Thrones has led some researchers to build climate simulations that explain the erratic seasons depicted in the show.

WHEN ALLEN GINSBERG MET THE HEAD OF THE CIA AND OFFERED HIM A WAGER

Arts

Allen Ginsberg, counterculture icon, and CIA director R.Helms met in 1971 in a drawing room of the Corcoran Gallery, in a fittingly bizarre encounter.

GAME OF THRONES: TEASING HINTS FROM WELSH LANGUAGE AND LEGENDS HAVE BEEN HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

Arts

The events of medieval Britain were a source of inspiration in Game of Thrones. Characters’ names contain hints at events yet to come.

HOW WE DISCOVERED THREE POISONOUS BOOKS IN OUR UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Arts

Rare poisonous books on various historical topics in the University of Southern Denmark’s library collection contain large concentrations of arsenic on their covers.

KARDASHIANS CANCELLED? AT $500k PER INSTAGRAM POST THEY WON’T CARE

Arts

No woman in history has ever been afforded such lavish media coverage. Maybe Diana, Princess of Wales. For now, Kim Kardashian is never out of the media.

UNDER THE SPELL OF A GENERATOR’S THRUM, A FAULKNER MASTERPIECE WAS BORN

Arts

In 1929, Faulkner was a newlywed who had recently moved out of his parents’ on the University of Mississippi’s campus to an apartment a few blocks away.

THE MATRIX 20 YEARS ON: HOW A SCI-FI FILM TACKLED BIG PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS

Arts

The Matrix reaches for a view close to that of the 18th century philosopher, Kant, who insisted that reality conforms to the terms of our perception.

DID A CENSORED FEMALE WRITER INSPIRE HEMINGWAY’S FAMOUS STYLE?

Arts

She is the extraordinary World War I nurse who wrote like Hemingway before Hemingway. She was arguably the originator of his famous style.

A HAPPY ENDING FOR GAME OF THRONES? NO THANKS.

Arts

New research finds that exposure to “Game of Thrones” is associated with or resulted in lower levels of just world beliefs.

AUSTRIA PARLIAMENT BUILDING – A WONDERFUL WORK OF ART

Arts

Austria parliament building in Vienna is a wonderful work of art that looks more like a museum than a political building.

AL PACINO LAUGHING SCENE IN THE MOVIE “AND JUSTICE FOR ALL”

Arts

Al Pacino’s laughing scene in the movie “And Justice For All” is one of the most hilarious and spontaneous laughing scenes in the history of cinema.

SCIENTISTS HAVE A WORD FOR STUDYING THE POST-TRUTH WORLD: AGNOTOLOGY

Arts

Agnotology is not often discussed, because studying the absence of something, in this case knowledge in the post truth world, is incredibly difficult.

THE MYTH OF THE DISAPPEARING BOOK

Arts

After years of growth, publishers reported a fall in their e-book sales, introducing new doubts about the potential of e-books in the publishing industry.

MICHAEL JACKSON COULD HAVE SET A LEGAL PRECEDENT

Arts

In a quite extraordinary French legal judgement, five Michael Jackson fans had successfully sued the former King of Pop’s doctor.

THE REAL EMILY BRONTE WAS RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW, FORGET THE ON-SCREEN ROMANCE

Arts

Adapting Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights as a romance sells better, and plays down the book’s uncomfortable brutality.

DICKENS IS A LITERARY ARCHITECT, NOT A TALETELLER

Arts, Sidebar

I just finished rereading A Tale of Two Cities. It was such a burden at the beginning. Then, all of a sudden, I got the author’s point. I started appreciating the delicate structure of his

AMAZING ARTIST PAINTS SELF-PORTRAIT IN FRONT OF A MIRROR

Arts, Sidebar

The Mastery of You

Arts, Sidebar

Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans. Life is what happens inside you while you are busy making other interactions. The Mastery of You is an elegant book that takes you

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Again and Again

Arts

One Hundred Years of Solitude is seen by many readers as a fantastic piece of fiction narrating wonderful stories in remote exotic settings. Some others have never seen it in that way. They rather see it