http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXO7KGHtjI Japanese-pop star Hatsune Miku has millions of YouTube hits, sells tickets to her concerts at $76 a pop and has adoring fans from all around the world. She’s also not human: Created by Crypton Future Media, Miku is the most popular avatar created to sell Vocaloid 2, the singing synthesizer application originally developed by […]
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Why are cats so big on the Internet? A writer goes to Japan, “where the Internet-feline market began,” to find out: Marx and I watch a few new cat videos, some of the up-and-comers, those challenging or exceeding Maru’s pageviews. ‘An interesting thing, here in Japan, is that it’s not just the cat partners who […]
Educators at Stanford University are paving the way for the future of online learning by providing free lectures on the Internet, but the idea of a prestigious college providing mass online education for free remains the subject of intense debate: Within days of going online with little fanfare, the three free courses attracted 350,000 registrants […]
articles read & loved no. 53
dietcoker: KMA Sullivan writes about well-intentioned people perpetuating misogyny: “Women Are Bitches.” I’ve got mixed feelings about Murakami’s assessment of his The Great Gatsby translation and its reception in Japan. The Paris Review recommends fiction: “Bettering Myself” by Ottessa Moshfegh The Meaning of White – albinism and a mother’s love Emily Perper!
Longreads Guest Pick: Margaret Ely on 'Dear Leader Dreams of Sushi'
Margaret Ely is a web producer and reporter for The Washington Post. Maybe I was hungry and saw the word “sushi” in the headline, but I was hooked the moment I started reading Adam Johnson’s bizarre, outlandish story about a Japanese chef who served North Korea’s supreme, “dear leader” Kim Jong-il. While it’s known that […]
‘Like Being in Prison with a Salary’: The Secret World of the Shipping Industry
Rose George | Metropolitan Books | August 2013 | 17 minutes (4,213 words) The following is the opening chapter of Rose George’s new book, Ninety Percent of Everything. Our thanks to the author for sharing it with the Longreads community. * * * Friday. No sensible sailor goes to sea on the day of the Crucifixion or the […]
