Brian Wilcox
brian-wilcox.bsky.social
Brian Wilcox
@brian-wilcox.bsky.social
Lover of stories.
Reposted by Brian Wilcox
grateful for this thoughtful & wide-ranging piece by Rob Arcand on the state of the financialized culture industry & what criticism of it is for, that puts Mood Machine in conversation with Andrew deWaard’s Derivative Media @nplusonemag.com
www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
The Same Stream Twice | Rob Arcand
Two recent books, Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine and Andrew deWaard’s Derivative Media, explore the consequences of these technological intermediaries for the music, film, and television industries. While P...
www.nplusonemag.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Reposted by Brian Wilcox
Is There Any Escape from the Spotify Syndrome?
Is There Any Escape from the Spotify Syndrome?
The history of recorded music is now at our fingertips. But the streamer’s algorithmic skill at giving us what we like may keep us from what we’ll love.
www.newyorker.com
December 24, 2024 at 11:15 PM
The EO to stop PBS and NPR funding is unlawful.

Devastating news the night after a few friends debuted the first episode of “Panamericana” last night on PBS. Check it out if you can!

#TVskye

www.pbs.org/video/alaska...
Pati Jinich Explores Panamericana | Alaska - Wild Harvest | Episode 1
Pati travels from the northernmost place in the U.S. to the remote island community of Halibut Cove.
www.pbs.org
May 2, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Reposted by Brian Wilcox
In an executive order, President Trump directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to stop funding NPR and PBS, the nation's primary public broadcasters.
Trump orders end to federal funding for NPR and PBS
In an executive order, President Trump directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to stop funding NPR and PBS, the nation's primary public broadcasters.
www.wbur.org
May 2, 2025 at 10:02 AM
“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.” - Steven Pressfield, the WAR of ART
#booksky #creativity #motivation
May 2, 2025 at 11:35 AM
“Individuals who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize others. If they speak at all, it is to offer encouragement” - Steven Pressfield, the WAR of ART
#booksky #creativity #criticism
May 1, 2025 at 12:48 PM
For #IndependentBookstoreDay, I placed an order with @mzspress.bsky.social — an incredible online shop that’s introduced me to so many amazing film and culture books I might never have discovered otherwise. Excited to keep ordering from them! #Booksky #Film #Culture #IndieBookstore
April 26, 2025 at 3:14 PM
“The rise of short-form video as a vessel for music discovery brought the logic of stream air to a new extreme. It was no longer about grabbing the listener in the first thirty seconds, but the first three-to-five seconds”
- @lizpelly.bsky.social in her book Mood Machines
April 21, 2025 at 11:40 AM
I used to go to the movies weekly, but cost was a main reason I now space out my theatre going experiences. Great read. #filmsky
“Articles and forum posts with titles such as ‘Why Is [Insert Hobby] So Expensive Now?’ have become a genre of writing unto themselves.”

Tyler Austin Harper on the problem of hobby inflation:
What We Lose When We’re Priced Out of Our Hobbies
For a lot of people, it’s getting too expensive to knit or fish.
bit.ly
April 20, 2025 at 12:50 PM
“It can seem like a mere semantic difference, but it’s true: Art-making and content-creating are different undertakings, not just spiritually, but also practically.” @lizpelly.bsky.social in her new book Mood Machines

#booksky #artandculture
April 20, 2025 at 12:36 PM
“The history of art is a history of revivals: Established icons are shattered by an avant-garde that in time becomes the new establishment to be attacked by a new avant-garde that used its grandfather’s forms of weapons.”
-Robert McKee “Story”

#filmsky #booksky #quotes
April 9, 2025 at 12:59 PM
“To be entertained is to be immersed in the ceremony of story to an intellectually and emotionally satisfying end.”

- Robert McKee, “Story”
#filmsky #booksky
April 8, 2025 at 6:32 PM
“Story is about originality, not duplication.
Originality is the confluence of content and form- distinctive choices of subject plus a unique shaping of the telling. Content and form require, inspire, and mutually influence one another.”
- Robert McKee, “Story”
#filmsky #booksky
April 8, 2025 at 6:31 PM
“…the gospel of popular entertainment is based on individualism- the belief that you can become anything you want if only you want it badly enough- anything that suggests otherwise is forbidden”
- Howard Suber “The Power of Film”
April 6, 2025 at 12:13 PM
“It’s hard to say which came first: our so-called media illiteracy or the dumbing down of the media.”

It’s our lack of ability to pay attention and the rise of passive viewing that are causing creators, dare I say artists, to reiterate and repeat their symbols.
Movies now relentlessly signpost their meaning and intent. “Artists and audiences sometimes defend this legibility as democratic, a way to reach everyone,” Namwali Serpell writes. “It is, in fact, condescending.”
The New Literalism Plaguing Today’s Biggest Movies
Buzzy films from “Anora” to “The Substance” are undone by a relentless signposting of meaning and intent.
www.newyorker.com
March 20, 2025 at 1:53 AM
“What happens in your mind when you see an artwork depends on you personal history and the history of your culture. It is a language that changes meaning depending on the listener.” p54
What Art Does an Unfinished Theory - Brian Eno, Bette A.
March 19, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Survivor is my not so guilty pleasure… and the S48 premiere did not disappoint! The way this show evolves and changes is what’s kept it on the air for so long. #survivor48
February 27, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Thoughtful article on documentary approach by
@mattzollerseitz.bsky.social
“We have plenty of entertainment options. What’s missing is a sense of what life is like.”

Great points made throughout, leading me to ask…

www.rogerebert.com/mzs/life-the...
Life, the Movie: Why Documentary Filmmaking Should Return to, You Know, Documenting Stuff | MZS | Roger Ebert
If nonfiction films are determined to look, feel, and move like fiction, what’s the point of nonfiction filmmaking?
www.rogerebert.com
February 9, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Brian Wilcox
Re-upping this 2017 article from Eve Ewing, in light of Trump’s announcement about the Kennedy Center (gift link).
www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/o...
Opinion | Why Authoritarians Attack the Arts (Gift Article)
It’s not about making the world a drab and miserable place. It’s worse.
www.nytimes.com
February 8, 2025 at 12:05 PM