general

The Abject Romance of Low Resolution, David Humphrey (full text offline):

The way an image copied or magnified many times breaks down into chaotic nonsense resembles the relation of figure and ground that Clement Greenberg saw as the structural grammar of Modernist painting. This relation could be considered a symbolic elaboration of the process of primary ego-differentiation. The struggle between a desire to lose one's boundaries and fearfulness of this loss, the promise of fulfillment and threat of dissolution, is the painter's romance of a return to origins, as well as the drama of degrading reproduction.

Static, Cheryl Edwards:

As the corporate entertainment world introduces greater levels of "virtuality" into films (Toy Story, Jurassic Park) and computer games (Myst, Tomb Raider II), many artists are headed in the opposite direction, toward a kind of a sublime indeterminacy. Blurred transmissions, imperfect copies, and other waste products of electronic and digital media are the model for this new aesthetic, which is both symbiotic to and aloof from the global information network.

Static, Alexander Ross:

The advent of the compact disc in all its sterile flawlessness brought about the realization that technological defects such as tape hiss, amp buzz, record groove ticks, and ultimately the computerized glitches sometimes heard on the CD itself were now interesting sounds never before utilized in conjunction with music. This, combined with the inexpensive home recording boom, coalesced into what became known as LO-FI.

"George Elliot re: Art on TV", Sally McKay quoting George Elliott, 1953:

Color of course, is the first element to be sacrificed if painting is put in front of the television camera. Can you imagine a Goodridge Roberts landscape without Roberts' very private blues and greens? Binning's subtleties of color are an important part of his charm. Varley's disturbing palette of piercing greens, blues, cold pinks and earth are essential to the uniqueness of Varley.
[...]
A painting needs an intellectual presence before it can work its magic. Placing anything between the viewer and the painting kills the viewer.

From Curbed, a photo of the Rem Koolhaas just-constructed Beijing hotel that recently burned after some, yes, "illegal fireworks" touched off a building-wide blaze.

This edifice burned top to bottom, inside and out. Yet it is still structurally intact, as you can see. This is what happens when modern skyscrapers burn. Usually.

This is funny but I'm annoyed that the divine Google now trumps my own computer’s remembered searches with their mediocre Everyman bull.
But I was also annoyed that amazon made suggestions for books I’d like based on other books I’d bought, back in the ’90s.
You can’t stop “progress.”

A friend calls the cake makers on this Food Network show "boring" and "sedate." So true.

Their ideas for cakes are Hallmark card-predictable but the designers have this hipster patina. Most Americans will think "wow, this is what creative people are like--so funky and free" but they are just hard working hacks and drones.

Also dislike the omnipresent "documentary" style of reaction interviews to everything that happens, no matter how unimportant.

"The Royally Fucked I Hate Fucking Videogames" Show. Have some specific pieces in mind for this show, all of which have previously been included in "Art and the Videogame" shows. This will be better: it will have passion, a point of view, and the name of the exhibition will not appear in any mainstream media review.

"PLUS SPACE: Maximal-as-Fuck Art." This will be a website with occasional exhibitions in real spaces. Double Happiness would qualify but the real reason for the site is so it could have text on its "about" page announcing that the gallery is not taking submissions at this time. This will make artists feel bad and they will want to be included all the more.