How cell phones would change the plot of famous books

The Huffington Post Culture Shift is a newsletter curated by the HuffPost Culture writers and editors. This week we're talking about the power of GIFs on the Internet, how cell phones would change the plots of famous books, the first legally recognized cyborg and that new David Foster Wallace film. If You Have To Say It, Say It In GIFs "The GIF has rocketed to the top of the Internet communications pecking order, an unlikely queen of digital chatter. Nearly 30 years ago, CompuServe's Steve Wilhite launched the graphics interchange format as a higher quality and more compressed image file than existed on the market. Then, copyright squabbles tied up the GIF in court for nearly 10 years and, according to Mashable, put off many developers, who adopted the PNG format instead of the GIF when the former debuted in 1996. As the years passed, however, rather than fading away, the GIF evolved in directions its creator could never have predicted." (Read more here) The New David Foster Wallace Film Is Exactly The 'Grotesque Parody' He Feared "'The End of the Tour' opened Friday with a well-deserved 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg have, by many accounts, given career-best performances in this 'biographical road trip' of the five days Rolling Stone writer David Lipsky spent with literary heavyweight David Foster Wallace as his book Infinite Jest was rising to national acclaim. It's a good film, maybe a great one. It's also a cultural and artistic tragedy." (Read more here) How Cell Phones Would Change The Plots Of Famous Books "High Schoolers reading Romeo and Juliettoday probably have a hard time imagining a world in which two people have such catastrophically frustrating communication problems. 'Juliet, send the man a text before you initiate a complicated fake death scheme,' a present-day Mercutio might suggest. 'Drop him a DM. Toss over a Snapchat.'" (Read more here) The World's First Legally Recognized Cyborg May Be Onto Something "[Neil] Harbisson's journey toward becoming a cyborg began, essentially, at birth. He was born colorblind; specifically, Harbisson experienced a rare form called achromatopsia, which allowed him to see the world only in shades of gray. As far as colorblindness goes, he possessed a severe and rare form, affecting one in every 33,000 people. These days, however, Harbisson holds an even more singular condition, sonochromatopsia." (Read more here) This Is What A Love Story Without Genders Looks Like "Enter Anne F. Garréta, a French author whose experimental tricks aim to make readers question the strictures we apply to our love stories. In particular, she's interested in how gender influences how we write about romance, and her newly translated novel, Sphinx, avoids gendered descriptors altogether in its characterization of its two protagonists." (Read more here) Wear Whatever The Hell You Want To The Theater "On Tuesday, New York Post theater critic Elisabeth Vincentelli wrote a piece called 'For the love of God, stop dressing like crap.' In it, she describes a few incidents in which she witnessed theatergoers wearing what she describes as 'hideous' attire. She berates women who 'look as if they had stepped out of a jazzercise class,' men who wear cargo shorts, and people in Crocs. My thought on the subject: WHO CARES?" (Read more here) 7 Forgotten Women Surrealists Who Deserve To Be Remembered "The names most often associated with surrealism, the avant-garde cultural movement born in the 1920s, include Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, Hans Arp, Marcel Duchamp and Yves Tanguy, among others. Surprise, surprise, they're all men. Thankfully, Sotheby's is now hoping to illuminate the many women artists who deserve equal recognition." (Read more here) You're More Creative When You're Sarcastic, Says Study "Sarcasm doesn't always land well. Comedians like Sarah Silverman and Trevor Noah have come under fire for jokes gone awry (or misunderstood, depending on where your tastes lie), and some psychologists even equate sarcasm to 'bullying.' If the line between harmless fun and hostile snark can often be thin, why take the risk? For one, sarcasm can be pretty damn funny. And now, researchers have identified actual cognitive benefits to being sarcastic. " (Read more here) Follow HuffPost Arts and Books on Facebook and Twitter Unsubscribe | Forward | Manage your notification preferences 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003

Friday's Morning Email: Beijing To Host 2022 Winter Olympics

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By Lauren Weber

Friday July 31st, 2015

TOP STORIES

BEIJING TO HOST 2022 WINTER OLYMPICS The city, which will be the first to host both a Summer and Winter Games, beat out Almaty, Kazakhstan. [Jade Walker, HuffPost]

MALAYSIA 'ALMOST CERTAIN' DEBRIS IS FROM FLIGHT MH370 While it will most likely take at least a week to confirm, experts are growing more confident that the debris found on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean is part of the remains of the missing Malaysian Flight MH370. The state of the piece of wing recovered suggests that the plane did not do a nosedive, supporting the prevailing "zombie plane" theory. [Reuters]

MEET THE TALIBAN'S NEW HEAD HONCHO "Mullah Akhtar Mansoor -- believed to be the Taliban’s new leader -- has an unexpected reputation as a relative moderate and vigorous proponent of peace talks, raising hopes that his leadership could pave the way for an end to years of fighting." [The Guardian]

A LOOK AT WHAT CHINA IS BUILDING IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA The transformation "from reef to island" has taken less than a year. [NYT]

AFRICA: THE 'FINAL FRONTIER' IN LIQUOR SALES "International spirits companies are expanding across Africa, targeting even the poorest consumers with liquor made locally and sold at dirt-cheap prices. In major cities and, increasingly, in rural areas as well, the world’s biggest liquor makers are launching low-price versions of big-name brands, forming partnerships with independent distillers and creating their own versions of local spirits." [WSJ]

WIKILEAKS: U.S. SPIED ON JAPAN The disclosure follows similar reports by Wikileaks that the U.S. is spying on Germany, France and Brazil. [AP]

ARMY SHORT OF RECRUITMENT GOALS The military has two months to make up the 14 percent difference. [USA Today]

WHAT’S BREWING

MSNBC AXES AFTERNOON LINEUP "The Cycle," "Now with Alex Wagner" and "The Ed Show" were all canceled. [HuffPost]

ALL THE CELEBS WE LOVE MET UP THIS WEEK Amy Schumer and J-Law went on vacation together, while Bradley Cooper and Brad Pitt went for a romantic dinner. What's next? Beyonce and Taylor Swift having a joint concert? [HuffPost]

AN EARLIER WINTER IS COMING Looks like we might be getting a "Game of Thrones" prequel series... [Vanity Fair]

LAUREN DUCA DECLARES MERYL QUEEN OF ALL "Meryl Streep is arguably either the greatest actress of her generation or the greatest living film actress -- a debate which boils down to the approximate difference between best and best-est. She shape-shifts on screen, changing her look, her accent, the very essence of her being for each role. Her skill is beyond reproach and uncomplicated by a tabloid presence, outspoken politics or activism. She is quite possibly our only megastar famous solely for her talent." [HuffPost]

WHAT JANE GOODALL THINKS OF CECIL THE LION'S DEATH "Only one good thing comes out of this -- thousands of people have read the story and have also been shocked. Their eyes opened to the dark side of human nature. Surely they will now be more prepared to fight for the protection of wild animals and the wild places where they live." [The Dodo]

BEHIND THE PROLIFERATION OF RENT-A-COPS "In the United States, private police officers currently outnumber their publicly funded counterparts by a ratio of roughly three to one. Whereas in past decades the distinction was often clear -- the rent-a-cop vs. the real cop -- today the boundary between the two has become 'messy and complex,' according to a study last year by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government." [NYT]

WHY THE GIF HAS CONQUERED THE MEDIA WORLD Words cannot compare. [HuffPost]

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WHAT'S WORKING

IBM'S WATSON IS TEAMING UP WITH CVS "CVS Health is getting a booster shot from IBM’s supercomputer, Watson. The retailer -- which rebranded last year with a focus on health, even sacrificing $2 billion in sales by banning tobacco from its shelves -- has partnered with the tech company to roll out a series of apps that aim to improve preventive care for patients with chronic illnesses." [HuffPost]

ON THE BLOG

SCHEDULING WORKING WOMEN "Despite giving their employers advance notice of when they were available for work and when they had a conflict, such as a class or family responsibility, these women continued to get shifts that disrupted their other commitments. The only options they had were to skip class, be absent from family obligations, or lose their job." [HuffPost]

BEFORE YOU GO

~ Behind the death of a young black journalist.

~ On this week's "So That Happened" podcast, we break down why the upcoming primary debate will be insane and explain the drama behind the highway funding bill.

~ One of the country’s worst jails is closing.

~ Prepare to swoon over these realistic illustrations of Disney princes and princesses.

~ Behind archery's newfound cool factor.

~ Woody Allen describing his "paternal" role in his marriage is very, very creepy.

~ A visualization of the app takeover.

~ ICYMI: Uber's “phantom cabs.”

~ Behind the new company from the creators of Cards Against Humanity.

~ Get on those Frontier $38 flight deals.

~ Yeah, these handwritten love letters prove texting should be banned.

~ Where to watch the rare blue moon tonight.

~ “Exploding Kittens,” the most-funded game for Kickstarter, has finally begun to ship.

~ #FindTheGirlsOnTheNegatives.

~ Dudley Dursley hasn't quite Neville Longbottom'ed, but he's getting there.

~ The CW is making Little Women into a “gritty, dystopian series.” What?

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