“The economic climate is still tough, particularly in the regions, which is a major part of our business. I think it’s going to be little by little that we see these things turn around and audiences coming back.”
Archives for February 7, 2014
Why Charles Dickens’ Dying Wishes Are Being Ignored
Dickens stipulated that when he died there should be no memorial to his life, save his writings.
Visual Art – Prices Up, Value Down?
“Going back as far as the Renaissance, artists have had an uneasy relationship to patrons and the money they offer. And the fear of mass commercialization has been a perennial theme of art at least since the days of the pop artists a half century ago. But something different is in the air today.”
Trafalgar Square Gets A Thumbs Up For Its Fourth Plinth
David Shrigley’s Really Good is a 10-metre high hand with an elongated thumb, crafted from bronze. Shrigley, who was shortlisted for last year’s Turner Prize, said his work was “slightly satirical but also serious at the same time”.
Pops Conductor Richard Hayman, 93
“Mr. Hayman was the St. Louis Symphony’s pops conductor from 1976 until the pops concerts were discontinued in 2002. He was also the chief arranger for the Boston Pops Orchestra for more than 50 years, under both Arthur Fiedler and John Williams, and conducted pops concerts in Detroit, Hartford and other cities in the United States and Canada.”
Ideas Are The Root Of Success. But Are We Now Getting Too Many Good Ideas?
“Our hyperconnected world may be moving toward a state in which there is too much idea flow. In a world of echo chambers, fads and panics are the norm — and so it is much harder to make good decisions.”
Benjamin Britten In A Minor Key (As In Career, That Is)
A lot of piffle surrounds the cult of Britten, who was endlessly productive to a fault.
The Thieves Who Stole The Strad (What Were They Thinking?)
“It appears we had a local criminal who had an interest in art theft and was smart enough to develop a plan for a robbery. Beyond that, we don’t know what his motive was.”
Removal Of A Picasso From A Historic Building Is A Tragedy
“In view of its exceptional attributes, its importance in Picasso’s development, and its close association with the Seagram Building almost from the moment of the tower’s completion, it seems astonishing that the painting is unprotected by the landmark status accorded the Four Seasons interior in 1990.”
The Forgotten Women Of Great Literary History
When Claire Tomalin began her research into Dickens’s mistress, she found that Nelly Ternan had “vanished into thin air”. Nora, Véra, Zelda and Nelly are writers’ Wags, which in this case stands for “wives and ghosts” – and the best ghost stories have long been found in literary biographies.
Why This Canadian Rock Band Is Invoicing The Pentagon For $666,000
“Skinny Puppy learned that its music was being played to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay during interrogations to “inflict damage”. Understandably, the band was “offended” when a fan, who happened to be a guard at Gitmo, told them this was happening.”
Los Angeles Loses Seven Percent Of Its Entertainment Industry Jobs
“Within the industry, movie and video production – which accounts for the bulk of entertainment employment – posted the biggest decline, down by 7,800 jobs, or 7.2%, since 2007.”
CBC President Predicts Hard Times For Canadian Network
“We are projecting significant financial challenges: a weak advertising market across the industry, lower-than-expected schedule performance in the key 25-54 year-old demographic on CBC Television, lower than expected ad revenues from Espace Musique and CBC Radio 2, and the loss of the NHL contract.”
Six Canadian Museums Start Project To ID Nazi-Looted Art
“It’s unclear how many so-called “spoliated” cultural objects – paintings, sculptures, drawings, graphics, prints and decorative works obtained illegally or by force from European institutions and private collectors by Nazi German authorities between 1932 and 1945 – may be housed in Canadian art museums.”
The Real Fraud In The Japanese Ghost Composer Case
“It’s one thing to paint or write or compose something and pass it off as the work of an established, famous artist, like the fake Jackson Pollocks the Knoedler gallery sold to well-heeled buyers. That’s fraud. It’s another thing to create a work of art that is destined to enter the world under false premises, like the Mozart Requiem.”
Do Humans Have a Hard-Wired Preference for Where We Walk?
Wayne Curtis suggests that our naturally preferred landscape for perambulation may be the “keyhole pathway” – a steady promenade under a canopy of, say, vines on a high trellis or Spanish moss-draped oaks.
Documentary Oscar Nomination for ‘The Square’ Causes (More) Controversy in Egypt
Producer Karim Amer: “You’re entering a space where the dust hasn’t settled in a time when certain groups are trying to rewrite history.”
Oprah Plans Her Broadway Debut
“Oprah Winfrey is in talks to make her Broadway debut in a revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play ‘night, Mother, starring opposite Tony-Award winner Audra McDonald as a mother struggling to stop her daughter from killing herself.”
Choreographing the Opening Ceremony in Sochi
Veteran Hollywood choreographer Daniel Ezralow talks about how he handled his highest-profile show ever – and its loaded theme, nothing less than Russian history through the 20th century.
Behind the Scenes With the Paris Opera Ballet in Dubai
“Karl Paquette collapses in a heap, stage left. … His dance partner, the première danseuse Valentine Colasante, stands a little way away, chest heaving, hands on thighs, as their instructor, or ‘balletmaster’, Laurent Novis talks them through their performance.”
The Despair, Squalor, and Grace of the Latest Hit Smartphone Game
“Flappy Bird is not difficult to challenge you, nor even to teach the institution of videogames a thing or two. Rather, Flappy Bird is difficult because that’s how it is. It is a game that is indifferent, like an iron gate rusted shut, like the ice that shuts down a city.”