Week
of December 17-23, 2001
1.
Special Interest
2. Dance
3. Media
4. Music
5. People
6. Publishing
7. Theatre
8. Visual Arts
9. Arts Issues
10. For Fun
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1. SPECIAL INTEREST
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#specialinterest
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MERRY
CHRISTMAS MUSIC: Sure there are classic Christmas carols. But
there are many more pop Christmas songs, and most of them are an
acquired taste of one sort or another. Here's a pretty
comprehensive list that includes the sentimental to the simpering
to the downright taseless. National
Post 12/21/01
WORD
COUNTS: Word counts can tell a reader plenty about a piece of
writing - like the cultural context, the tone, the hidden meaning.
Any writer who overuses "very" for example, is probably
over-enthusiastic. Computer word counting has made this kind of
analysis of any text, easy for anyone. Sydney
Morning Herald 12/17/01
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2. DANCE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#dance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABT
CUTS PROGRAM TO CUT COSTS: American Ballet Theatre has
canceled a planned Stravinsky program for the end of the season.
"We're looking at the potential of a 5 to 10 percent problem
on a $30 million budget. It's primarily a result of the recession
that already existed before Sept. 11, but it's certainly been
heightened since that time. The postponement of the program will
save Ballet Theater about $400,000." The
New York Times 12/20/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
WHO
OWNS DANCE? "The Martha Graham Dance Company sits in an
unfortunate limbo, having already discontinued performances for
more than a year and a half. The oracular high priestess of modern
dance could scarcely have foreseen that a bitter battle over the
rights to her legacy would end up in federal court."
The New York Times 12/22/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
CHILL
IN THE AIR: Seems there's an English dancers' union rule that
says dancers don't have to perform if the temperature in a theatre
is below 19 degrees centigrade. Saturday the theatre in Liverpool
was packed with kids for an afternoon performance by the English
National Ballet, when, just a few minutes before the curtain was
due to go up, dancers canceled the performance. Why? The
temperature backstage was 18 degrees. Liverpool
Daily Post 12/18/01
TAKING
THE BULL BY THE HORNS: "Alberta Ballet is not dancing
around the issue of its first deficit in more than a decade. It
has appointed Larry Clausen, a Calgary businessman with a penchant
for restoring the health of financially troubled companies, as its
new board chair." Calgary Herald
12/18/01
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3. MEDIA
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#media
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RECORD
YEAR FOR MOVIES: Hollywood has already surpassed its biggest
grossing year - last year's record $7.7 billion. "We're
definitely going to surpass $8 billion - it's just a matter of by
how much." BBC
12/19/01
- THE
BILLION DOLLAR CLUB: Think it was a bad year for movies?
Think again. Three Hollywood movie studies each made more than
a billion dollars this year. "Buena Vista International,
a unit of entertainment giant Walt Disney Co has joined fellow
studios Warner Bros and Universal in hitting the coveted
target, marking the first time since 1999 that three studios
have hit the billion mark." Sydney
Morning Herald (AFP) 12/20/01
VALENTI'S
(NOT-SO-VEILED) THREAT: Motion picture industry lobbyist Jack
Valenti took his campaign for new forms of digital copyright
protection to a government-organized technodweeb seminar this
week, warning that if new forms of encryption are not voluntarily
developed for the predicted influx of broadband video content, he
and his pals in Congress will not hesitate to force the issue. Wired
12/18/01
AWARDS
SEASON GETS GOING: The Golden Globe nominations help clarify
the Oscar field. "The competition for best dramatic film pits
A Beautiful Mind, Ron Howard's adaptation of the story of a
brilliant but schizophrenic mathematician, which earned six
nominations, against Peter Jackson's epic adaptation of J. R. R.
Tolkien's Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring;
Todd Field's intense In the Bedroom, about a middle- aged
couple torn apart by the murder of their son; David Lynch's
nightmarish and enigmatic Mulholland Drive; and Joel Coen's
black- and-white neo-noir The Man Who Wasn't There." The
New York Times 12/21/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
NOT
TO MENTION THE PRICE OF REAL ACTORS: Animation used to take
time: each frame was a separate work of art, and 7200 of them were
needed for a five minute film. But with computer techniques, the
task has been considerably quickened and simplified. Add to that
an audience willing to accept a less-polished look, and suddenly
there's a rush of animated films showing up on line, at festivals,
and in theaters. Wired 12/20/01
CULTURE
WIRE: All over Europe, new cultural centers devoted to digital
art are coming into being. "We want to bring digital art and
its creation to a wider audience, as well as provide a suitable
base for artists-in-residence to use the Cube as a type of
personal studio. We also want to function as a sort of creative
launching-pad for artists to explore new forms of artistic
expression using digital technologies." Wired
12/17/01
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4.
MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#music
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ST.
LOUIS REPRIEVE: In September the St. Louis Symphony said it
had to raise "$29 million in stopgap funding - $20 million to
be raised in the form of pledges by Dec. 31, 2001, and the entire
$29 million in hand by next spring" or the orchestra would
have to be shut down. With December 31 only a little more than a
week away, the orchestra has raised $25 million in pledges. Riverfront
Times 12/19/01
SIZE
MATTERS: "Are physical attributes in opera really
irrelevant? If one regards the art merely as a concert in costume,
looks cannot matter. If one regards opera as a fusion of music and
drama, suspension of disbelief does." Financial
Times 12/22/01
BEETHOVEN'S
VIOLA PLAYS AGAIN: After more than 100 years of silence,
Beethoven's viola, "the viola the composer played while still
an adolescent, probably between 1787 and 1792, in the court
orchestra of Elector Maximilian Franz of Bonn," has been
played in concert again. "After Beethoven's departure from
the orchestra, the viola became the property of Franz Anton Ries,
who was also a member of the orchestra as well as Beethoven's
violin teacher. It later turned up in America and finally found
its way back to Bonn after World War I as part of Ries'
estate." Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung 12/19/01
IMPERIAL
SALE: The Bosendorfer piano company has been sold to an
Austrian bank. "Boesendorfer and Steinway are considered the
Rolls-Royces of pianos. Among the hundreds of virtuosi and
composers associated with Boesendorfer since the first handmade
instrument was assembled in the early 19th century have been Anton
Rubinstein, Johannes Brahms and Bela Bartok." Nando
Times (AP) 12/21/01
INDUSTRY
ON THE ROPES: "The music industry is powered by four
crucial engines: record labels, radio, the touring industry and
retail record stores. And they are all sputtering with a grim
array of problems. Napster is hobbled, but music swapping online
remains a gleeful pleasure for millions of computer users who have
lost interest in actually paying for CDs. Venerable record chains
like Tower Records have been on the verge of going out of
business. The alternative-rock/country/rap explosion of the 1990s
is over, and few new acts are selling - even as consumers are
turning up their noses at superstar perennials, too. Major labels
have been battered by losses and layoffs, radio station owners are
wallowing in an advertising recession, and the concert business
lost millions of ticket buyers in just the last year." Salon
12/19/01
DUMB
AND DUMBER: "For all the political homilies we hear about
raising educational standards, the role of culture in education is
under attack from a murderous anti-elitist virus and a secondary
infection of multi-cultural confusions. Anything that cannot
instantly be grasped by the innocent ear is banned as exclusive.
Music in school is modelled on McDonald's: it is cheap,
mass-produced and sensorily unchallenging." The
Telegraph (UK) 12/19/01
ALL
I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS... New York City Opera wants a new home
out of the Lincoln Center redevelopment plan. But building a new
theatre on the campus isn't likely to happen, what with the
objections of others (and you know who you are...). If the company
stays in its current home and renovates, it stands to lose the
support of its biggest backer. But if it moves elsewhere in the
city, costs go up and... The New York
Times 12/19/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
ASSESSING
THE KIMMEL: With opening weekend behind them, the folks behind
Philadelphia's imposing new Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
are reading the initial reviews, and beginning the years-long
process of accommodating a new hall to its tenants. But reviews
were wildly mixed, and the local perception seemed often at odds
with that of out-of-town critics. The overall report card seems to
indicate a promising future for Verizon Hall, but much acoustical
tweaking will be needed. Philadelphia
Inquirer 12/18/01
- For all
Kimmel stories and reviews see here
THE
HOUSE THAT WYNTON BUILT: Jazz at Lincoln Center has a new $115
million home rising at Columbus Circle. Wynton Marsalis is its
driving force, its inspiration and its fundraiser. "Yet you
wonder how long Wynton can stay in the window of the jazz temple
he's building over on Columbus Circle, and what might happen
without him. 'They've painted themselves into a corner at Lincoln
Center, pushing Wynton so far out front,' says one prominent jazz
critic. 'He's very good, but he's not Louis Armstrong and Duke
Ellington rolled up into one, as they'd have you believe'." New
York Magazine 12/17/01
PATRIOTIC
ROYALTIES: The Florida Orchestra has sued Arista Records to
collect royalty payments from Whitney Houston's SuperBowl
performance of the Star Spangled Banner. The orchestra accompanied
Houston and "since Sept. 11, the royalties could mean
hundreds of thousands of dollars for the nonprofit orchestra,
which cut its budget by $600,000 this year to $7.6 million and
forced musicians to take a pay cut." Nando
Times (AP) 12/17/01
NO
VOICE BEFORE ITS TIME: Young singers are often tempted to take
on desirable operatic roles before their voices are ready. Those
who push ahead can ruin their voices. Those who hold out until
their voices have settled can sing well into later life. But how
to judge when the time is right? The
Times (UK) 12/18/01
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5. PEOPLE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#people
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DOESN'T
PLAY NICE WITH OTHERS: Despite the PR, there's very little
"classical" about violinist Vanessa-Mae. "It seems
she prefers to use her instrument to engage in mock fights with
the others on stage - guitar, bass, keyboards and drums - just
like a child attacking its playmates with a wooden sword in the
sandbox. In the sandbox, there is always one child who must have
its way; otherwise it starts to scream. Here, that child is the
sometimes almost unbearable Vanessa-Mae."
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
12/21/01
THE
SINGING COP: "If Verdi were to write a new opera, it
might run like this: A young man loves to sing, but at first he
doesn't succeed. Then he joins the police, where he sings the
national anthem. Thanks to his great voice and the mayor's
patronage, - he cuts a CD and gets to study with Placido Domingo.
But Verdi can put his pen down - it's true." The
Christian Science Monitor 12/19/01
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6.
PUBLISHING
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#publishing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DO
BOOKS COST TOO MUCH? "Across the country this holiday
season, recession-minded book buyers are suffering a wave of
sticker shock. Cover prices have crossed thresholds over the last
two years, and the big bookstore chains and online retailers have
pulled back from previously widespread discounts. More shoppers
face prices like $35 for hardcover nonfiction, $26 or more for a
hardcover novel, $15 or more for upscale paperbacks. Customers
show signs of resistance." The
New York Times 12/16/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
THE
FEARLESS BARRY TROTTER: Writer Michael Gerber has written a
parody of the Harry Potter marketing machine called Barry
Trotter and the Unauthorised Parody. "The book is a dig
at Warner Bros' enormous marketing campaign for the recent
blockbusting film adaptation of Harry Potter and the
Philosopher's Stone, and what Gerber regards as their
excessively zealous control of the Harry Potter brand. 'I got
really annoyed when I heard about Warner Bros shutting down kids'
Potter websites,' he said. 'Their behaviour seemed mean-spirited
and overbearing, not to mention silly. Potter fans have a very
intense, personal relationship with the books, and I don't think
that's something you can disregard, just because you've purchased
the rights'." The Guardian (UK)
12/19/01
KID
LIT WAS DIFFERENT A GENERATION AGO: With the emergence of JK
Rowling, and the resurgence of JRR Tolkien, it's easy to assume
that magic and fantasy have always been staples of children's
literature. But 35 years ago, Gore Vidal was complaining that
"the librarians who dominate the juvenile market tend to be
brisk tweedy ladies whose interests are mechanical rather than
imaginative. Never so happy as when changing a fan belt, they
quite naturally want to communicate their joy in practical matters
to the young. The result has been a depressing literature of
how-to-do things while works of invention are sternly
rejected." New York Review of
Books 12/03/64
1
SONNET, 3 COUPLETS, AND A BUCKET O' VERSE TO GO: What's that?
You say you'd love to spend your days sucking down verse after
verse of cool, refreshing poetry, but simply haven't the time,
what with the conference calls, the board meetings, and all? Well,
now you can have it all, with Poem-Me, the fabulous new British
poetry service which delivers daily helpings of
"thought-provoking" poesy right to your very own cell
phone! Don't wait another minute - order now! BBC
12/18/01
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7. THEATRE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#theatre
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE
COWARDLY WEST END? Playwright Martin McDonagh's The
Lieutenant of Inishmore, "a brutal satire on terrorism
and undoubtedly the best and most talked about new play of 2001,
has still not been given a West End transfer, despite opening to
ecstatic reviews at Stratford in May." McDonagh says it's
because West End theatres are cowardly about presenting
controversial work since September 11. The
Guardian (UK) 12/22/01
KUSHNER
AND KABUL: Tony Kushner's play Homebody/ Kabul is the
most awaited play of the year. "Homebody/ Kabul,
directed by Declan Donnellan, is Mr. Kushner's first major work
since the lightning bolt that is Angels in America struck
nearly a decade ago. As a whole, this tale of cultural quest still
has its own journey to make before reaching the level of Angels
(which went through many years of gestation before reaching
Broadway). But it definitely has the potential to get there."
The New York Times 12/20/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
- For all Homebody/Kabul reviews, look
here
WEST
END THEATRE STRIKE? London's theatre workers have voted by a
margin of 99.7 percent to reject their latest contract offer and
voted 98 percent to authorize a strike. "The average hourly
rate in the West End is £6.33, and many earn much less." BBC
12/19/01
THEATRE-AID:
Some 150,000 tickets to New York cultural events are being donated
to families who lost relatives in the World Trade Center. And
"the League of American Theaters and Producers, backed by $1
million from New York State, is to deliver 3.4 million coupon
booklets offering discounts on Broadway tickets, Midtown hotels,
parking garages and theater district restaurants. The goal was to
keep a flow of local audiences pouring into the theater district
as the number of national and international tourists has dropped.
A recent survey by the league found that since Sept. 11, half the
Broadway audience has come from New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut, compared with about 43 percent last season. Over all,
Broadway sales this season are about 85 percent of what they were
last season." The New York Times
12/20/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
A
MIDDLE-EAST BARD: An English Shakespeare company takes Hamlet
and Twelfth Night to the United Arab Emirates. But it's hardly a
cross-cultural experience. The production is staged in the Dubai
Ritz Carlton for the (mostly) American and Brit tourists. And
there aren't even many of them - tourism in the Middle East being
what it is post-9-11. The Independent
(UK) 12/19/01
NEA
RELEASES SOME HELD-UP GRANT MONEY: "After holding back
its initial approval, the National Endowment for the Arts has
decided to give the Berkeley Repertory Theater a $60,000 grant for
a production of Tony Kushner's new play on Afghanistan. The
endowment's acting chairman held up two grants last month at the
very last step in the approval process, a move that generated
discussion about the NEA's procedures and the artists' work...
Officials at the NEA have steadfastly refused to discuss the
rationale behind the scrutiny since the acting chairman's action
became public almost three weeks ago." Washington
Post 12/19/01
WILLY-WORLD:
Developers have unveiled plans for a new Shakespeare theme park in
Stratford-on-Avon. "Details of the multimillion pound plan to
build Shakespeare's World, which would cover a 30-acre site and
would target tourists and daytripping families, have been
circulated this month to surprised Stratford councillors." The
Observer (UK) 12/16/01
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8.
VISUAL ARTS
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#visualarts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HERMITAGE
MASTERWORKS, SOLD FOR A SONG: Some countries lose their art
to pillaging armies. It was different in Russia, where the treasures
of the Hermitage were sold off by the Soviet government. "Our
country has been thoroughly taken to the cleaners. Only pitiful
crumbs remain of the cultural heritage we once had. Look at the
lists of works sold in the 1920s, look at the artists in those
lists. Almost any item from those lists, offered at auction today,
would create a sensation. But they were sold off for nothing."
The Moscow Times 12/21/01
ARTISTS
ON ART THAT MOVES THEM: For the past 15 months, Martin Gayford
has been interviewing artists about the influence of specific
works of art on their own work. "As I look back through the
columns at what the artists have actually said, a few patterns
emerge. The art of the 20th century has proved by far the most
popular - chosen 30 times out of a possible 65 - followed by that
of the 17th century (11), the 15th (seven), the 19th (six) and
the 16th (five). The 18th, and 14th centuries each scored two,
as did the ancient world. The most popular artists were Picasso,
Rubens, Van Gogh, Matisse and - surprisingly - Delacroix, each
covered twice. No one chose Michelangelo, Raphael, Degas, Poussin,
Breugel, Ingres, Goya and a number of other great masters."
The Telegraph (UK) 12/22/01
ART/NOT-ART:
Why get upset about things called 'art' when they seem so
'not-art'? "You can hardly call something 'not art' when the
only reason you heard about it was that an art gallery funded and
displayed it and an art critic wrote about it in the art section
of a newspaper. The battle is over: It's already art, whether you
like it or not. As soon as the question of its artness even
occurs, it is part of a discussion that is inherently artistic; it
is, henceforth, irrevocably and perpetually a part of the history
of art. People said certain Impressionist works weren't art, and
now even Canadian Alliance members buy posters of them for their
living rooms. You can't get away from it." The
Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/22/01
TINY
QUEEN WITH LOTS OF PERSONALITY: Lucien Freud has painted a
portrait of Queen Elizabeth. It's small - 6 inches by 9 inches.
"The painting is not an official commission but a gift from
Freud to the Queen. (This is a grand gesture which has a precedent,
Freud notes, in the jazz suite that Duke Ellington wrote for the
Queen, having a single record pressed and delivered to Buckingham
Place.)" The Telegraph (UK) 12/21/01
- THEY
ARE NOT AMUSED: The critics have taken a look at Lucien
Freud's new portrait of The Queen. Many don't like it. Some
really don't like it. Among the comments: "extremely
unflattering" (The Daily Telegraph); "The
chin has what can only be described as a six-o'clock shadow,
and the neck would not disgrace a rugby prop forward" (The
Times); "Freud should be locked in the Tower for
this" (The Sun); and perhaps most to the point,
from the editor of The British Art Journal, "It
makes her look like one of the royal corgis who has suffered a
stroke." BBC 12/21/01
WAS
BACON BLACKMAILED? Artist Francis Bacon's estate is suing the
Marlborough Gallery, accusing it of blackmailing Bacon into not
switching to another gallery when he wanted to. The estate
"believes that Bacon was not paid properly by his long-time
dealer for many of his pictures" and that the claim against
Marlborough could be worth more than £100 million The
Art Newspaper 12/18/01
APPROPRIATING
ABORIGINAL: Over the past 30 years Australian Aboriginal art
has become wildly popular. But "indigenous designs created
over thousands of years were being used to decorate furniture and
furnishings, clothing and carpets, doonas and desks. Ignoring
copyright law, companies were stealing the patterns and shapes
Aborigines had been creating for thousands of years." One
researcher has fought to preserve the rights of Aboriginal
artists. The Age (Melbourne) 12/19/01
AN
OKAY LEAN: The leaning tower of Pisa was reopened to tourists
over the weekend after 12 years of efforts to stabilize it.
"The tower lurches vertiginously towards the cathedral
museum, despite restoration work that has reduced its lean by 44cm
and which, experts say, should make it safe for the next 200
years." The Guardian (UK)
12/16/01
BUILDING
BOOM: Across the American South, dozens of new museums are
being built. "This boom is based partly on the desire of many
Southerners to bring more fine art to their communities. Although
some museums here have superior collections that are languishing
in storage for lack of display space, directors of some others are
still uncertain what they will hang on their new walls."
The New York Times 12/18/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
EVERYBODY'S
GOT A NEW PROJECT: Besides the highly publicized announcement
of a new Rem Koolhaas-designed LA County Museum, two other
American museums have recently announced big new projects - a
100,000-square-foot $79 million addition to the Virginia Museum of
Art, and a $170 million addition to the Cleveland Museum. The
Art Newspaper 12/14/01
AUSTRALIA'S
MOST WANTED: Who are Australia's most collectable artists?
Some big names didn't make the list... Sydney
Morning Herald 12/17/01
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9.
ISSUES
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#issues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GOOD
YEAR FOR AUSSIE ARTS: Despite an economic slowdown and a drop
in tourism after September 11, 2001 was a terrific year for
Australian arts groups. Ticket sales and subscriptions were up,
box office was good, and most of the country's arts institutions
are optimistic."The best result of all was achieved by the
Melbourne Festival. The largest spring event staged reported
record boxoffice returns of $3.5 million last month." The
Age (Melbourne) 12/21/01
NEA
RELEASES SOME HELD-UP GRANT MONEY: "After holding back
its initial approval, the National Endowment for the Arts has
decided to give the Berkeley Repertory Theater a $60,000 grant for
a production of Tony Kushner's new play on Afghanistan. The
endowment's acting chairman held up two grants last month at the
very last step in the approval process, a move that generated
discussion about the NEA's procedures and the artists' work...
Officials at the NEA have steadfastly refused to discuss the
rationale behind the scrutiny since the acting chairman's action
became public almost three weeks ago." Washington
Post 12/19/01
NEWSFLASH
- CALIFORNIANS WANT CULTURE: "The California Arts Council
will release today the results of a statewide public opinion
survey that indicates that California residents endorse government
support for the arts and are willing to pay for it. The survey,
the first of its kind for the state arts agency, indicates that
78% of Californians are willing to pay $5 more in state taxes if
the money goes to the arts." Los
Angeles Times 12/18/01
- CALIFORNIA
LOVES THE ARTS: A survey on interest in the arts in
California shows that 78 percent would be willing to tax
themselves an extra $5 a year to support the arts (the state
currently spends $1 a year on arts). Among the other findings:
"83 percent of those surveyed attended a performing or
visual arts event at least once in the past year, and 31
percent attended four or more performances a year." Sacramento
Bee 12/19/01
NYT
CHANGING ARTS COVERAGE? New York Times Arts & Leisure
editor John Rockwell has announced he's stepping down from the
job. Rockwell says Howell Raines, the Times new editor, wants to
change the paper's cultural coverage. "I found out Howell
Raines wanted to take this section in a new direction – which, I
might add, is perfectly within his rights as executive editor.
Howell wants to take it more in a populist direction, more popular
culture'." New
York Observer (second item) 12/19/01
THE
GIRLS' EDGE: A new study has established that "girls have
higher reading skills than boys, have more confidence in their
ability to learn and, when taught together with other girls, even
catch up in math where males still appear to have an advantage.
Nevertheless, the political activists and their organizations,
which spend most of their time concocting calls for action, are
not satisfied with the girls: No matter how well educated they
are, girls still tend to choose 'typical female careers or fields
of study in disproportionate numbers,' according to the
study." Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung 12/16/01
WOMEN
FOR PEACE: Why have there been so few women Nobel Peace Prize
winners? "One group of individuals the Nobel Peace Prize has
consistently under-rewarded is women, and, strangely, this has
never been a controversial element of the prize. The discrepancy
is jarring. During the 100-year history of the Nobel Peace Prize,
109 prizes have been awarded. Ten have been to women. Women -
under-represented in the democratic or anti-democratic regimes
that choose to wage wars - are also under-represented in the
garnering of plaudits for peace." The
Guardian (UK) 12/16/01
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10. FOR FUN
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#forfun
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUOTE
OF THE WEEK: A Canadian actor picked to be in the movie Matrix
II who overstayed her visa in Australia was detained in jail
while her case was processed. She didn't enjoy the experience:
"It was just terrible. I was in jail with prostitutes and
people that had been fruit pickers." She's been banned from
the country for the next six months and will likely have to give
up her role in the movie. National
Post 12/20/01
NOT
QUITE PICASSO: The State Museum in Ankara, Turkey, may have to
close its Picasso room. At least four of its eight
"Picasso" paintings are fake. They're copies of Picasso
originals owned by the Hermitage Museum, whose director says,
"Not only are they copies, but they are very bad copies. The
originals are here with us at the Hermitage where they have always
been." online.ei 12/19/01
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