Ideas HERE FOR WEEKEND EDITION (20 stories) Posted: 05/11/2003 9:26 pm Failure To Communicate - Why America Doesn't Translate Is it any surprise that Americans have such a narrow sense of other cultures? "About 3% of the fiction and poetry published in the United States in 1999 was translated (approximately 330 out of the total 11,570 fiction and poetry titles published). America compares unfavourably to almost every other country and most unfavourably to western Europe, the region closest to an ideological sibling. There, Germany translates the most works - about six times as many as the US each year. Spain is close behind, while the French publishing industry exceeds the US by four times. Without translations, Americans, who are notoriously monolingual, have access only to the perspectives of those who write and speak in English; thus the ideas of millions are lost to them." OpenDemocracy 05/01/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 8:26 pm Visual Arts Stolen: The "Mona Lisa of Sculpture" A valuable sculpture was stolen from the Art History Museum in Vienna. "The 16th century 'Saliera' (salt cellar) is considered 'the Mona Lisa of sculptures,' the museum said. The 10-inch-tall piece was the only remaining authenticated example of Italian master sculptor Benvenuto Cellini?s work as a goldsmith. This is an art theft of gigantic proportions. The 'Saliera' was worth at the very least 50 million euros ($57 million)." MSNBC (Reuters) Posted: 05/11/2003 9:08 pm Monet, Giacometti - Artists Caught On Film The Artists on Film Trust has collected rare films of famous artists at work. The collection "constitutes a virtually unknown body of art historical sources. These films are certainly a fascinating historical source for the techniques of artists." The Art Newspaper 05/09/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 8:58 pm Rethinking The British Museum Neil MacGregor has been director of the British Museum since last August. He says the museum's relationship with the government is better. And that the museum is thinking on new ways of displaying its collections. "It is clearly possible to construct many different narratives. One of the questions is where the universal story should begin: where do you site prehistory? Do you then want visitors to move from prehistory into Mesopotamia? Or, as much of our material is British, do you want to start the sequence of British archaeological galleries? Or do you want to go on to the hunting societies of North America?" The Art Newspaper 05/09/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 8:54 pm London - Skyline Busting London is contemplating building Europe's tallest building. It's designed by Renzo Piano, and the design has been greeted positively. But many are reluctant to see the city bust out of its current gracious skyline. "London is under siege from tall buildings and tall building proposals. We do feel a bit conflicted opposing something so wonderful. Piano's design is exciting. It's just the wrong scale in the wrong place." Los Angeles Times 05/12/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 6:22 pm Music The New New Composing A new music learning program - a toy - teaches kids about composing music. "Hyperscore, the composing portion of Tod Machover's 'Toy Symphony' trinity, is a sophisticated musical tool in the guise of a simple computer game. Children position drops of sound and colored lines on the screen, building up layers and length into a texture that is as complex as they can manage. It is not, however, just a matter of drawing a picture and getting a pretty tune..." Newsday 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 7:29 pm MPR's New Take On Contemporary Music MPR's new "American Mavericks" series explores contemporary music. "In some ways as daring as the composers it brings to life, the show departs from the standard classical-radio recipe, using sound effects from train whistles to ocean waves to shrieking cats. It plays rock and art music in the same episode. It deftly moves music from background to foreground and back again. It tells complicated stories with a breezy, youthful irreverence underpinned by airtight research and writing, courtesy of Village Voice music critic Kyle Gann." The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis) 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 6:38 pm Saying Goodbye To LA's Dorothy Chandler Esa-Pekka Salonen gives his final performance in Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with the LA Philharmonic before he and the orchestra move to the new Disney Hall in the fall. None too soon, writes Mark Swed: "I have attended Philharmonic performances in the Chandler every season since, and it was there that I learned much of the orchestral repertory. But it has never been a good symphony hall. One gets used to it, learns to listen through the acoustical limitations, but when you see cellos sawing away and don't hear them, as can happen from the orchestra seats, you are forced to choose between believing your eyes or your ears." Los Angeles Times 05/12/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 6:14 pm Municipal Opera That Works Opera Holland Park is summer opera on a budget. But good opera. "With top tickets at £40 this year, Opera Holland Park has found itself in the curious position of not being taken seriously on the bucolic summer opera circuit because it?s too cheap. Yet it enjoys some of London?s boskiest greenery in Holland Park, including a Japanese water garden, strolling peacocks and the picturesque ruin of the Jacobean Holland House. OHP may not be dressy ? in fact it?s determinedly democratic ? but last year saw more hampers and popping corks than ever before." The Times (UK) 05/12/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 5:10 pm Online Music - Industry Trying To Catch Up The success of Apple's music downloading service has surprised recording industry execs. But why? "People in the entertainment industry are traditionally Luddites - they don't understand technology and they don't use it. They didn't perceive the danger [from file-trading sites] until too late in the game, and now they're trying to play catch-up." Chicago Tribune 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 3:37 pm Sampling The Legal Online Music A reporter tries out various legal online music services. It's a mixed success. "Should I take it as a sign that trying to sample the wares of several of the leading legal music sites for PC users crashed my computer and wiped out its hard drive?" On the other hand, some of the sites are downright fun. Chicago Tribune 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 3:30 pm Arts Issues Critic: Surviving The Middle Dominic Papatola says the toughest thing about being a critic is surviving the middle. "Working the edges is the most satisfying part of this gig: Any critic who tells you there isn't perverse fun in writing a really nasty review is either lying to you or so generous he really shouldn't be in the business. And the experience of a truly sublime night of theater is worth enduring 50 bad ones. But what of those nights that are neither black nor white ? the scores and scores and scores of shows that run in a spectrum from pretty bad to pretty good? Those are the ones that will kill you ? or burn you out, anyway ? and there are lots of them." St. Paul Pioneer-Press 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 7:49 pm Censored In America Think censorship isn't alive in America? Just look around, writes Linda Winer - a movie of an opera doesn't make it to TV, an talented actress gets blackballed for her political views, a movie about Castro gets canned... Newsday 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 7:03 pm Mid-Size Threat - Mid-Size Arts Take Biggest Public Funding Hit If states like New Jersey eliminate their arts funding it will be inconvenient for large arts groups. Most small groups won't notice because they're small, have small budgets, and don't count on public funding. But for mid-size groups... it's a life-threatening situation. Newark Star-Ledger 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 6:51 pm Arts Funding In Decline Arts funding across America is declining - in some states being cut altogether. "Although national state arts funding for fiscal year 2004 won't be known until current legislative sessions conclude, it is almost sure to be less than the $354 million in 2003, which was already 20.8 percent smaller than the high of $447 million in 2001." Denver Post 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 4:06 pm People Refugee From Graz Karen Stone is Dallas Opera's new general director - but she's largely unknown in American opera. Her career has been in Europe, in England, Germany and Austria. Most recently she's been running the opera company in Graz. The opera there has a $30 million budget and produces long repertory seasons. Dallas - with a $10 million budget is much smaller. So why leave? "We have huge fixed costs [in Graz], because of the huge amount of employees in the technical department. And we are going through a phase with politicians who are trying to reduce the funding they give us. They want to semi-privatize us. But we don't have the possibility of seeking funds outside. It's incredibly dangerous for the future. Dallas Morning News 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 3:48 pm Understanding Orwell A conference debates the work of George Orwell. "Celebrated (and often sanctified) for his antitotalitarian novels 'Animal Farm' and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four,' Orwell's reportage in 'Homage to Catalonia' and 'The Road to Wigan Pier,' and for scores of essays on everything from communism to brewing a proper cup of tea, Orwell succeeded in his stated ambition - 'to make political writing into an art.' He was also a writer of dazzling range. As Thomas Cushman, the Wellesley sociology professor who organized the conference, put it, ''There was nothing that he didn't turn his guns on.' But at the conference, participants frequently turned their guns on each other..." Boston Globe 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 3:18 pm Theatre A Twain For The Stage Mark Twain was not a successful playwright. "This fall, however, the University of California Press is publishing a three-act play it says is not only worthy of Twain's legacy as America's greatest humorist but that also has already been optioned by a Broadway producer." The New York Times 05/12/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 9:14 pm "Hairspray" Likely To Sweep Tony Nominations Tony award nominations are due out Monday. Early betting is that "Hairspray, the smash musical hit based on the cult John Waters film about a chubby high school girl, is likely to sweep the 2003 Tony Award nominations. Nando Times (AP) 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 8:47 pm Broadway's British Invasion British directors seem to have taken over Broadway. "No fewer than eight major British directors have been gainfully employed this season on Broadway. And three of them ? Jonathan Kent, David Leveaux and Sam Mendes ? are reviving the kinds of time-honored Broadway musicals that were once the sole province of American creators. The transatlantic shift in directorial talent hasn't happened overnight." Los Angeles Times 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 5:16 pm O'Neill Center Director Resigns Howard Sherman resigned as executive director of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut to become more involved in full-scale theatrical producing elsewhere Hartford Courant 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 4:55 pm Publishing Wanted: Books In Translation How come there are so few translations of books by Europeans in UK bookstores? Britain's Minister for Europe tries to answer the question. "It is weird that in the age of globalisation, we are more provincial and parochial than ever. Like the eager young Marxist who decided to learn Russian to read Karl Marx in the original we tend to get foreign wrong as often as right. Still, the best way into any country is to read one of its books." The Observer (UK) 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 4:48 pm Le Monde In Crisis "For the past few months, France's newspaper of reference and flagship of the world's francophone press has been engaged in a crisis unheard of since it was founded after the liberation in 1944. The house of Colombani has been shaken by the publication of La face cachee du Monde (The Hidden Face of Le Monde), a 630-page 'investigation into an institution above all suspicion'. The book has raised profound questions about the power the newspaper wields in France, and about the ethics and methods of those at its helm. The Hidden Face accuses Le Monde of everything from trafficking influence, running secret campaigns for favoured politicians and harassing businessmen for commercial gain to publishing anti-French propaganda, stifling internal debate and misrepresenting the group's sales figures and financial results." Financial Times 05/09/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 4:17 pm A Celebrated Writer Who Isn't In Top Form (He Admits It) It's been 17 years since Larry McMurtry won his Pulitzer. He admits he's not been in top form for some time now. That doesn't stop him from writing. "He allots only 120 hours of writing time to every novel now, a breakneck pace even for a prolific writer like McMurtry, who also revises his first drafts more lightly than most writers. In his autobiographical 'Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen,' he revealed two things, one intentional, one not: He considers himself only a shadow of what he once was, the greatest western novelist of his generation. The second, unintentional revelation? His nonfiction of the past decade has far surpassed his fiction." Chicago Sun-Times 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 3:25 pm Media Death Of The Sitcom Is the TV sitcom dying? "For the fourth year in a row, when the television season ends this month, there will be only two comedies among the 10 most-watched network shows in prime time: 'Friends' on NBC and 'Everybody Loves Raymond' on CBS. Only in the late 1950's and the early 1980's have there been such prolonged periods with so few mass-appeal television comedies." The New York Times 05/12/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 9:23 pm Trailer Fatique Has anyone noticed there seem to be more trailers at the movies these days? Yes. "It's the strongest marketing tool at a studio's disposal. They've done surveys that indicate that moviegoers absolutely love trailers. But there is a point at which it becomes too much. What is that point? What number of trailers is optimal, and what number results in trailer fatigue?" St, Paul Pioneer-Press 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 7:46 pm Dance A New Take On Dracula And Films About Dance A new black-and-white silent film of a dance set to the story of Dracula captures movement on screen in a fresh way. "Made for the CBC, 'Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary' adapts choreographer Mark Godden's ballet as a black-and-white silent melodrama, and happily, it marks a frenzied, hallucinatory departure from what viewers have come to expect from both Dracula and dance movies." New York Daily News 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 6:45 pm Was Degas The Transformer Of Modern Dance? "The importance of photography for Degas, a decades-old theme in scholarship about the artist, pops up again here. So, more surprisingly, does the prospect of Degas as an unwitting forefather of experimental dance of the 1960s and `70s. Degas, a political reactionary, certainly would have disavowed any such kinship. But his dance pictures foreshadow the way the work of Yvonne Rainer, the young Twyla Tharp, and their New York contemporaries would blend formal and informal movement almost a century later." Boston Globe 05/11/03 Posted: 05/11/2003 3:15 pm