So Birds Are People Too? "Many philosophers believe humans are the only species which understands that others have their own personal thoughts. That understanding is known in the trade as having a “theory of mind”, and it is considered the gateway to such cherished human qualities as empathy and deception. Biologists have learned to treat such assertions with caution. In particular, they have found evidence of theories of mind in a range of mammals, from gorillas to goats. But two recent studies suggest that even mammalian studies may be looking at the question too narrowly. Birds, it seems, can have theories of mind, too." The Economist 05/13/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 6:47 pm
Explaining The Science Around Us These days, laptop computers employ technology scarcely dreamed of during the Apollo moon missions. Physicians prescribe gene-triggering drugs that were fantasy elixirs a decade ago. And microchips have become so small that they're measured in billionths of a meter. But more than 80% of U.S. adults still are not knowledgeable enough to digest a science story in a major newspaper." So how do scientists learn to explain without dumbing down? Los Angeles Times 05/13/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 5:44 pm
Contemporary Art Prices Rocket Up ("We're Scared") Auction prices for contemporary art are shooting up fast. "It's unhealthy. People don't know what they're buying." Some dealers say they have not seen "indiscriminate buying like this in ages. It's scaring people." The New York Times 05/14/04
Posted: 05/14/2004 8:45 am
Challenge To Archibald Portrait A challenge has been filed against the winner of this year's Archibald Prize for portraiture. The striking portrait done in graphite and charcoal of actor David Gulpilil that won the competition "has proven a crowd pleaser at the Art Gallery of NSW, also taking out the $2,500 People's Choice Award last week. The Archibald bequest, however, states the prize had to be awarded to a painting."
Adelaide Advertiser 05/13/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 6:42 pm
Why Nazi-Looted Art Isn't Being Returned A couple of years ago, art looted by the Nazis was one of the biggest stories of the art world. "Yet, despite all the headlines, relatively little of this looted art has so far been restituted. True, it represents only a small proportion of what the Nazis stole from Jews. After World War II, hundreds of thousands of works were recovered by Allied forces and duly returned to their owners or their heirs.The issue today relates to art that was recovered but was not restituted and art that was resold during the war and ended up in museums and private collections. In theory, a structure is in place to address the problem." But the reality... International Herald Tribune 05/13/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 6:27 pm
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In Bamberg: Looking For A Conductor Of Greatness The Bamberg Symphony stages a conducting competition, but not just any conducting competition. "In Bamberg, the entire city searched along with the orchestra for a person with charisma, an ear for music and a clear beat, with unmistakable body language and a feel for the orchestra as a social system. Such an unruly concert as that which was performed on the closing evening of the competition to such an enthusiastic audience at the same time is probably only conceivable in such an environment, where almost 10 percent of the population has a subscription to the local symphony orchestra and the musical ensemble is visibly supported by the city as a collective." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 05/14/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 6:58 pm
A Challenger To Chicago Lyric Opera Emerges Chicago Opera Theatre was founded 30 years ago as n alternative to the Chicago Lyric Opera. But "with the appointment five years ago of former Glyndebourne chief Brian Dickie as general director, it has begun to offer productions with musical and theatrical qualities worthy of international attention. In its first season in the new, acoustically splendid, Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater, Chicago Opera fulfils its new promise with the much-belated Chicago premiere of Benjamin Britten's 1973 Death in Venice." Financial Times 05/12/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 6:51 pm
US Congress Revising Copyright Act? A US Congressional sub-committee is working on a bill to amend and declaw the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. "Called the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act, the amendments are backed by librarians, liberal consumer groups and some technology firms. But they're bitterly opposed by the entertainment industry, including Hollywood, major record labels and the Business Software Alliance." C/Net 05/12/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 6:22 pm
Nova Scotia Arts Chief Quits: Council A Sham "The chair of Nova Scotia's Arts and Culture Partnership Council has resigned, claiming that the purpose behind the newly established group was simply to placate the arts sector and to allow the government to make major arts-funding decisions without any consultation. In March 2002, the Nova Scotia government shut down the provincial arts council, which was responsible for distributing up to $1.2 million in grant money to the arts community annually. At the end of the year, the province announced it was creating a similar agency but one that would be more financially accountable." CBC 05/12/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 5:36 pm
James Roos, 60 James Roos, who was the Miami Herald's classical music critic for three decades, died Thursday after a 17-month battle with brain cancer, one day after his 60th birthday. Miami Herald 05/14/04
Posted: 05/14/2004 9:18 am
So Restricting It To A Single Street Isn't Exclusionary? Tony organizers are angrily rejecting claims by New York Times editor Daniel Okrent that the awards are exclusionary and "artistically meaningless." The Tonys are designed to reward the best performances on Broadway, they say, and the fact that Okrent seems to believe that Broadway itself is exclusionary doesn't have anything to do with the awards. BBC 05/13/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 5:32 am
- Previously: NYT Editor: The Tonys Are A Sham! Why does anyone pay attention to the Tony Awards, asks Daniel Okrent? They are, he says "an artistically meaningless, blatantly commercial, shamefully exclusionary and culturally corrosive award competition. The awards are a real estate promotion, restricted as they are to shows put on in the 31 houses owned or controlled by the Shuberts, the Nederlanders and Jujamcyn, plus another nine thrown in by accident of geography or affinity to the idea of the Big Musical. Like the theaters, the voters themselves are to a large degree controlled by the Big Three and the touring company operators." The New York Times 05/09/04
TV: Where Serious Books Make It "In recent weeks, serious political books have flooded the best-seller lists, replacing the rants from left and right — the Michael Moores or Bill O'Reilly's — with reasoned and supported arguments. During that shift, the television book tour has been more crucial than ever in generating news from these works." The New York Times 05/14/04
Posted: 05/14/2004 8:43 am
Huge Drop In US Book Sales In 2003 "With a struggling economy and competition for time from other media, 23 million fewer books were sold last year than in 2002, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Book Industry Study Group, a non-for-profit research organization. Sales fell to 2.222 billion books, down from 2.245 billion in 2002. The decline was in both hardcovers and paperbacks, in children's books and general trade releases. Even sales of religious titles, often cited as a growing part of the publishing industry, were flat." Yahoo! (AP) 05/13/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 6:35 pm
A Book Without Verbs (Critic: It Didn't Move Me) "First, there was the novel written without using the letter "e". Now a French author has produced what he claims is the first book with no verbs. Perhaps inevitably, critics have commented unfavourably on the lack of action." The Telegraph (UK) 05/13/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 5:46 pm
Why The NYT Is Changing Culture Editors? Why is Steve Erlanger moving out of the job as culture editor at the New York Times? "Most see the change as a sign that Times brass was not happy with the way Erlanger handled movie critic Elvis Mitchell. Mitchell had been sharing the lead movie critic job at the Times with A.O. Scott when Scott was suddenly elevated to the job of chief movie critic." New York Post 05/13/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 5:34 pm
What's So Special About Special fX? Why is there so little imagination in movie "special effects"? "Part of the problem, I think, is that technicians get excited about techniques that stretch possibilities, for strictly technical, not to say geeky, reasons. We could never do that before, so it must be cool. Trouble is, what looks cool to the person who stretched the technique doesn't necessarily look cool to someone who doesn't realize that the technique has been stretched. Whenever a director comes along with a really striking new look, a striking new way to imagine the future, we see the same look replicated over the next couple of years, until someone comes up with another look." The New York Times 05/14/04
Posted: 05/14/2004 8:50 am
The Cannes Of Fantasy "Twelve days of moviegoing on the French Riviera in springtime can be only so miserable. But this year you will hear no whining from this quarter. At least not yet. The 57th Cannes festival has, in its first few days, showed signs of fulfilling the fantasy of what it could and should be (though it will never, to some old-timers, be what it once was). It has been full of drama, spectacle and (literal) fireworks. There have also been some good movies. And to think that it almost didn't happen at all." The New York Times 05/14/04
Posted: 05/14/2004 8:41 am
A Raucous Opening At Cannes "The 57th Cannes Film Festival has opened on a raucous note with a public culture clash between Quentin Tarantino and the British actress Tilda Swinton, who argued that his brand of Hollywood blockbuster was drowning out equally valid voices in the movie industry." Sydney Morning Herald 05/14/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 7:16 pm
Congress Asks Nielsen To Delay Electronic People Meters The US Congress says it wants Nielsen Research to delay full implementation of its new electronic TV ratings meters. "Nielsen, which has a monopoly on counting TV viewers, is switching to an electronic system for measuring local habits that it contends will be far more accurate. Currently, 500 households in a city are asked to record their TV viewing in a diary kept during four “sweeps” months. Nielsen is increasing its sample to 800 homes per city and measuring viewing every day through a “people meter” device attached to televisions. Some critics say dry runs of the new system have shown sharply lower ratings for some programs popular in black and Latino homes." MSNBC (Reuters) 05/13/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 7:10 pm
- Nielsen Says Minorities Ratings Up Nielsen Research released results of a test of its new people meters that show "increased viewership for many programs popular with blacks and Hispanics. The release of the results was intended to counter complaints that by adopting the electronic system, known as local people meters, Nielsen will undercount the viewership for programs watched by blacks and Hispanics." The New York Times 05/12/04
Posted: 05/13/2004 7:08 pm
