Internet - A Basic City Service? Guess Who Argues No "In hundreds of American communities, public officials have concluded that the Internet is an essential service. They see that their residents are either offered prices that are too high or are not offered services at all. They are aware that while our nation stumbles in high-speed-Internet adoption, other countries make sure consumers can get connected at lower prices." But telecom companies are mounting campaigns to block city service. "They argue that taxpayer-funded competition makes the marketplace unfair (ironic, since those firms owe their dominance to government-granted monopolies). Then they claim that cities are too unsophisticated to pull off such projects (so why are they worried?)." Newsweek 07/13/05
Posted: 07/13/2005 6:46 pm
Company Sues Internet History Keeper Over Copyright (Huh?) "The Internet Archive was created in 1996 as the institutional memory of the online world, storing snapshots of ever-changing Web sites and collecting other multimedia artifacts." It's a great historical record and archive for future historians produced as a non-profit service. But now a company is suing the Internet Archive, saying "the access to its old Web pages, stored in the Internet Archive's database, was unauthorized and illegal." The New York Times 07/12/05
Posted: 07/13/2005 5:29 pm
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Art Student's Fake Suicide (Explained?) The UCLA art student who last year faked his suicide with a gun he had carved out of wood has come forward to tell his story. "Deutch, now 26, also knew that gunplay could upset fellow students and get him in trouble with campus authorities. But in his first comments on the incident, he says he never dreamed, as he got up to perform in UCLA's graduate art annex in Culver City, that his phantom gunshot would ricochet and cause the departure of two UCLA professors, roiling the campus for several months." Los Angeles Times 07/12/05
Posted: 07/14/2005 7:13 am
Death To The Biennale? A trip through this summer's Venice Biennale makes you dispair of the whole idea, writes Jerry Saltz. "After a show like this it's tempting to say that biennial culture is over, that these fetes are too big, baggy, and bureaucratic to reflect the state of art. By now it's unclear who they're for: The several hundred thousand who come to see them or the several thousand from the art world. Yet, just when they seem dead, a new age of biennials looms. In roughly 700 days, starting early June 2007, a kind of Harmonic Convergence of super exhibitions is slated to take place when the Venice Biennale, Documenta XII, and the Munster Sculpture Project will open one after the other." Village Voice 07/12/05
Posted: 07/14/2005 7:07 am
The Guggenheim's Money Woes Spelled Out Earlier this year the Guggenheim's biggest benefactor left the museum's board amid allegations that the Goog's financial house was crumbling. A memo spells out just how crumbly... Vanity Fair 07/13/05
Posted: 07/13/2005 7:11 pm
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A New Digital Music Instrument A new digital music interface replaces the computer keyboard. "The computer interface is an adjustable, hollow device affixed to four thin metal tubes divided by a bridge into long and short sections. By positioning the fingers on the long section, a player can control pitch; by positioning the other hand's fingers on the short section, the player can control such things as tempo and volume. Four laser pointers shining down the length of each rod relay the plucking motion to a tiny Web camera located on the bridge. When the player presses on the rods, the finger splits the beam of light, reflecting a splotch of light back to the camera." Discovery 07/14/05
Posted: 07/14/2005 6:59 am
A Pink Floyd Opera? Pink Floyd's Roger Waters has written an opera about the French Revolution. "It's not just a piece about the French Revolution, it's about revolution in a much broader sense, and it's about the capacity that human beings have for personal change. The piece is an exultation and an encouragement to those of us who believe the human race can discover its humanity and its capacity for empathy to the point where it may be possible for us at some point to guarantee the basic human rights of the individual (around the world)."
Newsday (AP) 07/14/05
Posted: 07/14/2005 5:35 am
Let The Computer Find Music You'll Like Most indie artists don't have budgets to market their music. But new software is helping to connect musicians with potential audiences. "Software pushes independent artists' songs through the Internet to the people with matching tastes, exposing their music to the people most likely to become fans. Each time the programs run, they download more songs for users to play and rate on a scale from one to five stars. The ratings help the software match each user to others who have parallel likes and dislikes. Once a match has been made, the software sends people songs that others with similar tastes have rated highly." Los Angeles Times 07/13/05
Posted: 07/13/2005 6:50 pm
When The Music In Your Head Won't Shut Off There's a brain disorder that results in a patient having musical hallucinations - one "hears" music clearly inside the head when nothing is playing outside it.There is "recent work by neuroscientists indicating that our brains use special networks of neurons to perceive music. When sounds first enter the brain, they activate a region near the ears called the primary auditory cortex that starts processing sounds at their most basic level. The auditory cortex then passes on signals of its own to other regions, which can recognize more complex features of music, like rhythm, key changes and melody. Neuroscientists have been able to identify some of these regions with brain scans, and to compare the way people respond to musical and nonmusical sounds." The New York Times 07/13/05
Posted: 07/13/2005 5:43 pm
Music: Looking For Meaning In All The Wrong Places Does music have any inherent meaning all on its own? "Can the compositional process of any music, from 12-bar blues to spectralism, be "publicly intelligible" without some kind of grounding in its conventions? If you've never heard a nursery rhyme in your life (difficult I know, for arguments sake imagine an extraterrestrial sentient being), wouldn't it seem baffling on first listen?" NewMusicBox 07/13/05
Posted: 07/13/2005 5:39 pm
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How Long Should The Intermission Be? "In the straight theatre, the interval norm has long been 15 minutes, giving those quick off the mark just enough time to swallow a warm, over-priced gin and tonic before nipping to the loo. (My own preference is a brisk walk round the block.) Recently, the National Theatre has extended the standard to 20 minutes, and, given the number of slower, older people in today's audiences, perhaps that is the optimum. However, the more puritanical breeds of theatre director don't like reality impinging on their creations at all." The Telegraph (UK) 07/14/05
Posted: 07/13/2005 7:29 pm
NY Mayor Gives $55 Million To Arts The city of New York's biggest arts supporter? Gotta be Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "In each of his first two years in office, the gift was $10 million; his largesse for 2004 increased by 50%, to $15 million. This year -- with his re-election efforts about to kick into high gear -- Bloomberg's gift, announced July 5, rose to $20 million, meaning that a total of 406 grants will be awarded, a substantial increase from last year's 302. With his latest gift, Bloomberg has now donated $55 million in four years to the Carnegie Corporation, nearly matching the $70 million he spent on his first mayoral campaign." Backstage 07/13/05
Posted: 07/13/2005 7:16 pm
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Plans For UK's First Black Theatre Fail Britain was to have its first black theatre, due to open in 2007. But plans for the theatre have collapsed as the Arts Council pulled the plug on the proposed resident company, Talawa. "The council has lost faith in the company, after bitter internal disputes and a string of resignations, and in the business plans for the new theatre." The Guardian (UK) 07/14/05
Posted: 07/13/2005 7:21 pm
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Pope's Not Wild About Harry "As the sixth issue of Rowling's Harry Potter series - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - is about to be released, the news that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger expressed serious reservations about the novels is now finally being revealed to the English-speaking world still under the impression the Vatican approves the Potter novels." Lifesite News 07/13/05
Posted: 07/14/2005 7:09 am
Freedom Of Speech Vs. Respect For Religion? "Last month a judge in the northern Italian city of Bergamo said that the 76-year-old author Orianna Fallaci should answer to claims of abusing Islam in her book The Strength of Reason. Since then, her cause has become a rallying point for mainly rightwing intellectuals and politicians in Italy and the US, where Ms Fallaci lives." The Guardian (UK) 07/13/05
Posted: 07/13/2005 7:24 pm
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Desperate Housewives Scores Emmy Nominations "The ABC series, competing in the comedy category, received 15 nominations, sharing status as series front-runner with the rowdy NBC sitcom "Will & Grace," which also got 15 bids. Premium cable channel HBO once again dominated the made-for-TV category with two of its films, "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" and "Warm Springs," each garnering 16 bids to top all nominees." Yahoo! (AP) 07/14/05
Posted: 07/14/2005 6:21 am
Why Won't Anybody Buy Masterpiece Theatre? Corporate funding for PBS' Masterpiece Theatre ended last year, but try as they might, PBS has been unable to find a new sponsor. "Since Masterpiece debuted in 1971, ExxonMobil had been its sole underwriter. PBS is picking up the tab for two more seasons, but at half the previous budget. That translates to about seven titles over 20 Sundays this season - half the output of previous years. A co-production with the BBC, Masterpiece has a core audience of "highly educated, higher-income" women over 50, says a rep for the program. Though that's not the most prized demographic, PBS president Pat Mitchell can't understand why the network's crown jewel is such a tough sell." Philadelphia Inquirer 07/14/05
Posted: 07/14/2005 6:15 am
Why PBS Will Always Be Poor "PBS is in real trouble, financially. Its difficult straits are misunderstood by nearly everyone. When PBS was created, early ideas to tax the sale of television sets and also to tax the broadcast networks (which are profiting off of the government- owned airwaves) went nowhere because politicians fear powerful lobbyists and don't necessarily fear you. Unless you stand up. But when do you do that? When you worry money will be taken away from PBS. It's true. People just like you, but possibly more riled, called their representatives, and a bipartisan group of politicians got the message and restored cuts to PBS. Hooray! PBS remains underfunded! See: complicated." San Francisco Chronicle 07/14/05
Posted: 07/14/2005 6:02 am
Video Revolution Creates Generation Of Movie-makers With Nowhere To Go "Do-it-yourself video technology has given an entire generation of young filmmakers the tools to master the video art form. But it has also created a cutthroat environment where only a few can find work. With an entire generation that has grown up behind the lens of digital technology, the movie industry has become very competitive, filled with young directors trying to break into the business." There isn't enough Hollywood to keep them all busy. Wired 07/14/05
Posted: 07/14/2005 5:45 am
Rise Of The Video Bloggers Now that podcasting has gone mainstream, the next big thing is video-blogging, of vlogs. "Anyone can create media and have a distribution outlet for it that bypasses television and mainstream media. It's like slightly curated cable-access. Many of the vlogs have a home-grown, experimental feel. People capture moments in their everyday lives. Some post cooking lessons, short films or videos of local festivals or family events like graduations." Wired 07/13/05
Posted: 07/13/2005 6:39 pm
European Movie Business Also Takes A Dive "German ticket sales are down 20% compared to the first six months of last year, with Italy and Spain registering double figure declines. But the UK's cinemas are showing only a small decrease, trade paper Hollywood Reporter said. Some European cinemas say adopting US practices, including summer blockbuster releases, have led to a decline." BBC 07/13/05
Posted: 07/13/2005 6:36 pm
Today's Stars Tomorrow - Who Will Be Remembered? It's difficult to predict what stars or what movies will live long after they're made. But David Ansen takes a ruthless look at today's A-List stars - "Who, in the end, promises to leave the most lasting legacy? When I toted up my speculative lists, the answer came as a surprise. He hadn't even come to mind when I started playing this game. Nor does he comfortably fit into any of the standard categories, being the most unconventional of romantic leads, uncategorizable as either boy or man, and enough of a chameleon to morph from the most wigged-out roles in indie movies to the most mainstream Hollywood action fodder." Newsweek 07/11/05
Posted: 07/13/2005 5:49 pm
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ABT Trumps Its Lincoln Center Rivals How did American Ballet Theatre get to be a more interesting company than New York City Ballet? It's an astonishing reversal — who could have dreamed it," wonders Robert Gottlieb. "This has been an A.B.T. season that's given us Ashton's Sylvia as well as the best squad of ballet boys in the world — and Diana Vishneva. Perhaps even more important, the company is helping — or, at least, allowing — some of its dancers to grow before our eyes, unlike the situation at City Ballet, where talented kids roar in from the school and stagnate … if they don't fall apart." New York Observer 07/13/05
Posted: 07/13/2005 6:58 pm
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