Neutral Is To Internet As Objective Is To Journalism? "Arguments over net regulations are nothing new. But they have taken on fresh urgency as the industry absorbs a wave of megamergers and the internet rapidly evolves into a high-bandwidth pipe capable of replicating -- and perhaps even replacing -- both traditional telephone and cable TV services." The central argument is over something called "net neutrality," but the term may be a bit misleading, since the internet has never been truly neutral. Wired 05/31/06
Posted: 05/31/2006 6:11 am
The Underlying UnFairness Doctrine You're open-minded? Sure you are. Of course. And yet... A study shows that "we may intend to be fair, but underneath our awareness, our minds automatically make connections and ignore contradictory information..." Scientific American 05/30/06
Posted: 05/30/2006 11:14 pm
Click here for more Ideas stories...
Ideas stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
The Enigmatic Moscow Art Market "The economic free-for-all after the collapse of the Soviet Union created a new class of wealthy entrepreneurs who have been buying Russian art and are already widening their collecting interests. All this should favour the Moscow fair, founded two years ago, but nothing in Russia is ever as simple as it seems." The Telegraph (UK) 05/30/06
Posted: 05/30/2006 9:35 pm
Duchamp Tops Favorite Artist Survey The Art Newspaper polled UK art students on who their favorite artist is. The winner: Marcel Duchamp. "The French conceptualist who famously placed a urinal in a New York gallery in 1917 and declared “this is art”, has come top of our survey of students from 11 of the leading art schools in the UK." The Art Newspaper 05/30/06
Posted: 05/30/2006 6:27 pm
Thieves Raid Ottawa Art Gallery An Ottawa gallery was stripped of all its art by thieves this weekend. "Thirty paintings, 10 sculptures and about 30 pieces of jewelry by emerging and established artists from the area were taken in the heist at the Blink Gallery on Sunday night or Monday morning. The robbers even took the labels for each piece." CBC 05/30/06
Posted: 05/30/2006 6:24 pm
Discovery: Ancient Treasure Replaced By Fakes Officials have discovered that two artifacts from the treasure of 6th Century BC Lydian ruler, King Croesus, have been stolen from a museum in Turkey and replaced with fakes. BBC 05/30/06
Posted: 05/30/2006 6:20 pm
Click here for more Visual Arts stories...
Visual Arts stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
More Than Just A Murderous Thug "The thirteenth-century warlord Genghis Khan is best known as one of history's most bloodthirsty rulers, and at first glance appears an unlikely subject for a Jesus Christ Superstar-type rock opera. But in his native Mongolia, a rock opera has opened that gives the medieval empire builder the Genghis Khan Superstar treatment, claiming he had a softer, more appealing side which was overlooked." The Independent (UK) 05/31/06
Posted: 05/31/2006 5:49 am
Is Pittsburgh's 3-Way Leadership Model Working? When the Pittsburgh Symphony chose to forgo a traditional music director following the departure of longtime chief conductor Mariss Jansons, many in the music world wondered if the three-headed conducting team the PSO put in place could work. But three years in, the titular head of the triumvirate, Sir Andrew Davis, says it's all working out fine. Still, he says, the arrangement does mean that it's taken him a long time to get to know his orchestra... Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 05/31/06
Posted: 05/31/2006 5:41 am
Brendel: Rattle Naysayers Are Full Of It Legendary pianist Alfred Brendel has stepped up to defend Simon Rattle against recent allegations in the press that the conductor's relationship with the Berlin Philharmonic is not living up to expectations. "Contrary to what is said by a few critics, the Berlin Philharmonic is in superlative shape. Of course it is not a carbon copy of Karajan's or Abbado's orchestra... I remember the times when it was chic in Germany to look down on Karajan. Likewise, a press campaign against Claudio Abbado that claimed he had failed to rejuvenate the ageing orchestra, made him start packing his bags." The Guardian (UK) 05/31/06
Posted: 05/31/2006 5:26 am
New Hall For Scotland On The Table Edinburgh will be getting a new concert hall within the next five years, if plans currently being floated go through. The new venue would replace the aging Queen's Hall, would seat an audience somewhere between 500 and 1200 people, and would become the new home for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. The Scotsman (UK) 05/31/06
Posted: 05/31/2006 5:14 am
Click here for more Music stories...
Music stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Bringing A Chicago Success Story To New Orleans Inspired by the success of Chicago's massive Millenium Park in drawing people to the downtown loop, a Chicago real estate investor who owns the badly damaged Hyatt Regency New Orleans is proposing to build "a 20-acre performance arts park anchored by a National Jazz Center" as the anchor of the rebuilt Crescent City. The project would cost $716 million, and "the 20,000-square-foot National Jazz Center, designed by [Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom] Mayne, would house the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra." Chicago Tribune 05/31/06
Posted: 05/31/2006 5:18 am
French Artists - The Weight Of History "It must be tough, being a contemporary French artist. All that hinterland to cope with. All those mould-breaking forebears who had only to cock a snook at the Académie Française..." New Statesman 05/29/06
Posted: 05/30/2006 10:52 pm
Click here for more Arts Issues stories...
Arts Issues stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Pavarotti Postponed "Opera star Luciano Pavarotti has postponed five concerts on his worldwide farewell tour because of complications from back surgery. Four performances in Canada and one in the US have been delayed until October." BBC 05/31/06
Posted: 05/31/2006 6:05 am
Pianist Edward Aldwell, 68 "Though among the greatest Bach pianists of our time, Edward Aldwell, who died Sunday at age 68 as the result of an automotive accident, was also among the least known. While a fixture in Philadelphia concert life, thanks to his faculty position at the Curtis Institute of Music and his frequent recitals presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, he was known to a larger public only through a half-dozen prestigious recordings and occasional concerts in other major music capitals, such as New York and San Francisco... His death was the result of a freak accident on May 7." Philadelphia Inquirer 05/31/06
Posted: 05/31/2006 5:35 am
Click here for more People stories...
People stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Here's Betting He Doesn't Call This One "Ilyitch" Playwright Peter Shaffer, best known for dramatizing the life of Mozart in Amadeus, is taking another crack at the classical music world, with another famously tragic composer as his subject. The as yet untitled play, which Shaffer has spent a decade writing, focuses on the life and (mostly) death of Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and the New York producer that first brought Amadeus to the stage is already licking its chops at the prospect of a sequel. New York Post 05/31/06
Posted: 05/31/2006 6:41 am
The Royal Shakespeare's Unconventional Shaplin Adriano Shaplin is an unconventional choice as writer-in-residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company. "These essentially conservative institutions, the National and the RSC, are now under new leadership and are looking around for the people who are making real ensemble theatre. It's great that they're turning to companies like the Riot Group and Shunt. The RSC has used the phrase 'blood transfusion'. It's so exciting." The Telegraph (UK) 05/30/06
Posted: 05/30/2006 9:20 pm
Reality - Playwrighting Tough On TV More than 2000 people submitted plays to be considered for a UK reality TV show that would reward the winning entry with a West End production. "The contestants - including call-centre workers, chefs and supermarket shelf-stackers - were whittled down to 30, where the programme takes up the story. At the next stage, the remaining 10 writers were hot-housed by a team of theatre experts and had to produce their full-length play. Then it was down to the final three, one of whom would have his play staged in the West End." The Telegraph (UK) 05/30/06
Posted: 05/30/2006 6:49 pm
Click here for more Theatre stories...
Theatre stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Whither CanLit's Greatest Champion? One of Canada's most venerable publishing houses, McClelland & Stewart (better known as M&S) has been the subject of plenty of rumors lately, and some observers are unhappily accusing Random House, which owns 25% of the company, of interfering in M&S's affairs. M&S insists that its relationship with Random House is purely a matter of sharing marketing expertise, but some fear the publisher could be on the verge of abandoning its history. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 05/31/06
Posted: 05/31/2006 6:31 am
Voltaire Letters Sold For 3/4 Million "A European collector has paid $750,000 for 26 letters sent by the French philosopher Voltaire to the Russian Empress Catherine the Great. The figure is a world record for handwritten correspondence from this period, said Sotheby's auction house. The 26 letters date from 1768-1777, when Catherine was ruler of Russia and Voltaire lived in Switzerland." BBC 05/31/06
Posted: 05/31/2006 6:07 am
For Sale - A Spot On Our "Recommended" List WH Smith - Britain's biggest bookseller - is "demanding payments of £50,000 a week from publishers to get books on its supposedly impartial list of 'recommended' reads in the run-up to Christmas this year." Sunday Times (UK) 05/28/06
Posted: 05/30/2006 10:57 pm
The New Indie Biz Indie presses are reinventing their businesses. "In big publishing, the line is that people don't read, and we're all competing for the same dwindling pool of readers. That's not true. We're going out and finding new readers, and showing people that reading can be provocative and exciting." Village Voice 05/30/06
Posted: 05/30/2006 10:22 pm
Click here for more Publishing stories...
Publishing stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Disney Makes A Deal To Sell Films Online The Walt Disney Co. will sell its films online the same day they become available on DVD, thus closing the gap between DVD sales and video-on-demand by several months. The deal includes new releases plus some library titles. Yahoo! (AP) 05/30/06
Posted: 05/30/2006 11:04 pm
Click here for more Media stories...
Media stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Dance stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
