Ideas Reconsidering Communism (Again) It's not like Communism wasn't given a chance. But even though most of the major governments that followed the ideology have failed, Marx isn't discredited. "Indeed, it is suggested, Marx was right about a good many things—about a lot of what is wrong with capitalism, for instance, about globalisation and international markets, about the business cycle, about the way economics shapes ideas. Marx was prescient; that word keeps coming up. By all means discard communism as practised in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (and China, North Korea, Cuba and in fact wherever it has been practised). But please don't discard Marx." The Economist 12/27/02 Posted: 12/30/2002 7:06 am Visual Arts The Theme-Parking Of Our Museums "So it’s boom time for British art. As cultural projects continue to appropriate sites left derelict by the decline of hard industry, there has never been so much museum space available." Never so much pressure to mount that blockbuster show. Are our museums turning into entertainment theme parks of little substance? The Times 12/30/02 Posted: 12/29/2002 9:46 pm Mies - Are You Fer or Agin' Him? A new retrospective of the work of architect Mies van der Rohe asks a critic to takes sides. How odd. "You can ask whether Mies was a good architect or a bad architect, an influential architect or not. You can ask whether he has been properly understood and whether he is still relevant today. But to ask whether you are for or against him seems strangely irrelevant, a harking back to half-forgotten battles of an earlier generation." The Telegraph (UK) 12/30/02 Posted: 12/29/2002 9:42 pm Music Tune Smith San Francisco's Davies Hall is "tuned" for every performance. The computer-controlled acoustical canopy that dangles over the stage looks like some huge constructivist sculpture and reflects sound back to the musicians and out to the audience. It's composed of 59 slightly bowed 6-foot squares of Plexiglas - they collectively cover 3,400 square feet - whose height and angle are adjusted according to the size of the ensemble or to the piece being performed." San Francisco Chronicle 12/30/02 Posted: 12/30/2002 9:13 am Rising Water Under La Scala The controversial renovation of La Scala Opera House has been further complicated by news that water under the theatre has risen 80 centimeters. "The proposed new stage tower will require foundations at least 18 metres deep, so the lowest four metres of the structure will be under water." Gramophone 12/28/02 Posted: 12/29/2002 10:20 pm Dumbing Down Music On TV Make classical music "relevant"? "Hip"? "Glamorous"? The new Classic FM TV packages classical music into three-minute MTV-style videos, but far from making it attractive, it succeeds in "creating bland 'easy listening' versions that are impossible for any serious musician to listen to." London Evening Standard 12/27/02 Posted: 12/29/2002 9:34 pm Arts Issues Lumped Together - How Do You Reduce A Culture to "Latino"? "Latino" art and artists are hot right now in the US. But what is "Latino" art? "The gross American simplification of grouping into one ethnic and cultural qualifier the nearly 30 New World nationalities and two European ones that currently make up the uniquely American term 'Latin' or 'Latino' is beyond me." Cultureflux 12/02 Posted: 12/29/2002 7:31 pm People Who We Lost Here's the AP's list of A&E notables who passed away in 2002. Charlotte Observer (AP) 12/30/02 Posted: 12/30/2002 8:18 am Rowling Tops Income List JK Rowling was the UK's highest-earning woman in 2002, earning £48 million "through the phenomenal success of her creation in book sales and the subsequent cinema box office hits." That's about six times more than Queen Elizabeth. Sydney Morning Herald 12/30/02 Posted: 12/29/2002 10:07 pm Theatre Broadway Perks Up For much of 2002, Broadway seemed caught in a downdraft. But "for the fall and winter, Broadway ticket sales have been running 15% ahead of last year's levels, says Jed Bernstein, president of the League of American Theatres & Producers. Sales could even surpass 2000's record-setting figures. Thanksgiving week alone racked up $18.6 million, vs. $16 million for the same week in 2000. Now, with 33 shows on the boards, Broadway is wrapping up its holiday season, traditionally the strongest time of the year. What happened?" BusinessWeek 12/27/02 Posted: 12/30/2002 7:14 am Publishing In Print We Trust In this day of instant information on the internet, is there still a place for the printed encyclopedia? Surprisingly, yes. "Publishers are rediscovering how to reach the customer who thinks a printed book is still the best source of knowledge. After a four-year hiatus, Encyclopaedia Britannica, based in Chicago, has almost sold out the new edition it released this year and is planning a revision for next year. Libraries remain the best customers, but there is still a core of people who want that row of books at home." Boston Globe 12/30/02 Posted: 12/30/2002 8:13 am Fighting Saddam, Reading Shakespeare "According to the Pentagon, war — at least the impending war in Iraq — is Shakespeare, the 5th-century BC Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu and two modern bestsellers about heroism and wartime correspondence. Before Christmas the US Defence Department began distributing free, pocket-sized copies of these books to its troops, to ensure that soldiers are improving their minds while removing Saddam. More than 100,000 copies have been given away so far." The Times (UK) 12/28/02 Posted: 12/29/2002 7:17 pm Media I'd Rather Eat News It seemed like an interesting experiment - a radio drama with an all-star cast broadcast daily for a week to a national American audience. But reaction to National Public Radio's radio play "I'd Rather Eat Pants" was swift - and negative. Of the 1,000 e-mails the network received, about 75 percent were negative, and execs are trying figure out why. Cast member Ed Asner is disappointed. "It's a shame that intellectual newshawks who occupy NPR - or think they are intellectual newshawks - have to be so grouchy." Chicago Tribune 12/30/02 Posted: 12/30/2002 8:31 am Spanish-Language TV Up In US Growth in the American TV audience is being driven by Hispanic Americans. "Hispanics, it turns out, are driving the overall growth of the country's television audience, and according to the latest Nielsen research, account for 18 percent of viewers who are 18 to 34, and 15 percent of those 18 to 49, the most desirable groups for advertisers."The New York Times 12/30/02 Posted: 12/29/2002 10:03 pm A Very Good Year For Movies (At The Box Office) "More than $9 billion worth of tickets were sold in North America in 2002, up about 10 percent over last year's record. Even with higher prices, actual attendance was up at least 5 percent, reaching levels not seen since Eisenhower was in the White House. But let's not pop those Champagne corks just yet. There are plenty of reasons for concern and doubt amid the hype and hyperventilating."The New York Times 12/30/02 Posted: 12/29/2002 9:59 pm Previously: Movieplexes Bulged With People In 2002 More people went to the movies this year in the US than any year since 1959. "By some estimates, admissions could climb more than 10% over last year's record levels, with folks flocking to theaters more than 1.5 billion times." Why? Paricularly with all the competition for the entertainment dollar from DVD's TV etc....? "The real world is probably more terrifying than Americans have ever known. It's the same kind of desire for escape we also saw during the Depression in the '30s." Los Angeles Times 12/26/02 Dance Where Are The New Stars? Where are dance's new stars? "A new century has come, but where are the new voices? Where is a Nijinsky, with his blocky new look, echoing the fresh perspectives that were also energizing Picasso, Braque and Stravinsky? Where are the new pairs of eyes, the new synergies, the new conversations? Granted, it is more difficult - and costly - to break through the static nowadays than when Duncan and Graham and the like were embarking on their exploratory ventures. Yet surely artists of 100 years ago were as bound by their constraints as we are by ours. It is up to the artists of today to overcome the constraints, to claim their place in the pantheon of the greats." Washington Post 12/29/02 Posted: 12/29/2002 10:27 pm