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Teaching As Intellectual Pursuit Shouldn't teaching be the subject of research? Not just what is taught, but how teaching works... "That is, teaching as intellectual work, which can be discussed, reviewed, critiqued, adapted, and built upon by peers. Part of that includes a belated recognition that the way people teach is related to what they teach; generic ideas on pedagogy have their use, but any serious effort to professionalize teaching in higher education, and to make it intellectually respectable as a topic of scholarship, has to be discipline-specific." Chronicle of Higher Education 01/13/03
Posted: 01/13/2003 10:32 pm
Vying For The Richest Museum Prize Museums big and small across the UK are battling for the first £100,000 Gulbenkian prize. "The prize is worth almost £40,000 more than any other. It was intended to create a buzz in the museum world on a par with the Turner and the Booker prizes in visual arts and literature. The list is scrupulously balanced in scale and geography from Cornwall to Dundee." The Guardian (UK) 01/14/03
Posted: 01/14/2003 12:37 am
The Art World's Most Powerful - A List The British magazine ArtReview has made a list of the 100 most powerful people in the art world. "British collector Charles Saatchi is No. 1; Ronald Lauder, who just opened his own museum in New York, is No. 3; and No. 9 is former Sotheby's chairman and major stockholder Alfred Taubman, who is spending an enforced vacation at Uncle Sam's spa, convicted of price fixing." Only one artist cracks the top ten... San Francisco Chronicle 01/13/03
Posted: 01/14/2003 12:05 am
Duke Versus Gallery London's National Gallery and the Duke of Northumberland are disputing a Raphael painting the Duke's family loaned the museum and now wants to sell. "The Madonna of the Pinks has been on loan to the National Gallery for 10 years, and the gallery said it had a deal with the previous duke that would have given it first option on the painting. But the duke said neither side has evidence of such an agreement. He was also angered by stories saying proceeds of the sale would go towards a garden renovation, and that the painting had been hanging forgotten in a dusty corridor until a National Gallery expert spotted it." BBC 01/14/03
Posted: 01/13/2003 9:56 pm
- Previously: Selling A Raphael To Save Art Heritage After loaning his Raphael painting "The Madonna of the Pinks" for ten years to the National Gallery, the Duke of Northumberland decided to sell the painting to help pay for the upkeep of his estate. LA's Getty Museum agreed to buy the painting, and the Duke has faced a barrage of criticism in Britain. Unfair, he says. He's got to pay for his other obligations somehow. The Telegraph (UK) 01/13/03
Is Jazz Abandoning Instrumentals For Popstar Vocals? Jazz musicians, listeners and critics - take your pick - often seem embroiled in one kind of feud or another. Sometimes they're over finicky little things; other times they're deep-seated and deadly serious. In either case, however, they're often odd, out-of-the-way sorts of quarrels, reserved for insiders alone. But right now, that's just not true." The topic of the day? Singers. Jazz singers are selling big time, all out of proportion to traditional jazz. Singers like Diana Krall and Norah Jones are posting popstar-size sales. One question - are jazz labels abandoning instrumentalists in hopes of hitting the next big thing? The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/14/03
Posted: 01/14/2003 8:13 am
Last Week Blamed, This Week Nominated... Rappers And The Brits Last week British culture minister Kim Howells blasted rappers for promoting violence. This week the Brits music awards nominations are out, and "the list is thick with rappers and Dr Howells' particular bêtes noires, those 'idiots' from So Solid Crew - as he put it - are nominated twice." The Guardian (UK) 01/14/03
Posted: 01/14/2003 12:39 am
Andras Schiff On Coughing Audiences Pianist Andras Schiff has a sore spot for those who come to his concerts and cough: "Luckily I was in a good disposition, so I just very quietly stood up and said, 'Could we now make a coughing break. Please feel free to cough,' and I just walked off. I was told by friends that this person got very red and left the hall, and after five minutes I came out and started again, and all went beautifully." The Telegraph (UK) 01/14/03
Posted: 01/14/2003 12:24 am
Big Jazz Bands Meet In Toronto "Running a big band in a world with no patience for jazz requires an odd combination of benevolence and ego. To survive the economics of dividing jazz's subsistence wages among 15 or more musicians, you have to really love music at the same time you have to be convinced the world needs to hear your tunes..." National Post 01/13/03
Posted: 01/14/2003 12:15 am
Death Of HipHop? I Don't Think So... HipHop is 30 years old. But to read many critics, you'd think it was on life-support, if not already measured for the coffin. Hmph! "For music critics, the only assignment greater than proclaiming the arrival of something new and great is announcing the death of a once sacred cow. But, in this case, it is both lazy and, more importantly, wrong." National Post 01/13/03
Posted: 01/14/2003 12:11 am
If You Want To Win A Grammy The First Step Is Yours Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams, the songwriting and producing team known around the world as the Neptunes, were considered shoo-ins for a Grammy nomination for producer of the year, non-Classical category. But when the nominations were announced, industry insders were shocked their names were not on the list. What happened? They forgot to enter... The New York Times 01/14/03
Posted: 01/13/2003 11:14 pm
Why Women In The Vienna Phil Matter The Vienna Philharmonic has admitted its first woman musician as a member. American musicologist explains why it's important to protest the orchestra until its policies about admitting women improve. "There has never been a more important time for all people to realize that chauvinism is a bottomless pit of hatred, violence and death. Every time we protest violence against human dignity, whether physical or cultural, we help make the world a better and more peaceful place for everyone." MSNBC 01/13/03
Posted: 01/13/2003 6:39 pm
- Previously: Vienna Philharmonic Hires Its First Woman Player The Vienna Philharmonic has hired its first-ever female member, after decades of refusing. "Ursula Plaichinger, a 27-year-old viola player, has caused a sensation in artistic circles by appearing unannounced at the 158-year-old Philharmonic's traditional new year's concert in Vienna. The performance was seen by millions around the world and a recording has already sold out in Austria." The Guardian (UK) 01/10/03
Big Arts Cuts In California May Shutter Some Arts Groups California state budget cuts will mean a 50% drop in grants to arts groups statewide, from $16.4 million to about $8 million. Although the state arts agency budget is a "relatively modest item among the $20.7 billion in cuts proposed by Davis for 2003-04, the effects, would be dramatic among nonprofits that have already seen donations falter from foundations, corporations and individuals. 'People will have to close their doors. Artists will lose their jobs'." Los Angeles Times 01/14/03
Posted: 01/14/2003 10:18 am
Britain To Review Censorship Laws The British government is undertaking a review of the country's censorship laws. "It's very hard to escape the concern that violent videos, violent films, violent music, violent games do influence some of the more impressionable minds. I think there's a case for reviewing whether we should regulate more rigorously. There's certainly a coarsening of attitudes." The Telegraph (UK) 01/14/03
Posted: 01/14/2003 12:30 am
Tracking Down Those Arts Stats...(I Know There's Something Real There Somewhere) So - more people attend theatre in Los Angeles than buy tickets for professional sports. It's the kind of statistic that gets tossed around by those wanting to prove the relevance of an artform in the larger culture. But is it true? A LA Times reporter tracks down the truth. The real statistic isn't really about theatre. And it's an old one. Still, it originated from an actual study... Los Angeles Times 01/13/03
Posted: 01/13/2003 5:42 pm
Nobel-Winner Mahfouz In Egyptian Hospital Naguib Mahfouz, 91, the first writer in Arabic to win the Nobel prize for literature, is in intensive care in a Cairo hospital. "We took him to hospital with a heavy flu which made his breathing difficult and he was admitted as an emergency to the resuscitation unit. His memory has been a little disturbed by the fever, [but] thank God, he is doing better." BBC 01/13/03
Posted: 01/13/2003 10:06 pm
State Of The Book Biz - Circa 2002 What sold? Familiar names..."John Grisham, James Patterson, Danielle Steel, Stephen King and Mary Higgins Clark had a total of 15 books on last year's hardcover fiction charts; that's 16.6% of all available slots in the course of the year." The five biggest publishers accounted for 77 percent of all books on the Bestseller lists... Publishers Weekly 01/13/03
Posted: 01/14/2003 12:58 am
National Book Critics Circle Awards Nominations This year's shortlist for the National Book Critics Circle Awards is announced. "Reversing the usual trend, the critics' picks were better known than the National Book Awards, which are voted by fellow writers and were awarded in November." The New York Times 01/14/03
Posted: 01/13/2003 11:18 pm
Big Tech And Big Movie/Music Strike Deal Technology companies and the entertainment industry have been fighting over whether laws ought to be enacted preventing requiring anti-copying hardware in machines. Now leaders of the two industries have made a deal. "Lobbyists for some of the nation's largest technology companies will argue under the new agreement against efforts in Congress to amend U.S. laws to broaden the rights of consumers, such as explicitly permitting viewers to make backup copies of DVDs for personal use or copy songs onto handheld listening devices. In return tech companies - Microsoft, Intel, Dell, etc - will actively campaign against digital piracy. Dallas Morning News (AP) 01/14/03
Posted: 01/14/2003 8:00 am
PBS Sanitizes Language For "Gin Game" Broadcast "The Gin Game", D.L. Coburn's 1978 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, has some salty language. But really - compared to your average movie these days, it's rather tame. But "in a bow to any skittish affiliates, PBS plans to provide alternate editions of the production: original as well as one that deletes some of the swear words uttered." Chicago Tribune 01/14/03
Posted: 01/14/2003 7:40 am
A Matter Of Rights - Why Movies Aren't Online Even if they wanted to put movies online, movie studios aren't able to, and it's not likely to happen for a long time. Why? "Clearing rights to movies is the biggest single hurdle to Internet video on demand today. The studios would like to give us more, but can't clear the titles. There are strange clauses attached to almost every film because the Internet either wasn't contemplated or the contracts were loosely worded." CNet 01/13/03
Posted: 01/14/2003 12:46 am
Vying For Your Attention: Talking Movie Posters "Selling films threatens to become even more direct and personal with the interactive poster. An American company, Thinking Pictures, is developing posters that interact with patrons as they walk past. They would even match their taste in films, registered on smart cards in return for discounts, with trailers and screening times." Sydney Morning Herald 01/14/03
Posted: 01/14/2003 12:00 am
Adfotainment - Did You Not Expect It Would Come To This? As consumers are increasingly finding ways to rocket past commercials, TV "advertisers are demanding to have their products and brands integrated into shows, to be part of successful entertainment rather than just to sit disconnected alongside it." Major networks are happy to oblige. "They approach the advertisers just as often as they are approached." Sydney Morning Herald 01/14/03
Posted: 01/13/2003 11:56 pm
- Previously: TV Programming As Ads (Or Is It The Other Way Around?) So viewers are skipping TV ads with their Tivos? Okay, let's just do away with the pretense that programming is anything more than filler between commercials. The WB network is planning a new show in which the ads will be built right into the show itself - product placement on steroids... Los Angeles Times 01/11/03
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