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Friday, January 31




Ideas

The Brain's Last Stand? "Far from being a step towards machine intelligence, as theorists had hoped in the 1950s, building a world-class chess computer has proved to be surprisingly easy, thanks to the plummeting price and soaring power of computer chips. Rather than emulating the complex thought-processes of human players, computers simply resort to mindless number-crunching to decide what move to make. Throw enough microchips at the problem—Deep Blue contained hundreds of specialist chess-analysis chips—and it does indeed become trivial. Quantity, as Gary Kasparov noted after his defeat, had become quality. He demanded a rematch, but IBM said no." Now he's getting another chance. The Economist 01/31/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 10:50 pm

Visual Arts

Corporate Donor Names In At Smithsonian The Smithsonian Museum has told Congress that it will stick to plans to rename its Imax auditorium after a large corporate donor. "Critics saw the move as one more step in the commercialization of the Smithsonian. Members of the House Appropriations Committee asked Smithsonian officials to reconsider the change," but the Smithsonian says it won't. Washington Post 01/31/03
Posted: 01/31/2003 9:09 am

Famous And They Make Art A surprising number of pop artists have also pursued second careers in visual art. "David Bowie, Ray Davies of the Kinks, and the late Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia all pursued art before music. Joni Mitchell illustrates many of her album covers with Van Gogh-influenced self-portraits. The phenomenon is hardly limited to rockers. Crooner Tony Bennett has a second career as an artist. Jazz great Miles Davis began expressing himself visually late in life, but generated a compelling body of work." Christian Science Monitor 01/31/03
Posted: 01/31/2003 7:16 am

Foster's Plan For WTC Dead? Norman Foster's plans for the World Trade Center site have been all but rejected. "A team of architects rejected his proposal of two crystalline towers because they felt it would not be practical to construct or find tenants to fill. The architects' recommendation will go to the panel which will make the final decision next week." The Guardian (UK) 01/31/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 9:18 pm

Liverpool Nominated For World Heritage Liverpool's historic waterfront has been nominated to be a Unesco World Heritage Site. "Liverpool's historic buildings are a proud reminder that this was a hugely important maritime and mercantile city on the world stage." The nomination is also thought to boost the city's chances to be chosen as the European Capital of Culture in 2008. The Guardian (UK) 01/31/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 9:11 pm

The Rembrandt Behind The Paint Researchers have discovered a Rembrandt self-portrait that was altered by an assistant 300 years ago. "The original portrait from 1634, painted when Rembrandt was 28, was later painted over, apparently by a student in Rembrandt's studio. The student added earrings, a goatee, shoulder-length hair and a velvet cap to make it appear to be a Russian aristocrat. The restored portrait shows the Dutch master with medium-length curly hair, a slightly upturned mustache and a beret. In it, Rembrandt's portrait has the familiar round chin and gentle eyes of many other self studies." Nando Times (AP) 01/30/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 3:58 pm

Chicago Art Institute Cancels Nazi Loot Show The Art Institute of Chicago has canceled a show on ths history of Nazi art looting. Why? "We had hoped to present the topic in a way that would be informative and beneficial to the public, but we realized that if we couldn't do it properly, given the importance of the subject, we should not proceed." Nando Times (AP) 01/30/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 3:51 pm

Music

Reinventing The Viola (And Isn't It About Time?) An instrument that resembles a Dalí-inspired melted viola is causing such excitement that there is a two-year waiting-list. Although the body is spruce and maple, the traditional ebony fingerboard is replaced by Formica to give it a lighter weight. Its eccentric shape also reduces the strain of arm and wrist stretching. The instrument, whose $12,000 (£7,300) cost is comparable to that of a normal viola, was made in America, at the Oregon workshop of David Rivinus. 'The only thing sacrificed is visual symmetry. Does the shape change do anything to the sound? No'.” The Times (UK) 01/31/03
Posted: 01/31/2003 7:28 am

Judge Rules For Metropolitan Opera In Labor Dispute A federal judge has ruled for the Met Opera in a dispute with the uniuon that represents the opera company's restaurant workers. The judge said that "the union and its lawyers had victimized the Met through bad faith, willful misconduct, lying and withholding evidence." The New York Times 01/31/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 10:23 pm

Pakistani Police Hassle Musicians Pakistani musicians near the Afghanistan border say police are harrassing musicians. "Several artists in Peshawar, North West Frontier Province, said they have been arrested and treated unfairly by police on the request of hardline Islamic parties. They claim it is part of a move to crack down on the arts by a six-party alliance of religious parties." BBC 01/30/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 5:14 pm

Arts Issues

NEA's New Poet/Chairman Confirmed The National Endowment for the Arts finally has a new leader, after a year. Outspoken poet (they seem to be everywhere these days) Dana Gioia takes over in February after being unanimously confirmed for the job by the US Senate. "The NEA has been leaderless for too long. I am looking forward to a strong chairman who understands the values of artists, because he is one, and who understands the role of cultural policy, and above all who will invigorate the agency." Washington Post 01/31/03
Posted: 01/31/2003 8:53 am

British Culture Minister Says UK Should Be More Like Germany England's culture minister has written an article in a German newspaper saying England ought to be more like Germany when it comes to culture. "England has a great cultural tradition past and present. (But) perhaps in Britain we simply lack the passion of the Germans to debate culture. We shouldn't be so shy about talking about culture. British politicians should not be shy about giving culture a high priority in public debate. "Germany is one of the biggest cultural powers in Europe. Britain too. So I hope that the courage that Germany has proved itself to have in the debate about grasping cultural identity will also rub off to some extent on to your English cousins." The Telegraph (UK) 01/29/03
Posted: 01/31/2003 7:47 am

Gioia Confirmed As New NEA Head Poet Dana Gioia has been unanimously confirmed by the US Senate as the ninth Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. "Leading the National Endowment for the Arts is a great privilege and an enormous responsibility. Both the arts and arts education face many challenges at present, and the Endowment has much to do." NEA Press Release 01/29/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 2:20 pm

Theatre

Music - Isn't That Why They Call It "Live" Theatre? Broadway is having a debate about musicians. Can they be replaced with a "virtual" orchestra? "I believe 90% of the producers want live theatre. "I don't worry about them. I worry about the 10% that say, 'I look at the bottom line. Look at how much I can save.' I understand the bottom line. It's a commercial venture. But theatre is based on certain compacts with the audience. But what happens if you change that contract with the audience? I think if you ask anybody that comes to the theatre, 'Would you like to see a show with music on tape or supplied by a virtual orchestra, and pay the same price'- I guarantee that producers won't lower the musical's price - most people would say, 'I'd rather have a live orchestra.' " Backstage 01/31/03
Posted: 01/31/2003 7:53 am

Guthrie Still In The Hunt For New Theatre Minneapolis' Guthrie Theatre has revised plans for the $125 million new home it is trying to build. Whether it will be built is still in question. The Guthrie has only raised $63 million for the project so far, and has been unsuccessful prying money out of the state government. Governor Jesse Ventura vetoed a $24 million appropriation for the project last year. St. Paul Pioneer-Press 01/30/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 10:28 pm

Hytner Explains How To Run A Theatre Nicholas Hytner on his qualifications for running London's National Theatre: "Of course I've never run a theatre, but I've always felt a bit of an impresario. I'm a director who's whored around, kicked around for the right offer - and I'm not talking money. If an affair has looked exciting, I've leapt in. Some of my best times have been at the National, going back to the days when I worked here when Richard [Eyre] was director. It's a good stage of life to be working hard. I'm hungry enough and confident enough to take it on."
London Evening Standard 01/30/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 5:51 pm

Publishing

Those Pesky Poets Get Into More Trouble The White House "postponement" of a planned poetry event in February because of a planned protest by some of the invited poets is rousing lots of speculation. Some poets wanted to protest the war and resented the possible appearance of their support for war policies by their attendance. Plans to speak out againt a war with Iraq worried the White House and so the event was put off. Says one poet: "It tells you how little they understand poetry and poets, including the poets under discussion. It's a way to co-opt people, makes them look like they are interested in the arts without bothering to understand the arts." Boston Globe 01/31/03
Posted: 01/31/2003 8:20 am

  • Poetic Protest "Most of the invited poets are vocal opponents of the Bush administration, including [protest organizer and Copper Canyon Press founder] Sam Hamill, an award-winning poet and publisher with a long history of protesting against U.S. military aggression." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/31/03
    Posted: 01/31/2003 8:02 am

  • Former Poets Laureate Add To Protest Former American poet laureates Stanley Kunitz and Rita Dove characterized the decision to postpone the event as "an example of the Bush administration's hostility to dissenting or creative voices."
    Yahoo! (AP) 01/30/03
    Posted: 01/31/2003 8:01 am

Any Hope For The NYer Slushpile? Aspiring writers everywhere have submited fiction to The New Yorker in hopes of getting published. Indeed, the magazine gets some 4000 unsolicited manuscripts every month. So will submissions to the sluch pile have a shot at getting into the NYer under new fiction editor Deborah Treisman? "Someone who’s submitting themselves directly to the fiction editor probably isn’t all that savvy about publishing and probably not about writing either." Hmmmn...guess not. The Morning News 01/29/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 4:54 pm

Media

Companies Stepping Away From PBS Underwriting Exxon Mobil has spent $230 million in the past 30 years underwriting PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre". No more. "The company wants to target its messages in the environmental realms that more closely align with its businesses. It's a message public broadcasting executives are hearing frequently these days." Many companies "are saying they simply have no extra pocket change in the down economy for image messages - the only thing that public television's strict rules allow - that aren't directly tied to getting consumers to buy a product. That puts PBS, and local stations that air its programming, in an increasingly difficult situation." Los Angeles Times 01/31/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 6:06 pm

Aussie Movies Earned 5 Percent Of Aussie Boxoffice In 2002 The Australian Film Commission reports that Aussie films earned $41.8 million at the box office last year, representing 4.9 per cent of the total Australian movie market. "The figure is down on both 2001 and 2000 figures, which came in at $63.4 million (7.8 per cent) and $54.2 million (7.9 per cent) respectively." The Age (Melbourne) 01/30/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 5:26 pm

Gross Is Fine - Just No Stealing Paintings As reality TV shows get grosser and more extreme, is there any idea the networks won't go for? Apparently yes: "We had someone who wanted us to break into the Getty Museum and steal a painting,' says the creator of such shows as World's Funniest Hypnotist. Bad ideas like the Getty heist could give a black eye to the whole reality genre, he says, which he believes has a lot of quality entertainment life left in it." Christian Science Monitor 01/31/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 5:22 pm

Dance

Boston Ballet Makes Cuts Boston Ballet got great reviews, sold 600 more season tickets and posted a small surplus. But the company's longterm finances have been shaky, and so the company is cutting staff and canceling some performances at the end of this season. "We are not treating this as a one-time emergency. We're trying to look very closely at how we do business, how we can create greater efficiencies while enhancing our artistic quality." Boston Globe 01/31/03
Posted: 01/31/2003 7:03 am

Russian Dance Legend Dead "Natalya Dudinskaya, one of the last surviving legends of Soviet ballet, died aged 90 on Wednesday. No other dancer could compare to her lightning-fast cascades razor-edge precise steps. Her dancing technique was once labeled 'choreographic bel canto,' a reference to the classic Italian vocal school demonstrated at its best by singers such as Maria Callas." St. Petersburg Times (Russia) 01/31/03
Posted: 01/30/2003 5:56 pm


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