Getting Under The Hood Of Human Hardwiring Are personality, intelligence, gender, and the moral sense in the genes or are they the stuff of culture? A new book argues that "new sciences of human nature — combining cognitive science, neuroscience, genetics, and evolution—strongly suggest that our minds are partly 'hardwired' at birth. This hardwiring likely underlies many human universals—forms of behavior and mental structures shared by all peoples in all cultures, e.g., baby talk and incest avoidance. But it also seems likely that such hardwiring underlies some differences among people." New York Review Of Books 02/27/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 11:58 pm
Art Isn't For The Rest Of Us! What's all this about trying to get the masses interested in art? They only spoil it for those who actually care... "The row in front of me was occupied by a family — let’s call them the Odious-Halfwits — who spent the entire evening smooching, snogging, conducting and, literally, jumping up and down in their seats in time with the music. They behaved exactly as they would have done in their own home, making not the slightest concession to the fact that, as part of an audience, they were surrounded by thousands of people trying to concentrate on a masterpiece. The truth is that art, by its very nature, is not for the masses. The attempt to prove otherwise is self-destructive." The Times (UK) 02/14/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 8:43 pm
Cutbacks Cut Museum Hours To Five Hours/Month Museums everywhere are facing funding crunches. But none so bad perhaps, as Copenhagen's Royal Cast Museum, which holds "the world's second-largest collection of plaster casts, and a rich selection of works representing the past 3300 years of art history from ancient Egypt to the 19th century." The Royal Cast's problem is not how to get more visitors, but how to keep them away - funding cuts have shrunk the museum's hours to five a month - the "last Wednesday of every month between the hours of 10.00-15.00." Copenhagen Post 02/14/03
Posted: 02/14/2003 7:05 am
The Art Of Dating "Art museums across the country are beginning to realize that they are the hip new version of a lonely hearts club. Scrambling to fill the role they didn't know they had, they are increasingly open at night and making space for dining and dancing. In Seattle, all of the area's major museums are open till at least 8 p.m. on Thursdays, and nearly all are trying to enlarge their piece of the seeking-soul-mates market." Seattle Post-Intelligencer 02/14/03
Posted: 02/14/2003 5:33 am
Did Courtauld Take Cash For Paintings? That's The Charge The Getty Museum in LA gave London's Courtauld Institute $10 million towards its endowment. Then the Getty "asked the institute to lend it some of its world-class collection of old masters, Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings and sculptures." Some of the paintings are covered by a bequest that prohibits lending them outside of London, so the Courtauld applied to change the bequest. "The request has upset many leaders of the London art world." Some charghe that "the Courtauld was accepting cash for paintings. 'There has to be a connection between the two things'." The New York Times 02/14/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 11:43 pm
Officials Order Islamic-Themed Art Removed Officials in the English town of Walsall have ordered two artworks that reference Islamic themes to be removed from an exhibition. "The digitally manipulated images show a veiled Statue of Liberty clutching the Koran and the Houses of Parliament converted into a mosque. The authority issued a statement saying that, during a period of "heightened sensitivity", and following the events of September 11, the artworks could be viewed as "reinforcing controversy, fear and prejudice".
BBC 02/13/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 8:55 pm
Sotheby's/Christie's Class Action Settlement Deadline Approaching Believe you might be owed money from the settlement of the $512 million settlement of the Christie's/Sotheby's price-fixing suit? Time's running out to get in on the settlement... Chicago Clearing 02/13/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 7:10 pm
Barnes Collection Future Begins In Court Legal wrangling over the future of the Barnes Collection outside Philadelphia has begun. The foundation is trying to move to Philadelphia, but is being challenged by Lincoln University, which currently appoints board members to oversee the Barnes. The university wants to keep control of the board, and objects to the move. Tuesday a judge granted Lincoln full status in the case, denying the same to other parties that have interests in the Barnes. The Barnes says it will go bankrupt if it is not allowed to move. Philadelphia Inquirer 02/13/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 6:58 pm
Orchestra Expenses too High? Here's A Plan - Dump Your Musicians (Now What?) The Colorado Springs Orchestra, which hasn't performed since December because of a million-dollar debt (and a filing for bankruptcy in January) petitioned a court to void its musicians' contracts, arguing that "the contract put an untenable financial burden on the organization." A judge voided it Thursday, and so now what happens? Maybe not much - without a contract the orchestra has no musicians. Without musicians, it'd difficult to play concerts. The orchestra's future is getting cloudier... Denver Post 02/14/03
Posted: 02/14/2003 7:19 am
Where Are The New Protest Songs? "Over a million Americans have already taken to the streets to protest President Bush's insane war on Iraq, so there's clearly an audience for musical dissent. It's not like there's a lack of other pressing issues to write about, either, with our civil liberties getting rolled back in the name of preserving freedom, and Bush and John Ashcroft attempting to return America to the God-fearing values of the '50s — the 1650s, that is." LAWeekly 02/13/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 8:28 pm
The Case Of The Disappearing Diva Soprano Sumi Jo's reviews in Opera Australia's "Lucia" were good. She seemed happy, according to her New York agent. So why did she suddenly bolt from Australia before her final performance, without even telling the opera company's management? "The hotel staff told us about a change in her reservation; that's the first we heard of it. She didn't let us or her personal management know, but we gather she left for Rome on doctor's orders." The Age (Melbourne) 02/14/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 7:51 pm
Famous Clarinet Factory Destroyed In Fire One of the world's best clarinet factories went up in flames this week. "The dawn blaze at the Leblanc factory in La Couture Boussey, in the Normandy region of France, incinerated 1,400 clarinets, along with the entire stock of spare clarinet fingering keys. The French factory, which has 37 employees, was founded under the name Ets. D. Noblet in 1750 when the flourishing of instrumental music at the court of King Louis XV created a demand for musical instruments." Edmonton Sun (AP) 02/13/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 7:24 pm
Online Music Vendor Slashes Prices (Gotta Do Something To Get Customers) Downloading songs from pay services over the internet generally costs 99 cents or more. But though the sites have licenses to sell the music, and a way to get it to customers, there have been too few customers so far. So one of the services is slashing its prices to 49 centers per track. That's below cost, says the company - but you've got to get the customers somehow. Look for increasing competition in the next few months as more companies try to compete. Los Angeles Times 02/13/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 7:17 pm
The Song Of Love... "Why is starry-eyed romance so tied to music? Nothing touches people like a good love song. The love theme has been around from the birth of music in general. 'It's a timeless kind of a medium. It runs the gamut of emotion. There's always a little sadness hidden in a love song because it reminds people of something that might not last'. The most-recorded song of all time, after all, is the lovelorn ode, 'Yesterday,' by Paul McCartney, reports the Guinness Book of World Records." Christian Science Monitor 02/14/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 6:46 pm
An Arts Alternative Should anyone be surpriseed that popular culture holds such a firm grip on teenagers? It's all around. Unavoidable. A ten-year-old program in San Francisco offers kids an alternative - an art alternative. Art and Film for Teenagers "offers Bay Area teens Friday night art movie screenings; Saturday outings to galleries, museums and commercial films; group trips to the symphony, opera and ballet (often three or more times a week); dinner parties and picnics, and an opportunity for mingling with peers passionate about the arts - an antidote to adolescent isolation." San Francisco Chronicle 02/14/03
Posted: 02/14/2003 6:59 am
Re-Cast And Re-Bait "A look at the latest Broadway casts of 'The Producers,' 'Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune' and 'Oklahoma!' has confirmed one basic truth of the theater: if the chemistry of casting is an elusive and mysterious science, the alchemy of recasting is even more complicated. No matter how much electricity performers give off naturally, when you plug them into roles that don't fit, short-circuiting is to be expected." The New York Times 02/14/03
Posted: 02/14/2003 6:47 am
A Call For Self-Review The case of the New York Times Book Review running a review of a book by a reviewer who doesn't appear to have read the book prompts Alex Good to propose a solution. Since the regular reader of book review sections can be reasonably sure that some of the reviews are written without reading the books, "have authors write their own reviews. Sir Walter Scott did it. Poe and Whitman did it. And Anthony Burgess did it, prompting Gore Vidal to remark approvingly 'shouldn't there be at least one book review in all of England written by someone who had actually read the book'?" GoodReports 02/10/03
Posted: 02/14/2003 8:50 am
Reading Of Love... What are the ten most romantic books of all time? The Guardian's John Armstrong made a list... The Guardian (UK) 02/14/03
Posted: 02/14/2003 8:43 am
Where's Billy? Poet Laureate Speaks As poets have weighed in against or for an American war in Iraq, one voice has been conspicuously quiet - current poet laureate Billy Collins. So LA Times reporter Tim Rutten emailed Collins and asked. Collins replied: "I have tried to keep the West Wing and the East Wing of the White House as separate as possible because I support what Mrs. Bush has done for the causes of literacy and reading. But as this country is being pushed into a violent confrontation, I find it increasingly difficult to maintain that separation."
Los Angeles Times 02/12/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 8:22 pm
Online Competition Sinks Rand McNally Competition from online map services has helped sink the most prominent roadmap publisher. Rand McNally has filed for bankruptcy, hoping to reorganize in a way better able to compete with the online competition. The company was the first - in 1917 - to produce a road map using numbered highways. Yahoo! (AP) 02/13/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 8:15 pm
Navigating Iran's Perilous Film Industry Iranian films have found an appreciative audience internationally. But at home, the difficulties of making these distinctive movies is enormous. "In Iran, the subversive subtexts of these provocative films are rattling religious conservatives in government. Iran is poised on the cusp between religious extremism and political reform. Conservatives believe the imbedded politics of new-wave films directly challenge their power by giving voice to the swelling discontent within the country. Enraged by the negative international attention the films bring to Iran's drastic social and political policies, they are attempting to subvert the filmmakers." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 02/14/03
Posted: 02/14/2003 7:30 am
Proposal For Tax Breaks For Hollywood Spending A recent study estimates that movie and TV productions that have left the US to be shot in Canada have cost the US $10 billion in lost spending, as "studios seek to save cash by taking advantage of more generous tax regimes elsewhere." Now two California politicians have proposed tax breaks to help keep productions in the US. "If passed, the new law would offer a 25% wage tax credit to each employee on wages of up to $25,000." BBC 02/14/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 11:32 pm
Why So Serious? Oscar's Death Obsession Nominations for this year's Academy Awards are a sombre lot. "So what's new? Hasn't drama always relied on at least one killing, just to keep the action ticking along? Surely murder has been a staple of storytelling ever since Cain and Abel. But there is a difference with the movie crop of 2003. In film after film favoured by the academy this week, death is not just a useful plot pivot or even a narrative climax. It is a theme, a puzzle probed and examined from the movie's beginning to its end." The Age (Melbourne) 02/14/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 7:56 pm
San Jose Turns Down Ballet Company Emergency Funding Last week San Jose Silicon Valley Ballet said it might have to close if it didn't raise $1.2 million. So the company applied to the San Jose city council for emergency funding. In the meantime, the company raised the money from other sources, so despite pleas from the company's director that the city money was the "linchpin" to the company's fundraising efforts, the city council turned down the dance company's request for a $100,000 emergency grant. San Jose Mercury-News 02/13/03
Posted: 02/13/2003 11:51 pm
