Ideas Echoes Of Other Language "Is there such a phenomenon in poetry as a 'shadow language,' that is, a concealed or tacit foreign language which exerts a strong and sometimes fruitful pressure on the native tongue of a poet? In one sense, of course, the answer is an obvious yes. Much of traditional English poetry would have been the poorer without the pressure of, say, Latin or French." The New Criterion 04/03 Posted: 04/12/2003 8:40 pm Visual Arts Calls To Protect Iraqi Art "Concerned archaeologists urged United States military leaders to take more forceful steps to protect Iraqi's cultural treasures and to restore control of them to the local Department of Antiquities. For weeks before the war, archaeologists and other scholars had alerted military planners to the risks of combat, particularly postwar pillage of the country's antiquities. These include 10,000 sites of ruins with such resonating names as Babylon, Nineveh, Nimrud and Ur." The New York Times 04/13/03 Posted: 04/13/2003 8:48 am When Ideas Overwhelm Art Trickle-down festivalism, which is largely supported by institutions and foundations, is influencing artists and curators alike. It has generated a parallel art world inhabited foremost by curators who talk mostly to one another and look mostly at one another's shows, always focusing on the same coterie of artists. The prevailing artistic strategy is to emphasize topical subject matter — the urban infrastructure, globalization, cultural identity — while relying on all-but-exhausted international styles, like Post-Minimal installation or Conceptual Art. The prevailing curatorial strategy is a big, catch-all idea about the present condition of life on earth approached with multidisciplinary intent. A result is the repeated substitution of good intentions for good art, unmanageable agendas for focus and shows that, between the art, the labels and the catalogs, are largely talk. For the most part, the viewer is left with next to nothing, other than a depressing hollowness." The New York Times 04/13/03 Posted: 04/13/2003 8:27 am Looters Clean Out Iraqi Museum The Mosul Museum in Iraq has been looted. "The looters knew what they were looking for, and in less than 10 minutes had walked off with several million dollars worth of Parthian sculpture. "Iraq has a great history," said the museum's curator. "It's just been wrecked. I'm extremely angry. We used to have American and British tourists who visited this museum. I want to know whether the Americans accept this." The Guardian (UK) 04/12/03 Posted: 04/12/2003 8:17 pm Mona Lisa At 500 The Mona Lisa turns 500 this year. "Over the centuries, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa has been denounced as a femme fatale, celebrated as the paragon of womanhood, inspired three suicides, and survived a theft. Yet that serene smile staring at us behind bulletproof glass in Paris's Louvre museum remains mysterious." And yet, some of her mysteries have been solved... The Globe & Mail (Canada) 04/12/03 Posted: 04/12/2003 8:07 pm Music A New Music Label That Will Live On In Death This month CRI, the recording company that has championed new music through more than 900 releases, is shutting down. Time for laments. But New World Records will take over CRI's catalog and "digitize the master tapes of the complete CRI archive and keep each album available as a custom-made CD, burned to order and mailed to the buyer with the original liner notes. Not only that, New World is exploring the possibility of making CRI recordings available through digital downloads, as that technology becomes more viable. So what seems a simple act of one nonprofit's salvaging another's catalog could represent a bold step into the online future of recording." The New York Times 04/13/03 Posted: 04/13/2003 8:40 am Apple Computer In Talks To Buy World's Largest Recording Company Is Apple CEO Steve Jobs about to become the most powerful man in the recording business? "Apple Computer Inc. is in talks with Vivendi Universal to buy Universal Music Group, the world's largest record company, for as much as $6 billion, sources said. Such a seemingly unlikely combination would instantly make technology guru Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder and chief executive, the most powerful player in the record industry." Los Angeles Times 04/11/03 Posted: 04/12/2003 8:00 pm Australian Recording Industry Institutes Ratings System The Australian recording industry has decided to initiate a ratings system that will restrict sales of some recordings to adults. "The industry's ruling body, ARIA, last week announced that its new system will prohibit the sale of CDs and tapes containing potentially offensive lyrics or themes to under-18s. Calls for stricter classification have followed complaints about US death-metal outfit Cannibal Corpse. Over the top to the point of absurdity, their lyrics are all but indecipherable, the vocals sounding like the Cookie Monster in a sink." The Age (Melbourne) 04/11/03 Posted: 04/12/2003 7:39 pm Arts Issues US States Sharpen Their Arts Budget Cuts Across America, states are considering drastically reducing or eliminating arts funding. "State arts funding plunged from $410 million two years ago to around $350 million in 2002-03, and this year looks to be worse. But the proposed cuts have a long way to go before they become law, and by the time they are approved in early summer, reductions may be significantly less severe. In fact, some believe the dramatic announcements are calculated to shock the arts community into accepting more modest cutbacks." But it's not all a bluff... The Art Newspaper 04/11/03 Posted: 04/12/2003 8:04 pm Florida Arts Facing State Budget Axe No matter whether the Florida senate, house or governor wins out, Florida's arts groups will see drastic reductions in the state's arts budget. Proposals range from a 50 percent cut to cancelling out funding altogether. Arts officials are outraged: "People use the state money to leverage for other grants and local contributions. I see this as a panic reaction to Florida's economy at the moment. Obviously, we find this hurtful. It doesn't pay attention to how many dollars arts groups circulate in the community. This just makes a tough job harder." Tampa Tribune 04/12/03 Posted: 04/12/2003 7:45 pm Theatre Your Show Of Shows - Does Anybody Care? "All along the Broadway are shows about the miracle of shows, from "The Producers" (about a pair of feckless producers) to '42nd Street' (about some gutsy dancers), to the current revival of the classic musical 'Gypsy' (about vaudeville, stage mothers and the historical efficacy of gimmicks). While 'Cabaret' and 'Chicago' aren't specifically about Broadway, they both celebrate the seedy glamour of song and dance. All this self-awareness does raise the question of whether the audience, a good percentage of which probably consists of tourists, are as entranced by show themes as show people are." The New York Times 04/13/03 Posted: 04/13/2003 8:17 am Publishing Wordy-gig - The New "Shorter" OED Some 3,500 new words have found their ways into the new Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. "Browsing in their latest verbal treasurehouse is not only a welcome escape. At around seven pounds a volume, it's also good for those pecs." And it's got great new words - like "newzak" for those burned out on the 24-hour news cycles... The Economist 04/11/03 Posted: 04/12/2003 8:32 pm For 22 Years She's Been Most-Borrowed Dame Catherine Cookson, who wrote more than 70 books and died in 1998, has been the 'most borrowed author' for 22 years in British libraries. In 1988 a survey found her books accounted for a third of all British library borrowings." But her grip on the fiction hearts of Britons is waning - this past year, her books were checked out fewer than 3 million times for the first time. The Guardian (UK) 04/12/03 Posted: 04/12/2003 8:20 pm Media Attacking Celebs For Their Political Views There has been an explosion of "web sites by Americans attacking and frequently urging boycotts against celebrities who are using their fame - and sometimes their own Web sites - to promote political causes. The anticeleb sites present a single-minded view of patriotism in which anyone challenging the U.S. administration or its foreign policy is anti-American or worse. Their names are as colourful and direct as the messages on them..." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 04/12/03 Posted: 04/12/2003 8:27 pm FCC Backing Away From Media Ownership Regulation? Michael Powell, head of the Federal Communications Commission, indicates that the FCC isn't interested in more regulation of ownership of media outlets. "The rapid concentration (of ownership) and consolidation has been both good and bad. ... Before 1996, radio was on its knees. Sixty percent of stations were not profitable and were in serious straits. A lot of radio stations survived and thrived because of the changes." Dergulation has resulted in major consolidation of ownership of radio stations in America. Poynter 04/11/03 Posted: 04/12/2003 7:55 pm Promoting By Word-Of-Email What's the biggest obstacle to getting an audience for your indie movie? Okay, getting it into theatres, of course. But how to promote it to potential fans? There's "a growing grass-roots movement to promote independent movies and niche projects, particularly those about ethnic groups largely overlooked by mainstream productions" through e-mail. "Community activists for years have used the Internet to promote niche projects, and that strategy is helping boost a trend toward underground marketing tactics to promote films. That is particularly attractive to independent filmmakers with limited budgets." Los Angeles Times 04/11/03 Posted: 04/12/2003 7:51 pm Dance The Appeal Of Smaller Bites "Some small and medium-size American troupes may be on to something artistically important. Without feeling it necessary to confine themselves to a standard repertory or to tailor all productions to opera-house proportions, they can present a rich mixture of one-act works, each a crowd pleaser in its own way." The New York Times 04/13/03 Posted: 04/13/2003 8:36 am Dance As A Crutch (Or Is It The Other Way Around?) Bill Shannon is a street and stage performer, sculptor and video artist, but he is widely recognized for his distinctive dance style. Known in the club-dance world as Crutchmaster, he uses his curved-bottomed crutches to extend his limbs in the way ballerinas use point shoes. The crutches enable him 'to streamline methods of weight distribution' and to make 'level changes from floor work to standing.' To describe what he calls the 'Shannon technique,' he uses terms taken from the worlds of skateboarding and the breakdancing of b-boys." The New York Times 04/13/03 Posted: 04/13/2003 8:31 am Pied Piper Of Tap Brenda Bufalino has spent her career trying to re-popularize tap dancing. "Now in her mid-60s, Bufalino is credited as a major force in the renaissance of tap worldwide. She has formed tap orchestras and tap festivals, and helped inspire a new generation of performers - such as the young black tap superstar Savion Glover. She still tours and performs worldwide, acting as a unique bridge between tap's 'golden era' and its contemporary development." The Age (Melbourne) 04/11/03 Posted: 04/12/2003 7:36 pm