The Downfall Of MTV "MTV has always pursued teenagers; what has changed is the sort of teenagers it is chasing, and what ideal of cool it established to court them. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the network tried to convert its viewers, suggesting to hungry-for-hipness suburban teens that there was something out there cooler and more compelling than their own high school melodramas. The gospel has since changed. What MTV is selling its teen audience now (with "Sorority Life," "Fraternity Life," "Spring Break: Cancun," a more juvenile "Real World") is a bland vision of the immediate future in which the first years of college look pretty much like high school, but without parents or homework. The focus is on having fun, not being challenged by new or different experiences." Washington Monthly 12/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 6:06 pm
Greek Parliament Considering Parthenon Museum Approval The Greek parliament is considering a bill that would legalize construction of a new museum at the Parthenon. Backers of the museum are trying to build the 50-million-euro museum to try to pressure the British Museum into returning the fifth-century-BC Elgin, or Parthenon, Marbles before the 2004 Olympics. "But critics who argue that important ancient ruins found on the museum plot will be destroyed during construction have successfully challenged parts of the project before the Council of State." Kathimerini (Greece) 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 10:25 pm
Ivan and Dinos and Jake Bat About Conceptual Art Ivan Massow and the Chapman brothers debate conceptual art. But the exchange gets off to a rocky start, with the Chapmans firing back a dismissive shot: "We must apologise for agreeing to collaborate in a discussion on the merits and downfalls of modern art, since we now find ourselves forced to decline further participation. The first point of contact with Mr Massow has baffled us with so many negatives that any productive exchange seems doomed..." The Guardian (UK) 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 9:55 pm
This Rubens Is Mediocre? Hmphhh! It's easy to disparage great art, comparing it to other works. That's not a reason not to collect it though, writes James Fenton. "Don't imagine, when you read that some declared expert has spoken out rather forcefully against this Rubens or that Raphael, that this is the first time in history that this daft game of disparagement has been played. Whenever a strong claim is made on behalf of a work of art, there are plenty of dim individuals (inside and outside the art world) who are simply provoked into opposition - offended that something should be admired when they have had no say in the matter." The Guardian (UK) 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 9:20 pm
Toronto's Fly-In Art - Where Are The Canadians? The expansion of Toronto's airport has generated some major new public art by some of the biggest names in contemporary sculpture. But. "Costing approximately $30-million, less than 1 per cent of the total budget, it will no doubt still be perceived as wild extravagance in a country where the idea of tourism promotion through the arts is still a weakly flickering light bulb. But the controversy should not be about the money; it should be about the heavy emphasis on non-Canadian artists." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 8:38 pm
WTC Memorial - The Impossible Dream Everyone want the memorial at the World Trade Center site to be special, writes Martin C. Pedersen. "Unfortunately, the more I studied the designs, the less promising I found them. None are fully realized. They all feel provisional, like ambitious first drafts. Still I am reluctant to condemn them, because the designers were handed a near-impossible brief." Metropolis 12/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 10:54 am
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From One Generation To The Next Some of the world's most distinguished artists gathered at Lincoln Center on November 10 to celebrate the completion of the inaugural year of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. www.rolexmentorprotege.com
Sweeney In The Opera House "The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has come to rank with Wozzeck and Peter Grimes in opera's catalogue of 20th-century tragic heroes," writes Rupert Christiansen. And thus "Sweeney Todd" comes to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. The dialogue is being miked...er, make that "reinforced." Why? Audiences are lazy today, says the production's conductor. "It's very destructive. I recognise that synthesizers are useful, but they eliminate instruments like the harp or guitar, and we've lost the possibilities of creating a deep string sound. It's a joy at Covent Garden to be playing Sweeney Todd with a 50-piece orchestra." The Telegraph (UK) 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 10:05 pm
This Whole Business Of Encores... "Many concert-goers would agree that there tend to be more bad encores than good. There's nothing worse than an indifferent encore after an indifferent concert, when all one wants is a stiff drink. There's a particular sort of heart-sinking moment when an overkeen recitalist settles back to their instrument, having taken only a single curtain call. The last gesture in a concert is as potent as the last sentence of a book: you take the atmosphere of it out into the world with you, and if the final encore is crass or inappropriate, it can undermine the whole of the rest of the concert." The Guardian (UK) 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 9:25 pm
La Fenice Rises Again After years of delays, Venice's La Fenice opera house, which was burned down eight years ago, has been rebuilt and reopened. "Standing amid the charred rubble on the morning of January 30 1996, the then mayor of Venice, Massimo Cacciari, pledged that La Fenice would be rebuilt "com'era, dov'era" (as it was, where it was). And, within the bounds of the possible and desirable, that is exactly what has been done." The Guardian (UK) 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 9:12 pm
- Why La Fenice Is So Beloved "A stunningly beautiful building La Fenice certainly is. Ingeniously wedged into a tiny space surrounded by canals just to the west of St Mark's square, it had only 814 seats, now 990 (compared with La Scala's or Covent Garden's 2,000). With its curves, its rococo decorations and its five levels of blue-and-gold boxes, galleries and its crystal lamps, it radiates a matchless theatrical warmth. But the reason the Venice opera house has a special place in the hearts of opera lovers is also the reason why it burned to the ground in January 1996." The Guardian (UK) 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 9:08 pm
The Skinny On MP3 Players MP3 players come in all sizes and shapes these days. "For some people, MP3 players represent the physical endgame of music collecting, where there's a vast stockpile of music at hand but no CD towers or groaning shelves of vinyl. In extreme cases, they also mark the end of an old reliable gift-giving strategy; what's the point of buying a CD for someone who snaffles all the tunes they want from the Web?" The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 8:47 pm
Minnesota Orchestra Posts $2/4 Million Deficit The Minnesota Orchestra posts a $2.4 million deficit, its fifth shortfall in five years. The orchestra says that this season it won't end up in the red. "We put together a budget that was balanced, and we believe in it." The Star-Tribune (Mpls) 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 7:28 pm
A Culture Gap Between Europe And The US Is there a growing gap between the cultures of Europe and America? A group of five European and American writers get together to agree that there is. But as for how the gap is defined and what its causes are... The New York Times 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 10:19 pm
Frayling Named Arts Council England Head Art historian Sir Christopher Frayling has been named as the new head of Arts Council England. Sir Christopher has been rector of the Royal College of Art since 1996. BBC 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 8:21 pm
The Awards Biz After the end of the year, the awards season begins in earnest. A documentary reports that there are "565 show-biz awards competitions each year, of which 100 are televised. That's better than one broadcast every four days." Why so many? The awards "mainly reflects outstanding achievement by the industry in ginning up ever more shows for viewers to watch - and thus ever more outlets for promoting entertainment product to the public." Boston Globe (AP) 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 8:07 pm
Two Glitzy London Theatres Get A Redo "If you want plush, if you want opulence, if you want to revel in the theatrical experience, then this winter you are in for a treat with the rebirth of two of London's finest Edwardian theatres, the Hackney Empire and the Coliseum. Thanks to dollops of lottery cash and the generosity of private individuals these two masterpieces by that greatest of Edwardian theatre designers, Frank Matcham, should open on January 28 and February 7 respectively." But what about London's other theatres? The Telegraph (UK) 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 10:01 pm
Canadian Theatre's Color Problem There's a big problem "simmering beneath the surface of mainstream Canadian theatre," writes Kate Taylor. "In a country that is increasingly racially diverse, the on-stage faces continue to remain almost exclusively white." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 8:50 pm
Which Dictionary Is Best? YiLing Chen-Josephson wonders which dictionary is best, and designs a test. "I restricted my testing to seven of the relatively affordable and frequently updated college dictionaries (the type of dictionary used not only in the most dormitory rooms but in the most homes and offices as well). To determine my rankings, I looked up seven times over words that I knew but wanted to understand better (like regret, jealous, and overdetermined); words with disputed usages (including aggravate, disinterested, fortuitous); words with potentially interesting etymologies (e.g., chauvinism, juggernaut, lagniappe); neologisms and slang (e.g., blogger, booty, yay); anything friends had looked up recently (e.g., Panglossian, condominium, alembic); as well as the words I didn't know in the last book I read, J.M. Coetzee's Elizabeth Costello." Slate 12/04/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 10:44 pm
Plundered Book Ring Broken Up A sophisticated book-stealing ring in Edinburgh has been busted. The kingpin of the operation had accomplices steal the books, and he removed anti-theft identifiers before selling them at a discount to retail prices. "Undercover police kept watch as he took regular deliveries from thieves targeting W H Smith, Waterstones and other outlets, said Marc Gadsden, prosecuting. He was so successful that in just eight months he made an estimated £240,000, the barrister alleged." The Scotsman 12/04/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 10:48 am
Judge Strikes Down Screener Ban A federal judge has overturned a ban on independent producers sending out screener DVDs to awards judges. The Motion Picture Association of America had instituted the ban as a way to cut down piracy. But the judge ruled that: "the screener ban will significantly harm independent films, thereby reducing the competition these films pose to major studio releases." Chicago Sun-Times (AP) 12/06/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 8:16 pm
NYU To Film Student: No Porno This fall a New York University student proposed making a film in which there would be pornography. University officials have forbidden her to and say they would "issue a written policy requiring student films and videos to follow the ratings guidelines of the Motion Picture Association of America, with nothing racier than R-rated fare allowed." Is this a threat to academic freedom? The New York Times 12/04/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 6:38 pm
Oregon's Balanchine Shift Oregon Ballet Theatre is fast being made over into a Balanchine company. "For OBT, long known as a haven for contemporary pop ballets, it's a radical shift. And Christopher Stowell, the company's first-year artistic director, is doing the shifting." The Oregonian 12/05/03
Posted: 12/06/2003 12:51 pm
