Listen! Do You Smell Something? Nearly everyone has heard stories of how humans with one damaged sense (e.g. hearing or sight) often experience heightened sensitivity in other areas. Now, a new study suggests that the theory of sensory trade-offs may hold true for the evolution of species as well. For instance, primates (including humans) have a highly developed visual sense, but the ability to see all the colors of the rainbow may have come at the expense of, say, a superior sense of smell. DiscoveryNews.com 01/24/04
Posted: 01/27/2004 9:39 pm
Did Politics Kill SFMOMA's Party? The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has abruptly cancelled its annual $1000-per-ticket Valentine Ball fundraiser, stunning many area arts patrons who had already bought tickets. The ball, which would have been 28 years old this year, was apparently the victim of financial considerations, with museum officials saying that the event would not have raised enough money to be worthwhile. But "at SFMOMA, where the loyalties of key donors are divided and squabbles among trustees are not uncommon, some patrons privately question whether there is more to the story. Word is that those involved with the preparations knew months ago that the party was seriously underfunded and should have been canceled then." San Francisco Chronicle 01/28/04
Posted: 01/28/2004 6:53 am
Nothing's Ever Easy At AGO When your museum is unveiling a major expansion plan with Frank Gehry at the controls, it is supposed to be an unabashedly celebratory occasion. But for the Art Gallery of Ontario, today's news conference will be a decidedly mixed bag of architectural grandeur and political damage control. The Gehry design will doubtless wow the critics with "a spectacular multi-story tower extending the AGO into Grange Park on its south side and bringing the park visually into the gallery." But questions about the AGO's decision to completely scrap its last expansion plan, as well as charges that the gallery is unilaterally pulling out of a 1989 agreement that it would never again expand, are sure to overshadow the proceedings. Toronto Star 01/28/04
Posted: 01/28/2004 6:25 am
- When Is A Museum Really Done? No one should expect that the Art Gallery of Ontario's near-constant metamorphosing will come to an end with the realization of Frank Gehry's vision. "The Toronto gallery has been a work in progress for most of its 104 years, and it likely will continue to be," says James Adams. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/28/04
Posted: 01/28/2004 6:21 am
Looking For History In A Single Photo "A horrific photograph of an execution in eastern Europe during the second world war can be seen in Holocaust archives and museums around the world. But who are the killers, who are the victims, who took it - and why?" The date and location given for the photo are misleading, for there were supposedly no Jews left in the identified town at the time, and in fact, no historian has been able to positively identify the victims as Jews, or their tormentors as Nazis. One researcher has devoted years to finding the answers, and all she has discovered is that the Holocaust remains simultaneously one of the most well-documented and murkiest events in human history. The Guardian (UK) 01/27/04
Posted: 01/27/2004 10:10 pm
Maybe It's Time To Start Searching Toronto Frat Houses The stolen ivory miniatures stolen from the Art Gallery of Ontario ten days ago are now the subject of an international police alert, and the company which insures them is offering 10% of their considerable value in return for information leading to their recovery. The ivories were on loan to the AGO from UK publishing magnate Lord Thomson, who is one of the wealthiest private art collectors in the world. Investigators now believe that the theft may not have been a professional job, but "a student prank which went too far." The Guardian (UK) 01/28/04
Posted: 01/27/2004 10:03 pm
- Previously: On The Trail Of Stolen Ivories (Not So Glamorous) What will become of the le Marchand ivory cameos stolen last week from the Art Gallery of Ontario? "The image of big illicit business in freshly harvested antiquities, theft to order, the encouragement of site looting for profit, and money laundering is today mainly restricted to the pages of improbable detective novels." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/21/04
Because Arms And Legs Can't Sing, Anyway When bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff takes the stage at Lincoln Center tonight for a live national television broadcast with the New York Philharmonic, his appearance will be the first thing most viewers will notice, and yet, the announcer will offer not a single word of explanation. Quasthoff, a thalidomide baby, has vestigial arms and stunted legs, and there was a time in his career when he was willing, even eager, to discuss it. But these days, having long since established himself as a top vocalist, he prefers to let his music speak for itself, even if it sends a few thousand TV viewers scrambling for their search engines to dig up his story. The New York Times 01/28/04
Posted: 01/28/2004 6:40 am
Well, The New York Giants Play In Jersey... The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra has a beautiful new concert hall, which features state of the art acoustics, 2,000 "vineyard-style" seats, and a built-in connection to public transit. One caveat: the hall isn't actually in Tokyo, but in Kawazaki City, a suburb across the Tama River from Tokyo. The TSO will not, of course, be changing its name to match its new digs. Japan Times 01/28/04
Posted: 01/28/2004 6:01 am
New Life For Melbourne's 'Second' Symphony The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is not the only orchestra in Australia's second-largest city, but it very nearly was. Orchestra Victoria, a smaller ensemble which plays in the pit for local ballet and opera companies, and has struggled mightily in recent years, was at risk of folding or being swallowed up by the MSO when its supporters decided to try a new direction in order to save the ensemble. The result is something almost unheard of in the professional music world: an orchestra which performs free concerts, backed by local civic and charitable organizations, and which brings music to its audience, rather than expecting the audience to come to them. The Age (Melbourne) 01/28/04
Posted: 01/28/2004 5:54 am
Coliseum To Reopen, But Is It Enough? The re-opening of the London Coliseum following a 4-year, £41 million renovation will take place at the end of February, and despite some last-minute technical glitches, "advance word is that the project will prove a big success, restoring the original kitschy splendours of Frank Matcham's 1904 architecture." But Rupert Christiansen writes that even the most successful renovation imaginable will not make the Coliseum a truly great opera house, and London has yet to make good on any of the plans devised over the years to erect one. Still, new opera houses are a tough sell with the public these days, so the Coliseum may be as good as Londoners are ever going to get. The Telegraph (UK) 01/28/04
Posted: 01/27/2004 10:32 pm
It All Depends On How You Define 'Bad' "Exactly how bad a year did the music industry have in 2003? It depends who's asking. According to Nielsen Soundscan, American labels sold 687 million units (including 19.2 million paid downloads) last year—a drop of less than 1 percent from 2002. A widely cited survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project suggests that file sharing has plummeted since the Recording Industry Association of America started threatening traders with lawsuits... Of course, it may be more correct to say that half as many Internet users are willing to tell a pollster that they download music—these days, the first rule of File Club is you do not talk about File Club." Village Voice 01/28/04
Posted: 01/27/2004 9:25 pm
How America Is Missing The Point As new technology continues to make the sharing of information ever simpler and ever faster, many countries around the world are actively seeking out the best ways to make use of the new tools, and the newly available information. But not in the U.S.: in fact, America is doing everything it can to stem the flow of information, putting in place dozens of new regulations designed to protect "intellectual property." It's a typically American idea to think that we can engage the world on our terms alone, bullying and regulating it into submission, says Thomas Goetz, and one that's been tried before. The trouble is, it doesn't work. Wired 01/28/04
Posted: 01/28/2004 5:38 am
The Crumbling Wall Of China Thanks to centuries of erosion, decades of tourism, and countless incidents of vandalism, the Great Wall of China is barely a third of its original impressive self. "It is the clearest indication yet that booming China is failing to use its new wealth to conserve what ought to be a source of national pride. Renovations that have been carried out have ended with clumsy exploitation, such as at Badaling, where tourists can ride toboggans and cable cars, eat at a KFC outlet and have their picture taken with camels and life-size cutouts of Mao Zedong." The Badaling section of the wall alone attracts more than 10 million visitors per year. The Guardian (UK) 01/27/04
Posted: 01/27/2004 9:58 pm
Manhattan, You Can Stop That Snickering Anytime Now "In an effort to revitalize Staten Island and make it a cultural destination for all New Yorkers, the city has invested $8 million to develop and expand Staten Island's Snug Harbor Cultural Center (SHCC), an 83-acre complex that mixes art, music, and theatre... The infusion of cash -- half of the money has already been spent to restore the venerable, 750-seat Music Hall -- marks a major shift in the center's mission, vision, and purpose." Backstage 01/27/04
Posted: 01/27/2004 9:34 pm
Jack Paar, 85 "He was not the first host of The Tonight Show (Steve Allen), nor the longest running (Johnny Carson) or the edgiest comic (Jay Leno). But Jack Paar, who died at his Greenwich, Conn., home on Tuesday at 85, brought to his tenure at the helm of the NBC staple a uniquely urbane wit as well as a flamboyant and intelligent cultural breadth. He essentially invented the late-night talk show format, and he set a standard for the art of television conversation." Chicago Tribune 01/28/04
Posted: 01/28/2004 6:15 am
Big Payday For Scottish Arts "Arts projects in Scotland are to receive a £7.2m increase in funding for the next two years. The Edinburgh-based Scottish Arts Council has pledged to spend nearly £70m on projects. Most of the extra cash is going to The National Theatre of Scotland in Glasgow, which has been awarded £3.5m." BBC 01/28/04
Posted: 01/28/2004 5:48 am
Haddon Wins Whitbread Mark Haddon has won the 2004 Whitbread Prize for his best-selling novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which chronicles the life of an autistic teenager. Haddon had been considered the favorite among the authors on the shortlist, which also included DBC Pierre and Don Paterson. The Guardian (UK) 01/28/04
Posted: 01/28/2004 5:29 am
- A Book With No Demographic Mark Haddon is best known as a children's author, so it's no surprise that he would choose to write his first novel with a teenager as the central character. To hear Haddon tell it, in fact, he wasn't entirely sure, at first, whether he was writing for adults at all. Regardless, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has become a major hit with adults and teens alike, and a movie deal is already in the works. BBC 01/07/04
Posted: 01/28/2004 5:27 am
Suppose Allen Iverson Reads Much? England's Hesperus Press is filling an interesting niche in the publishing world, churning out short pieces of literature which have, for one reason or another, escaped notice in the ever-expanding book universe. Some of Hesperus's releases are minor works by major authors, and some are just stuff you've never heard of, which the editors thought you might find interesting. "Maybe we should think of Hesperus titles as the Allen Iversons of literary history, little folks bursting with talent and suddenly able to dominate when allowed to play." The Chronicle of Higher Education 01/23/04
Posted: 01/27/2004 9:29 pm
Thinking Ahead "The red carpet has yet to be unrolled for the Academy Awards next month, but studio executives are already thinking about next year. Taking cues from the Oscar nominations announced on Tuesday, the studios say they expect big changes in how they will market movies in the years to come. Most notably, the studios will be looking to tie their Oscar campaigns to the release of a DVD," a tactic which appears to have helped last summer's blockbuster, Seabiscuit, garner seven nominations for this year's ceremony. The New York Times 01/28/04
Posted: 01/28/2004 6:31 am
Scheduling Is Overrated "When Academy Awards officials announced in 2002 that the current Oscar season would be shortened by a month when the ceremony was shifted from late March to Feb. 29, there were concerns that smaller films, dependent on slow-building word of mouth, would suffer." But yesterday's Oscar announcement of this year's nominations should allay many of those fears, as art house favorites like Sofia Coppola's Lost In Translation led the pack, with big-budget, big-studio fare like Cold Mountain and The Last Samurai failing to garner the expected slew of nominations. Boston Globe 01/28/04
Posted: 01/28/2004 6:07 am
Would Carrot Top Qualify As Ironic? The long-standing lament of the British expatriate living in America is that Americans simply do not understand or appreciate irony in their humor. But with the decidedly ironic Britcom, The Office, having just walked away with two Golden Globe awards, is America finally starting to get the joke? The truth, says Jonathan Duffy, is that American comedy is full of irony, and has been for some time. What has taken Americans so long to catch on to British humor is not the ironic content, but the lack of traditional setups and punch lines. BBC 01/27/04
Posted: 01/27/2004 9:46 pm
The Uncertain Future of Flamenco Flamenco is many different things to different people. 'Classic' flamenco, "created by marginalised gypsies in rural Andalusia two or more centuries ago, and still sung in southern Spain by old-timers," is only peripherally related to the jazzy, pop-influenced dance craze which is even now enjoying a comeback all across Europe. Most of the youngsters dancing the night away to the latter are probably completely unaware of the former, and some purists are concerned that the gypsy history of the original flamenco may soon be lost. Financial Times 01/27/04
Posted: 01/27/2004 10:23 pm
