Taking It To The Streets - UK's Only Viable Youth Culture? "A new report, based on interviews with young people across Britain, suggests that more and more white youths now see black street culture as their only credible influence in the UK. And, what's more, the predominance of black culture has even led to the formation of a fledgling hybrid language - 'Blinglish'." The Guardian (UK) 02/22/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 10:44 pm
The Paralysis Of Choice "A few decades of research has made it clear that most people are terrible choosers—they don’t know what they want, and the prospect of deciding often causes not just jitters but something like anguish. The evidence is all around us, from restaurant-goers’ complaints that “the menu is too long” to Michael Jackson’s face. The phenomenon isn’t new..." The New Yorker 02/24/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 8:54 pm
US Mint Declares Snow Isn't Serious The US Mint has rejected depicting snow on the quarter to represent Minnesota. "According to the Mint, federal law bars 'any frivolous or inappropriate design.' It said that lawyers for the Treasury Department, where the Mint resides, decided in 2000 that a single snowflake didn't pass the frivolity test. But not until after the Mint had come up with its own large lacy snowflake" and proposed the idea to Vermont. The Star-Tribune (Mpls) 02/24/04
Posted: 02/24/2004 9:25 am
British Art In Iran The first exhition of British art to show in Iran in 25 years is opening. The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art exhibition includes works by many big names of UK art including Damien Hirst, Henry Moore and Gilbert and George. "They're very familiar to all this work - but in a second-hand way all from photographs and even from the internet." BBC 02/24/04
Posted: 02/24/2004 8:58 am
The Metropolitan's Big New Expansion The Metropolitan Museum is embarking on a $155 million project that will expand the museum's exhibition space. "The project, along the south end of the building, will expose the windows facing Central Park for the first time in 50 years. The remodeling is part of a 10-year-old plan aimed at using every inch of the museum's existing space in Central Park." The New York Times 02/24/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 11:42 pm
The Getty's Coveted Titain The Getty has "pulled off one of the most spectacular Old Master painting purchases in history. Titian's magnificent Portrait of Alfonso d'Avalos is now hanging in the Californian museum. Yet until recently the portrait was on show at the Louvre in Paris, which had hoped to add it to its permanent collection. The French museum, not renowned for letting important pictures slip through its fingers, had the opportunity to buy the Titian at a preferential rate but decided not to do so." The Getty paid $70 million, making the Titian the second-most expensive Old Master in history. The Telegraph (UK) 02/24/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 11:21 pm
A Photo Of Van Gogh? Is a photograph from 1886 really a portait of Vincent van Gogh, or is it "a simple case of mistaken identity?" Van Gogh painted more than 40 self-portraits but there are only two photographs in existence that are widely believed to be the artist - at the ages of 13 and 19. The latest discovery, bought for just $1 in the early 1990s in an antique dealer's shop, is the subject of a new exhibition that attempts to make the case for its authenticity." The Guardian (UK) 02/24/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 10:38 pm
College Art Association In Seattle Some 3000 art historians, students, artists and critics converge on Seattle for the annual meeting of the College Art Association. The Guerrilla Girls get an award, and people stand in line for hours in hopes of getting interviewed for jobs. Seattle Post-Intelligencer 02/24/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 10:00 pm
Scottish National Gallery Begins Search For New Director There are still two years to go before Sir Timothy Clifford leaves his post as director-general of the National Galleries of Scotland. But already a search is on for his successor... The Scotsman 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 9:29 pm
The Cachet Of Being A Costco Artist Costco has begun selling fine art in its stores and on its website. And the paintings are selling. "Previously, the company tried offering lower-priced art reproductions generated by computer, but it took them off the Web site because they did not sell. The art being sold is priced from $450 to $15,000, and averages $1,500."
The New York Times 02/22/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 9:20 pm
A Whitney Biennale Gallery Curious about who's been chosen for this year's Whitney Biennial? New York Magazine's got a gallery of work online by artists chosen for the biennale... New York Magazine 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 9:02 pm
Iraqi Museum Workers Come To US A group of Iraqi museum prefessionals will be coming to the US to study conservation and restoration techniques. "Scholars at the Smithsonian have been discussing for months how to assist their colleagues, especially those at the Iraq National Museum of Antiquities in Baghdad, which was ransacked after the fall of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship last April. 'The best way is through a practicum, where we can help establish practical methods of conservation, registration and preservation'." Washington Post 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 8:59 pm
In RoadTrip: A View Of Music Critics From Inside The Orchestra Sam Bergman on tour with the Minnesota Orchestra: We're getting more press on this tour than we ever have. But it reminds us how little relationship we have with critics when we're not on tour. "The upshot of this dumbing down of the arts press is that most orchestra musicians have little to no contact with their local cultural reporters, and the vast majority could probably not pick the critic who reviews their concerts out of a police lineup. Only maybe half of musicians bother to read the reviews, anyway, since so often, most papers will spare only a few paragraphs for such elitist claptrap, and even a well-constructed column is always in danger of being brutalized for space by some overzealous editor who has to make room for the latest installment of the five-part series on Janet Jackson’s Super Boob." RoadTrip (AJBlogs) 02/24/04
Posted: 02/24/2004 7:27 am
Betting On The ENO The English National Opera is about to move back into its newly renovated home. But the company has been plagued with problems in the past two years. And even getting back into its home has proven problematic. The New York Times 02/24/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 11:33 pm
Going Back To A Beethoven Piano Beethoven heard a different piano than the ones we use today. Now some Australians have turned back the clock. "The separation of sound quality between note textures is so significant on these old instruments, and it's something Steinway has tried to minimise. With the Stuart we are going back to the sound concept of the 17th and 18th centuries, when instruments were far more clearly transparent. We are dealing with the age of enlightenment. Nothing is hidden, everything is open. This instrument is sublimely suited for this repertoire. This is the sort of thing Beethoven would have wished to have had in his time." The Age (Melbourne) 02/24/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 10:22 pm
In The UK: Bribing Students To Take Math? There's been a big drop in students enrolling in math classes in UK and in the number of teachers to teach it. How to entice more into the math game? Maybe the government should make tuition for maths free. Or even pay students to take it up? The Guardian (UK) 02/24/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 10:31 pm
Keeping Cuba Out Of The USA "Over the past few months, the State Department has cracked down on Cuban visitors - specifically artists - seeking to enter the United States. Since November, every Cuban musician who applied for a visa — 151 in all — has been turned down, including the five Grammy nominees invited to the recent awards' ceremony. The State Department denies a specific policy against musicians, although officials appear to have raised the bar for performers who want to tour the United States." MSNBC 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 9:08 pm
A Critic's Place...(Hmnnn...) "Like it or not, and most critics don't, people turn to theater critics more for consumer advice than for wit, wisdom, perspective, or any of the other lofty reasons that are taught in Criticism 101. As time and money become more scrunched, readers are less interested in how Samuel Beckett may have influenced David Mamet or whether August Wilson ever read Eugene O'Neill than whether they should shell out up to a hundred bucks for a theater ticket." Boston Globe 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 8:12 pm
Springer Wins Olivier Jerry Springer, the Opera has won four Olivier Awards in London. "Based on Jerry Springer's notorious television talk show, the production has music by Richard Thomas (news) and book and lyrics by Thomas and Stewart Lee." Yahoo! (AP) 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 11:51 pm
Marathon Performance - Acting In Six Shows In One Night? Actress Jerry Hall is going to attempt to set a record for the most number of performances on London's West End in one night. She'll be appearing in at least half a dozen shows in a single evening. "The bid is part of One Amazing Week, a series of cultural events in London. The 47-year-old will have to dash across London's theatreland on foot and rickshaw to complete the feat." BBC 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 6:53 am
Harry Potter For Adults An 800-page novel about magicians looks to be a blockbuster. First0time writer Susanna Clarke has written "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which has already been sold to a dozen countries and attracted interest from Hollywood, looks set to make her a millionaire and has enabled her to quit the day job to become a full-time writer." The Guardian (UK) 02/22/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 11:10 pm
The Writer's Ego Revealed (Thanks To Amazon) Amazon's technical glitch that revealed the real names of reviewers on the website last week confirmed the behavior of ego-driven writers. "Those less inclined to fume about unethical behaviour point to the long history of literary fakery, which takes in everything from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to the Hitler Diaries. In the rabidly competitive and cliquey world of American publishing, they say, Amazon is not just a website that sells books - it is a well known battleground of the backbiting literati." The Guardian (UK) 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 10:50 pm
See What A Movie Sounds Like Hollywood filmmakers are beginning to make available prints of their films that are captioned for deaf people. "While the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 has dramatically increased captioning on television, it does not require movie captions. The reason is obvious: Unlike TV captions, they can't be turned off. The studios and theaters convinced Congress that captioning would reduce the overall audience for movies. Since then, there has been progress in developing a technology that provides captions to people at their seats." Hartford Courant 02/24/04
Posted: 02/24/2004 9:31 am
Canadian TV Drama - AWOL Two more Canadian TV dramas were cancelled last week, and Canadian drama production is getting to be AWOL on the TV schedule. "The crisis has spiked into a full-blown emergency. It's absolutely shameful that Canadian broadcasters can't support two long-running series that broadcasters admit Canadians were watching. Once again, Canadian audiences and creators have fallen victim to broadcasters' hunger for profits. I guess doubling their profits last year just wasn't good enough." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 02/24/04
Posted: 02/24/2004 9:17 am
Oscars Look For A "Clean" Broadcast You won't see anything like that Superbowl nastiness on this weekend's Oscars telecast. " 'We want the show to reflect not a stuffiness, but a dignity appropriate for film's highest honour. We want it to be a family affair that can be appreciated by the widest possible audience.' ABC is charging a record $1.5-million (U.S.) for a 30-second Oscar ad, and has been sold out since September. CBS took in $2.3-million for a half-minute of ad time on the Super Bowl." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 02/24/04
Posted: 02/24/2004 9:14 am
So Is That It For The Sitcom? Yes, yes, we've heard it all before - that the sitcom is an endangered species. But with ratings down, no new hits, and a few high-profile franchises ready to wind up, some are beginning to worry about the sitcom as a genre. "Hit sitcoms are so lucrative to studios, which sell reruns to local stations, that they help compensate for the expensive process of developing new shows. Moreover, television has suffered a paucity of smash comedies for several years as viewers drift away for unscripted fare such as "American Idol," "Survivor" and "The Apprentice." Chicago Tribune 02/24/04
Posted: 02/24/2004 8:00 am
NY City Ballet Invited Back To Saratoga The Saratoga Performing Arts Center recently canceled New York City Ballet's 36-year annual residency. Now Saratoga wants to invite the company back - but not until 2007. Saratoga reportedly "lost about $900,000 each of the last two seasons even with ticket income of about $1.25 million. The SPAC board had considered inviting the ballet back in the future even before voting to cancel its annual residency." Newsday (AP) 02/24/04
Posted: 02/24/2004 9:01 am
The Rehabilitation Of The Bolshoi The Bolshoi Ballet is one of the world's great, storied companies. But it has had some rough years since the collapse of the Soviet Union. "The current company is only emerging from years of internal crisis which ended in the firing of Yuri Grigorovitch who dominated everyone and everything for thirty years. It was also around this time that the Bolshoi lost several of its big stars, including Irek Mukhamedov, who joined the Royal Ballet in 1990. The great dancer Vladimir Vasiliev, better remembered for his interpretation of Spartacus than for reshaping the direction of the lacklustre troupe, took on a thankless task, to be replaced three years ago by the celebrated teacher, Boris Akimov." Culture Kiosque 02/24/04
Posted: 02/24/2004 7:23 am
A Perfect Order New York City Ballet's production of Sleeping Beauty is an example of the structures and hierarchies of classical ballet. "Classical ballet itself, in its training methodology and in the operation of the institutions that make it possible at its highest level of evolution, depends upon hierarchy—upon systematic development and the ordering of greater and lesser into a strong, self-confident whole. Today’s audiences finds the neophytes—the bevy of diminutive Garland Dance girls in their floppy pink skirts—irresistibly cute, and indeed they are. I just wish the same viewers would take a moment to think about what these very young children represent—how poignant their commitment to their goal is in a world that now scorns the restrictions necessary to hierarchal order, how fragile and unpredictable the artistic future of each child is, and how necessary they all are to the continuity of their art form." Seeing Things (AJBlogs) 02/23/04
Posted: 02/24/2004 12:06 am
