All In A Name "The “mutation rate” in names is higher for girls than for boys. Parents, in other words, are more liable to be inventive when choosing a name for a baby girl. The researchers have found that for every 10,000 daughters born in America there is an average of 2.3 new names. For sons, the figure is 1.6. One possibility is that in a society where family names are inherited patrilineally, parents feel constrained by tradition when it comes to choosing first names for their sons. As a result, boys often end up with the names of their ancestors. But when those same parents come to choose names for their daughters, they feel less constrained and more able to choose based on style and beauty." The Economist 05/22/04
Posted: 05/24/2004 9:55 am
Tutoring For Advantage "Years ago, with a very few exceptions, tutoring was for students who were floundering or failing. Today it is a booming industry, fueled by parental angst over the college admissions process, that helps not only children who are struggling, but also gilds the lily, moving "B+" students to "A" students, giving extra support to students enrolled in honors and Advanced Placement courses and propelling children with high test scores into the very top percentiles." The New York Times 05/22/04
Posted: 05/23/2004 5:49 pm
The Whitney's Makeover Adam Weinberg is making sweeping changes at the Whitney Museum in both its structure and direction. “The Whitney wants to have a larger international presence,” says Mr Weinberg... The Art Newspaper 05/22/04
Posted: 05/24/2004 10:19 am
Are NZers Ready To Support Museum? Are New Zealanders ready to pony up serious money for its museum? "Make no mistake, Aucklanders admire their art gallery. They may not go inside too often, but they like the idea that the grand old building survives, up the hill from Queen St, nestled against Albert Park. But $75 million, largely from the public purse, to restore this storehouse of (mainly) old paintings? In a city fixated on solving its traffic problems, it could be viewed as the art scam of the century." New Zealand Herald 05/23/04
Posted: 05/23/2004 6:55 pm
Losing Art In Words Blake Gopnik argues that the addition of words almost never helps a piece of art or architecture. "In my work as an art critic, I often come across this imbalance between word and image. It's almost never put there by the artists themselves, when they're any good; it almost always comes when someone doesn't believe that art can work without the help of text. When museums don't really believe in the communicative power of a piece of art, however great and famous, they throw up words that are supposed to make it speak. The strange thing about the World War II memorial, I'd say, is that even the designers of this work of art don't trust it to communicate alone." Washington Post 05/23/04
Posted: 05/23/2004 6:15 pm
A Radical Rethink For The Royal Academy? "What is London's Royal Academy of Arts for, exactly? The question needs to be asked, because the Royal Academy is clearly not doing quite what it was set up to do..." The Observer (UK) 05/23/04
Posted: 05/23/2004 6:05 pm
The Art Of Partying "Art and parties are a familiar twosome, particularly in these times of a faltering economy and deep cuts in arts funding. More and more galleries and museums are renting out their spaces to help pay the bills and to draw new audiences to their exhibitions. But they wind up telling real horror stories about damaged and stolen art, broken electronic equipment and messes left for gallery directors to clean up the morning after." The Detroit News 05/21/04
Posted: 05/23/2004 5:52 pm
Dealer Charged With Trying To Sell Fake Picassos, Chagalls An art dealer was "charged Friday with fraud in Milwaukee, accused of trying to sell fake artwork as originals by Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse.Some were of such poor quality that an art expert described them as 'a joke' and 'an insult,' according to a complaint filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court." Chicago Tribune 05/22/04
Posted: 05/23/2004 5:25 pm
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Veggie Orchestra Cuts A Novel Sound "The sound of 90 pounds of finely tuned cucumbers, leeks, potatoes, radishes, peppers and other vegetables entertained a German audience at a weekend concert by the Viennese Vegetable Orchestra. The nine-piece orchestra plays a range of original compositions on instruments constructed from vegetables -- including a flute made from a carrot, a saxophone carved out of a cucumber and a pumpkin converted into a double bass." MSNBC (Reuters) 05/24/04
Posted: 05/24/2004 10:10 am
Leak On Scottish Opera Puts Minister On Defensive Last week a Scottish government official leaked word to the press about a funding deal for Scottish Opera. "The deal would see the cash-strapped company given a final £5m bailout on condition that it overhauls its working practices, making chorus members part-time and relinquishing the running of its base in Glasgow, the Theatre Royal. The leak angered Scottish Opera officials and the proposal dismayed the arts community. The first minister was accused of having a hand in the story." And now the leak itself has turned into a story... The Guardian (UK) 05/24/04
Posted: 05/24/2004 10:06 am
London On Top? Is London the capital of the classical music world? That's the claim by the city's musicians who point to the city's busy concert scenes and its five symphony orchetras. BBC 05/24/04
Posted: 05/24/2004 7:21 am
Performing Music Remotely Over Internet2 Classical music organizations are finding ways to use Internet2, the next generation of internet, "with enough broadband capacity to transmit huge quantities of data, including CD-quality sound and DVD-quality images, at as much as 250 megabytes per second (more than 4,000 times the rate of a standard dial-up modem; more than 800 times that of a cable modem). The New World Symphony is using it a lot, setting up coaching sessions, lessons and other interactions with top-flight professionals around the country." The New York T imes 05/22/04
Posted: 05/23/2004 5:44 pm
Reconsidering The Mayans "Researchers are now moving from establishing facts about the Maya towards understanding the meaning of their rituals. The decipherment of their script has been the greatest achievement of recent years. The Maya invented what may be the most complex writing system ever devised. It had both alphabetic and pictographic characters, and the “spelling” rules seem to have been largely aesthetic. The same word could be written in a dozen ways. The new exhibition contains superb examples of the most florid, which look more like sculpture than writing." The Economist 05/20/04
Posted: 05/24/2004 10:00 am
So Why Is Making A Buck Off Your Work Wrong? So Michael Moore is a relentless promoter of his movies. And Dick Clarke had a book he was trying to sell. Why does that diminish what they're selling? "Most people who create things -- films, TV shows, books -- naturally hope to have their creations experienced by as many people as possible. Second, the essence of capitalism is to come up with goods or services that one can sell and, by selling, generate a profit. Since when did the desire to be rewarded for one's work become a grubby, back-alley enterprise for which one must be publicly scolded?" Chicago Tribune 05/22/04
Posted: 05/23/2004 5:57 pm
Durham Debates Giant Clear Channel Theatre The Durham (NC) City Council is considering a plan for "a 4,000-seat theater adjacent to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and the American Tobacco complex renovation. Supporters of the proposed American Center for Performing Arts say the region needs a theater of this size, and that it would serve as a permanent home to the American Dance Festival, which has long outgrown crowded Duke University stages." But media giant Clear Channel Communications would manage the theatre, and a coalition of other arts groups is coming together to oppose the plan. Durham Independent 05/20/04
Posted: 05/23/2004 5:33 pm
DNA Action On Acton Estate Sir Harold Acton was one of the great art collectors of the 20th Century. When he died he left his collection to New York University. "Acton left 40,000 rare books, 5,000 art works, including one attributed to Donatello, and a 57-acre estate with four villas. The biggest is Villa La Pietra, a 60-room Medici family palace, whose former guests include Prince Charles, Winston Churchill, DH Lawrence and Picasso." Now new DNA evidence has bolstered claims of those contesting the bequest. The Guardian (UK) 05/20/04
Posted: 05/23/2004 4:36 pm
On Broadway: What The Little People Earn What does the average Broadway Joe make? "This season, the minimum salary for a Broadway performer is $1,354 a week, a figure dictated by the contract between the union and the League of American Theaters and Producers, the trade association for the commercial theater industry. The current four-year contract expires on June 27. The two organizations are negotiating a new one that could last until June 2008." The New York Times 05/23/04
Posted: 05/23/2004 6:08 pm
Book Club Bests "Chat show hosts Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan have single-handedly catapaulted authors into the bestseller charts over the past year with their Best Read bookclub. Now they are moving into the holiday reading market with the announcement of the six new novels they will be championing over the coming months. Readers will also be invited to vote for their favourite summer read. The six novels on the list, for whom soaring sales are now guaranteed, fall firmly into light entertainment territory." The Guardian (UK) 05/23/03
Posted: 05/23/2004 9:29 pm
Shrek 2 A Record Breaker Shrek 2 took in $105 million its opening weekend. "The opening for "Shrek 2" broke or flirted with breaking a number of box-office records. The film's weekend gross was second all-time only to "Spider-Man," which earned $114.8 million in a single weekend in 2002. On Saturday "Shrek 2" broke the record for single-day ticket sales with $44.8 million. And if the preliminary numbers hold, the movie is expected to break the mark for biggest five-day opening, surpassing "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," which brought in $124.1 during its first five days in theaters last December." The New York Times 05/25/04
Posted: 05/24/2004 7:55 am
The Decline Of the Sit-com The situation comedy is in decline. "Amid the hoopla of last week's presentations to advertisers of the broadcast networks' prime-time lineups for the fall, it became strikingly clear that the network situation comedy was in as bad a state as it has been in more than 20 years." The New York Times 05/25/04
Posted: 05/24/2004 7:52 am
A $46 Million Flop? The movie Troy took in $46 million in its opening weekend. But that about qualifies it as a flop. "Industry statistics show that box office receipts typically fall 40 per cent between a movie's first and second weekends. That means that unless interest in Troy picks up substantially over the next few weeks, the movie -- which reportedly cost $185-million to produce, before marketing costs -- will be a money-loser. Which is why studios dedicate millions of dollars to promote movies months in advance to get as many people as possible into cinemas during that first weekend." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 05/25/04
Posted: 05/24/2004 7:32 am
Building A New NPR (That's What Money Can Do) "At meetings last week in Arlington, Va., a vision of NPR's strategic plans for the future was presented to 100 local station managers from around the country. So far, the unexpected funding has allowed NPR to give an unusual bonus to its 700-member staff (roughly 1 percent of each employee's annual salary), return $2.4 million to member stations to offset rising expenses, and plan for a flurry of hires. The interest income alone will pay for 45 additional reporters over the next three years." Denver Post 05/22/04
Posted: 05/23/2004 6:03 pm
Little Movies And Their Stealth Marketing "Increasingly, more independent movies are adopting models of grass-roots marketing. Unable to compete with the multimillion-dollar advertising budgets of studio blockbusters, small movies are instead targeting localized niche audiences as a way to gain traction. That platform allows a film to open small and then potentially build momentum through word of mouth, just as "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" did two years ago by initially making a splash in the Greek-American community. That movie went on to become the most profitable romantic comedy in history." Christian Science Monitor 05/20/04
Posted: 05/23/2004 5:37 pm
Full-Length In The Muddle American Ballet Theatre has a new full-length - a Raymonda. "ABT, however, partly through its mistaken desire to keep things zipping along, has not only left the story and its underlying theme unclear, it has also conceived and directed the heroine as a blank and Abderakhman as a ludicrously exotic idiot who represents neither serious sexual appeal nor serious threat. You sit there muttering pitiably to yourself (or to the young woman sitting next to you, who has kindly plied you with much-needed cough drops), What is going on?" Seeing Things (AJBlogs) 05/23/03
Posted: 05/23/2004 9:22 pm
Hapless Dance In Hartford Another dance venture is about to fail in Hartford and Frank Rizzo enumerates reasons. "When Hartford gives up its magic-wand mentality - whereby simply by wishing for a company or building a theater (or a renovated downtown) - audiences will automatically come a'running, the healthier it will be. It has to understand audiences, nurture them, listen to them and adapt to them on their terms before there's any long-term chance of succeeding." Hartford Courant 05/23/03
Posted: 05/23/2004 9:10 pm
