Editor: The End Of Books? "Collectively we may stand—as Marshall McLuhan suggested years ago—at an exit from the time when the book, with its writing, its publication, and its reception, was central to human flourishing. We owe it to ourselves, then, to figure out what it was we, as members of the human species, most valued about the book, so we can try to preserve it. The humanities must now take steps to preserve and protect the independence of their activities, such as the writing of books and articles, before the market becomes our prison and the value of the book becomes undermined." Village Voice 08/31/04
Posted: 08/31/2004 4:26 pm
Popular Choice To Head Australia's National Gallery Ron Radford is a popular choice as new director of Australia's National Gallery of Art. Radford is "known in Adelaide, where he has been director of the Art Gallery of South Australia for 13 years, as a boisterous, larger than life bon vivant with a wicked sense of humour and an easy ability to dissolve potential conflict with light-heartedness." Sydney Morning Herald 09/01/04
Posted: 08/31/2004 10:16 pm
An Artist Collective In Beijing In Beijing, a group of artists (as artists do) clustered together, fixed up some space and set up 74 galleries and private art studios in a refurbished 1950's-era weapons factory. Some critics feel that an artist complex is not a good idea, but "the artists were supported by officials who said that a flourishing art scene would help Beijing become a vibrant city. Long Xingmin, the assistant party secretary of development and planning ministry for Beijing, visited the galleries in April, and the vice mayor of Beijing has weighed in to support the artists. Visiting dignitaries, including the president of Switzerland, have also stopped by the complex to offer support." The New York Times 09/01/04
Posted: 08/31/2004 9:30 pm
Flimm Appointed Salzburg Head Jürgen Flimm has been appointed as new artistic director of the Salzburg Festival. "Flimm, who is head of the festival's theater section and an internationally known opera and theater director, will succeed the composer Peter Ruzicka, who earlier this year said he did not want a second five-year term." International Herald Tribune 09/01/04
Posted: 08/31/2004 9:42 pm
Is James MacMillian Spreading Himself Too Thin? James MacMillan is one of Scotland's most successful composers. But in recent years, besides his busy composing schedule, he has developed a whole other career conducting. This leads some critics to wondering if "all this conducting - he’s also lined up with orchestras in Japan and Europe - is diluting his compositional output, or if it might even be a way for him to deliberately lighten the compositional load." There is some evidence... The Scotsman 09/01/04
Posted: 08/31/2004 9:37 pm
Leeds' Grand Gets A Makeover The Grand Theatre in Leeds is getting a £31.5 million makeover. "By mid 2006, Opera North, whose new production of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice opens at the Edinburgh Festival tomorrow, will have the home it deserves in the city which sees more opera performances than any other outside London." The Guardian (UK) 08/31/04
Posted: 08/31/2004 4:54 pm
Homeland Security vs. The 12-Year-Old Choirboy "Some Oakland boys who like to sing are taking on the Department of Homeland Security over the fate of a 12-year-old Polish kid who, in all likelihood, does not have terrorist designs on the United States. Earlier this year, the 7-year-old Pacific Boychoir was contacted by the Youth Choir Foundation in Boston to gauge its interest in accepting 12-year-old Adam Kutny, a gifted alto who found himself somewhat stranded artistically after the choir he belonged to dissolved." The choir was interested, but the Department of Homeland Security has flatly denied Kutny a student visa, saying (bizarrely) that it cannot be certain that the school is, in fact, a school. Two senators, a congresswoman and the choir are battling the decision. San Francisco Chronicle 09/01/04
Posted: 09/01/2004 6:58 am
Between Rock And A Hard Political Reality The touring rock concert/John Kerry fundraiser being led by Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M., and other leftist musicians has sparked confusion nationwide among radio stations, consumers, and media conglomerates who are worried that purchasing tickets could run them afoul of complicated campaign finance laws. In Minneapolis, one Clear Channel radio station pulled out of an agreement to distribute free tickets to its participants after the parent company concluded that it could not buy the tickets, because the company sponsoring the concert is a so-called "527 organization," involved in political affairs. In fact, the purchase would have been legal after all, but Clear Channel still isn't buying. City Pages (Mpls/St. Paul) 09/01/04
Posted: 09/01/2004 6:47 am
IRS To Investigate Nonprofit Salaries "The IRS has announced an aggressive program to investigate the salaries of [nonprofit corporations'] executives and board members, some of which exceed $1 million annually. The government's interest is twofold: It grants tax-exempt status to nonprofits, and the public contributes billions of dollars to those groups each year." The $1 million salary figure will apparently serve as the unofficial red flag to investigators, who will then compare such salaries to those of comparable individuals in comparable organizations elsewhere. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 09/01/04
Posted: 09/01/2004 5:46 am
SEC: Chicago Symphony Benefitted From Corporate Crime A scathing SEC report on the activities of the leadership of Hollinger International Incorporated has concluded that chief executive Conrad Black and his right-hand man David Radler looted the company of more than $400 million in profits to which they were not entitled, all with the tacit approval (or at least, without objection from) a board which included such high-profile names as Henry Kissinger and Richard Perle. The money appropriated by Black and Radler frequently found its way to organizations favored by the two men, and one of the biggest beneficiaries was the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, "which received a total of $436,164 from 1996 to 2003." There is no suggestion that the CSO knew that the source of the donations was unlawful. Chicago Tribune 09/01/04
Posted: 09/01/2004 5:35 am
Pittsburgh's New Cultural Center On The Rise Cultural forces in Pittsburgh are teaming up to turn a 26,000-square foot vacant warehouse into an arts center in the heart of the city's business district. The center would house a theater, a coffee shop, and studios for various local artists. The partners have already come up with $800,000 in community funding for the project, but are estimating that the renovation will cost $4 million overall. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 09/01/04
Posted: 09/01/2004 5:26 am
Nothing More Dangerous Than A Little Bit Of Information This year's edition of the Arts Electronica festival, which focuses on the connection between technology and art, is taking a hard look at all the technological innovations of the last 25 years, and asking the question: are we actually any smarter or more creative as a result of the digital revolution? Or is it possible that all the instantly available information is only making us more confused and polarizing our society? Wired 09/01/04
Posted: 09/01/2004 5:12 am
The Brilliant Killjoy A UK psychologist named Gordon Rugg is making headlines for unraveling the mystery of "one of the world's great oddities: the Voynich manuscript, a hand-lettered book written in an unknown code that has frustrated cryptographers since its discovery in an Italian villa in 1912. How impregnable is the Voynich? During World War II, US Army code breakers - the guys who blew away Nazi ciphers - grappled with the manuscript in their spare time and came up empty. Since then, decoding the book's contents has become an obsession for geeks and puzzle nuts everywhere." Rugg's ironclad conclusion, after only a few months of work: the Voynich isn't a code at all. It's a hoax. Wired 09/04
Posted: 09/01/2004 5:18 am
Broadway Box Office Takes A Dive "Broadway's biz went into the Dumper on the eve of the Republican National Convention. Twenty-six shows brought in a trampled $12,595,294, down $1,751,057, 12.21%, from the previous lackluster session. Paid attendance came to 190,370, which is off about 35,000 from the bumper August of 2002." Yahoo! 08/31/04
Posted: 08/31/2004 10:12 pm
Books As Dating Aid? "The London-based arm of the venerable Penguin publishing house has begun to advertise its books as dating aids. According to Penguin, you’re not good looking—or Good Booking—unless you’re holding a book. 'What women really want is a man with a Penguin. You may not even need to read it, just bend the covers, let it stick out of your pocket and the book will do the talking'!" Poets & Writers 09/04
Posted: 08/31/2004 10:09 pm
American Readers - And Never The Twain Shall Meet... American readers have become so polartized in their reading. Conservatives buy conservative books, liberals buy liberal books. And what do we learn from such incestuous behavior?... The Guardian (UK) 08/31/04
Posted: 08/31/2004 9:25 pm
TIFF Still Looking For Key Donors The Toronto International Film Festival is hoping to complete construction of a new CAN$200 million film center by 2007. But so far, the project has been a tough sell to private donors and corporate interests, and little of the $115 million in private money necessary for construction has been raised. TIFF is actively seeking a keystone donor who could contribute as much as $30 million to kickstart the project. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 09/01/04
Posted: 09/01/2004 6:30 am
- TIFF Programmer Gets Death Threat A documentary film investigating a notorious event in which an art student killed, cooked, and ate a cat on camera in the name of artistic expression has provoked a steady stream of angry e-mails and phone calls ever since the Toronto International Film Festival programmed it as part of its Real to Reel program. But according to TIFF organizers, the protesters have now crossed the line, with one festival programmer receiving a vicious death threat on his cell phone this week. Toronto police are now actively pursuing the caller, and the festival insists that the film will go on as scheduled. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 09/01/04
Posted: 09/01/2004 6:24 am
Summer Movie Season Flops Again A few summer blockbusters did their studios proud, but most of this summer's crop of Hollywood films did little to attract an audience of the size the industry expects during the hot months. "The number of people going to the movies in the summer has declined 4.4 percent in the last two years. The last time attendance declined in consecutive summers was in 1995, '96 and '97." Chicago Tribune (LA Times) 09/01/04
Posted: 09/01/2004 6:14 am
Venice Opens With Americans The Venice Film Festival opens this week with a definite American accent. "At this year's festival, the 61st, there are a score of American films in various categories, only a couple fewer than those made in Italy. Three films from each country have made it into competition..." International Herald Tribune 09/01/04
Posted: 08/31/2004 9:48 pm
Why Video Games Rule Video games are hugely popular - it's not difficult to see a day coming when they'll be our most popular form of entertainment. Why? "I submit that it's more fun to do stuff than to watch stuff. It's one of the reasons movies about hot video games rarely do much at the box office: I'd rather help Lara Croft outwit enemies and cheat death in the "Tomb Raider" series than watch Angelina Jolie dodge special effects onscreen -- even an augmented Angelina Jolie. Video gaming is to moviegoing as writing a book is to reading one: You are in control." Chicago Tribune 08/31/04
Posted: 08/31/2004 9:41 am
African Dance Crew Vies For Longest Dance Party A Zimbabwean dance crew - The Neighbourhood Crew - has set a world record for the longest dance party after dancing non-stop for 56 hours - nearly four hours longer than the current record of 52 hours and three minutes. "The group of about 57 youths took to the dance floor last Thursday hoping to dance non-stop for 100 hours, but had to settle for the 56 hours when fatigue finally caught up with them on Sunday morning." Harare Herald 08/31/04
Posted: 08/31/2004 10:01 am
