Paper Mail In An Electronic Age "Today's postal systems are staring over a precipice. Unless they reinvent themselves, some observers say, they won't last two decades - let alone a century. Can hand-delivered paper survive in the world of e-mail and instant messaging? Despite ominous trends, the answer, surprisingly, is almost certainly yes." Christian Science Monitor 09/02/04
Posted: 09/02/2004 7:46 pm
Selling Inside Your Brain It was probably inevitable - marketers want to see inside your brain to see what products you like. "Using the tools of neuroscientists are trying to learn more about the mental processes behind purchasing decisions. The resulting fusion of neuroscience and marketing is, inevitably, being called 'neuromarketing'." The Economist 06/10/04
Posted: 09/02/2004 6:54 pm
Vettriano Auction Nets £2.5 Million Artist Jack Vettriano might not get respect from critics, but his work gets a big vote of priase on the auction floor. "An auction of 40 paintings by Jack Vettriano, a self-taught artist snubbed by national collections, has raised £2.5m at Sotheby's in Scotland. The highest sum paid was £330,400 for Mad Dogs - painted in 1991 when he was selling work for a few hundred pounds." The Guardian (UK) 09/03/04
Posted: 09/02/2004 8:02 pm
What Sank City Opera's Ground Zero Move? "The thrill of the initial idea of an opera house at Ground Zero seemed to have bowed to a fear of highbrow stuffiness and the burdens of a 2,200-seat venue in the cultural complex’s construction. But criticism surrounding New York City Opera’s proposal was aimed less at the institution itself — and at its innovation and its vital niche within the greater scheme of the New York cultural world — than at preconceived notions of a musty old opera house, largely filled by the elderly with the occasional sleeping grandchild in a clip-on tie, in the midst of an economically thriving Ground Zero." Opera News 09/04
Posted: 09/03/2004 9:51 am
Coming Soon: Operas About Gadhafi And Bill Gates "With many opera companies facing stagnating ticket sales and aging audiences, composers and producers are turning to contemporary conflicts and headline news in a bid to lure new crowds. A new batch of contemporary operas -- from rappers rhyming about Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to an experimental musical about Microsoft boss Bill Gates -- sets out to change that stuffy image." The Globe & Mail (AP) 09/03/04
Posted: 09/03/2004 9:34 am
Cincinnati Orchestra Contract Talks The Cincinnati Symphony is racing to negotiate a new contract with its musicians. "The talks are among the most difficult in memory because of the symphony's $1.8 million budget deficit over the last two years. An anonymous gift wiped out that deficit, but the orchestra is facing increased pressure to balance the budget this season." Cincinnati Enquirer 09/03/04
Posted: 09/03/2004 8:51 am
The Celebrity Gramophones This year's Gramophone Awards are being served with celebrities. "The editor of Gramophone says using celebrities as champions for its awards shortlist would raise the profile of the recordings, and help put classical music back in the spotlight: We hope that this year's celebrity initiative will rekindle an interest in classical music and the great musicians who have dedicated their lives to it." The Guardian (UK) 09/03/04
Posted: 09/02/2004 7:59 pm
Can Loud Music Puncture Your Lungs? That's what doctors now think. They "suspect that loud music may damage the lungs due to its booming bass frequency, which can be felt as a vibration going through the body. The lungs may essentially start to vibrate in the same frequency as the bass, which could cause a lung to rupture." Wired 09/02/04
Posted: 09/02/2004 7:37 pm
Pop Goes The Classical (Or Is It The Other Way Around?) Why do do many pop stars try to write "classical" music? "Do they really aspire to be one of us? Are we to be envied by millionaires with legions of fans? Have we, at last, arrived? Perhaps we have, but truth be told, it seems more and more like we want to be one of them — and ought to be, according to some critics." NewMusicBox 09/04
Posted: 09/02/2004 7:16 pm
Non-Profits Wait As Congress Mulls Oversight Changes The US Congress is considering serious reform in the oversight of non-profit organizations. "The overall drive to nonprofit reform began after the passage of the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which Congress enacted in the wake of Enron and other accounting scandals. After revelations that a small number of charities, such as those handling the millions received after Sept. 11, 2001, had engaged in similar abuses and administrative waste, the drive quickly intensified." Backstage 09/03/04
Posted: 09/03/2004 9:47 am
Slovakia: A Culture Minister Who Gets It Slovakia's culture minister proposes that the country triple its spending on the arts by 22010. "Ignorance of culture is colossal; society is commercial, consumer-oriented and kitschy, and it seems this trend cannot be stopped." Slovak News 09/03/04
Posted: 09/03/2004 8:47 am
Australia's New Culture Wars The Australian government has decided to focus on funding classical music this year. But the official opposition party denounces the policy, decrying what it terms the Government's "war on culture, citing alleged political appointments to the boards of the ABC and Canberra's new national museum." Sydney Morning Herald 09/03/04
Posted: 09/02/2004 8:30 pm
New Ranking Of The World's Top Universities An annual list of the world's top universities puts Harvard at the top. "Of the world's top 20 universities, all but three — Cambridge, Oxford and Tokyo — are in the United States." The Economist 09/02/04
Posted: 09/02/2004 6:49 pm
Ireland's Abbey Lays Off Staff Ireland's Abbey Theatre, the country's national theatre, is laying off a third of its staff. "The managing director of the Abbey, Brian Jackson, today said that the theatre cannot go on losing in the region of €800,000 a year, and that the company has taken steps to address what he has termed fundamental structural issues." Ireland Online 09/03/04
Posted: 09/02/2004 6:31 pm
Fire Damages Famous German Library A fire ravaged one of Germany's most famous libraries thursday - Weimar's Duchess Anna Amalia Library. "The library was opened in 1691 and housed the world's largest collection of Faust by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, who had lived in Weimer." BBC 09/03/04
Posted: 09/03/2004 8:12 am
The Next JK Rowling? British author Michelle Paver wrote her novel Wolf Brother in 1982 and it sat on a shelf for years. So she rewrote it as a children's book, and sold the publishing rights internationally for a $US 5 million advance - the highest ever paid for a debut British children's book. "The book, which went on sale on Thursday, generated record-breaking interest in publishing houses around the world." Sydney Morning Herald 09/03/04
Posted: 09/02/2004 8:37 pm
Pushing The "Reality" Of Serious "More than ever this summer, television, with its headlong pursuit of "reality," has influenced the tone and content of serious films. From the unusual spate of commercial documentaries, to domestic dramas that reflect the shrinking realm of personal privacy, smaller films are continuing to push the frontiers of psychological realism and sexual candor." The New York Times 09/03/04
Posted: 09/03/2004 9:39 am
Do Movies Need A New Ratings System? Some critics are complaining about the current movie rating system. "To better help parents monitor an expanding universe of media, some observers are calling for a uniform rating system that covers everything: movies, TV, and videogames. Others suggest changes to the current ratings, such as an R-13 category or even an A for adult movies that aren't pornographic, as a way to address the problematic rating at the center of the debate." Christian Science Monitor 09/03/04
Posted: 09/02/2004 6:05 pm
