Our Lust For Wealth Made Us Civilized? "A new scientific study says prehistoric hunters loved to be dripping in luxury goods, and the taste for flashy trinkets may have been what turned humans from savages into a civilised society." Ananova 09/17/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 11:40 pm
Pinning Down Anxiety Feeling anxious? Well, it's not just a feeling that comes out of nowhere. "The areas of the brain involved in learning fears have been known, but new research now identifies the areas involved in extinguishing those fears." HealthDay 09/15/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 11:37 pm
Click here for more Ideas stories...
V&A: The Spiral Is Dead It's official - the Victoria & Albert Museum has shelved plans for the dramatic £70 million Daniel Libeskind-designed expansion. "The museum's board of trustees voted to abandon the ambitious design after the Heritage Lottery Fund rejected its £15m application." BBC 09/17/04
Posted: 09/17/2004 6:03 am
Two New Museums Bent On Changing Perceptions This week the Nationa Museum of the American opens in DC. Last month the The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opened in Cincinnati. "It's a particularly American irony that two groups that have struggled since our nation was formed to find their place in its cultural fabric now have national institutions that are uniquely their own. Both museums offer much more than history..." USAToday 09/17/04
Posted: 09/17/2004 6:01 am
DC's New Indian Museum: "Look At Me!" How successful is the building for the new Museum of the American Indian in Washington? "It is pleasing to report that the architecture is very good, and quite strange. The building rises above the elm trees of the Mall like a monumental apparition. Its curving walls shout, "Look at me!" And the more you do, the more there is to see and think about. Even more satisfying is the conclusion that, physically and philosophically, the new building creates a strong, tension-filled dialogue with its setting, and carries it off with amazing grace." Washington Post 09/17/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 11:24 pm
Sydney Opera House Shows Off Its New Look Nearly 40 years ago, architect Jorn Utzon walked away from his most famous project, the Sydney Opera House. The interior of the building was finished by others - but not in a successful way. In 1999 Utzon was finally convinced to complete the inside in an extensive renovation. Now the first results of that work are being unveiled. The Guardian (UK) 09/17/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 9:57 pm
Building For The Web A show of skyscrapers at the Museum of Modern Art is a rare exhibition that actually is better to see on the web than in person. "Choose a building, and the site presents a full page portrait of the subject, along with such facts as height, date-of-design (and projected date-of-completion if applicable), and links to detailed information." Christian Science Monitor 09/17/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 9:40 pm
Click here for more Visual Arts stories...
Which Website Wins? Websites are an easy and (mstly) easy was of promoting symphony orchestras. Which got Drew McManus wondering which American orchestra website was the best. He looked at a lot of them... 70 of them... and he declares a winner... Adaptistration (AJBlogs) 09/17/04
Posted: 09/17/2004 6:25 am
Click here for more Music stories...
Georgia's Struggle To Rebuild Its Culture The Republic of Georgia's culture is in tatters, and the young president has his eye on rebuilding. "Despite its devastated economy, Georgia boasts a rich cultural heritage and an operatic and choreographic tradition renowned worldwide. It produced Balanchine. And it is famous for its unique three-voice polyphonic singing. Nearly everybody sings in Georgia — usually at the dinner table — and culture is viewed as an crucial part of life by Georgians, who in the midst of the civil war in the early 1990s continued to flow to the opera to support their artists. Today, half the population of Georgia lives under the poverty line, but the opera still plays to sell-out audiences every night." Andante (AFP) 09/17/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 11:53 pm
Click here for more Arts Issues stories...
The Billionaire Poet Felix Dennis is a billionaire. "He owns Stuff magazine. He owns The Week. His Maxim, where the staff calls their proprietor "the bearded dwarf," is the biggest-selling "men's lifestyle" publication in the world. His privately owned company, Dennis Publishing, has launched more than 40 magazines, typically with prosaic but profitable prescience: Computer Shopper used to carry more than 1,000 pages of advertisements in each issue. Now Dennis, 57, has decided to become a poet..." Chicago Tribune 09/17/04
Posted: 09/17/2004 5:58 am
A Michael Moore Buy-Back Plan A conservative US group is offering to exchange copies of the DVD of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 for copies of its book. "In urban areas, city leaders periodically sponsor gun `buy-back' programs to help reduce gun violence. Similarly, the Fahrenheit 9/11 DVD Buy-Back program is designed to protect Americans from harm, especially young children who might accidentally slip this dangerous propaganda into the living room DVD player." Toronto Star 09/17/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 11:30 pm
Click here for more People stories...
Globe Theatre Head To Depart "Mark Rylance, who has worked as the artistic director of London's Shakespeare's Globe Theater since 1996 and appeared in many of its plays, is planning to leave the post at the end of next year." The New York Times 09/17/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 11:14 pm
NY Fringe's Record Year The New York Fringe Festival had a rough year financially. But then, the festival opened and produced "record ticket sales for this year's 17-day, 200-production endeavor, up at least 20% from 2003. If the numbers hold, it would be a record high for the eight-year-old festival." Back Stage 09/16/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 8:52 pm
Click here for more Theatre stories...
The Musical Detective Why do so many of the detectives in English fiction seem to have a big interest in classical music? Indeed, "the detective as musical amateur is an affectionate tic in British crime fiction..." The Guardian (UK) 09/17/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 10:13 pm
Banning Da Vinci Code The Da Vinci Code has been banned in Lebanon because church officials call it ofensive to Christians. "Catholic leaders called for the book to be withdrawn because of its depiction of Christ marrying Mary Magdalene and fathering a child. Shop owners said security officials had told them to pull French, English and Arabic copies off their shelves." BBC 09/16/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 8:46 pm
Click here for more Publishing stories...
Should BBC Sell Its Old Shows? Should the BBC sell its archived programs to commercial broadcasters? It's not so much for the money - but Making archives available for sale would increase the distribution of classic radio. BBC 09/17/04
Posted: 09/17/2004 6:12 am
Free Fall - Good For The Emmys? Most of the big entertainment awards shows - the Oscars, the Golden Globes - are scheduled at the beginning of the year. And then there are the Emmys, which languish all by themselves in the fall. "Could an earlier Emmy ceremony juice viewership, which last year measured just under 18 million? That’s compared to nearly 27 million viewers for this year’s Golden Globes and 43 million-plus for the Oscars." MSNBC (AP) 09/17/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 11:46 pm
What Giant MGM/Sony Deal Means To The Movie Business What does Sony's purchase of MGM mean to the movie business? "MGM has Hollywood’s biggest movie library, with some 8,000 titles, though Sony intends to close the company’s ongoing studio operations, with the exception of the James Bond and Pink Panther franchises. The new, combined group will own half of the colour movies ever made. Sony, which is struggling with low margins in its core consumer-electronics division, is also trying to amass content that it hopes will drive sales of its electronic goods." The new landscape could change the way studios make money. The Economist 09/17/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 10:49 pm
The Toronto Formula For Success The Toronto Film Festival has beecome one of the world's top festivals. So what's different about TIFF? "What has made Toronto unique among an elite cohort of international festivals is the central role of the audience. Ordinary Torontonians go to the movies, react, and shape the out-of-town professionals' idea of what might be possible in the future of cinema." The Guardian (UK) 09/17/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 10:09 pm
Complicating The Fuhrer A new German movie depicts Hitler as a compex character. "Does it diminish the evil that he did? Or is Germany finally coming to terms with its past?" In any case, the film has kicked up controversy... The Guardian (UK) 09/17/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 10:05 pm
- Coming To Grips With Hitler? A new movie about Hitler has caused a wave of national soul-searching. "Because Germans didn't do more to fight him and because his actions were so atrocious, he still haunts us. Or put more negatively, the fascination emanating from his person has not subsided. That also means that there is no easy way of talking about him. In fact, when the subject turns to Hitler, he seems to retreat into the fiery realm of taboo." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 09/17/04
Posted: 09/16/2004 10:04 pm
Click here for more Media stories...
Canada's National Ballet Sees Red Artistically, the National Ballet of Canada had a great year. Financially... the company finished $790,000 in the red... CBC 09/15/04
Posted: 09/15/2004 6:07 pm
