Pushing Your Brain's "Buy" Button Is there a "buy button" in the brain? A new study of the brain has scientists wondering. "Some corporations have teamed up with neuroscientists to find out. Recent experiments in so-called neuromarketing have explored reactions to movie trailers, choices about automobiles, the appeal of a pretty face and gut reactions to political campaign advertising, as well as the power of brand loyalty." The New York Times 10/19/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 4:38 pm
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This Year's Turner: Not Good Enough For Controversy? Richard Dorment recalls a time when the Turner Prize mattered to him. "This year, the shortlisted artists don't rise to the level of being controversial. Tate Britain has mounted the Starbucks of art exhibitions: a show of almost interchangeable artists all working with film and video and all politically engaged in exactly the same, wholly predictable way." The Telegraph (UK) 10/20/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 6:11 am
More On The Liz Taylor Van Gogh Case A family claiming ownership of a Van Gogh painting looted by Nazis and now owned by Elizabeth Taylor, has gone to court in Los Angeles to try to get her claim on the painting voided. "If the dismissal motion is successful it could set the stage for a major legal battle between the two-time Oscar-winning actress, who purchased the van Gogh at auction in 1963, and the heirs of the German Jewish collector who first bought the landscape in 1907 and who, they claim, subsequently lost it "as a result of Nazi economic and political coercion" before the start of the Second World War." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 10/20/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 5:48 am
Turner Group Takes A Political Edge The work in this year's show of finalists' for the Turner Prize turns out to be much more political than organizers expected. "The political engagement is very striking this year. It is good to see artists looking beyond the art world and their lives." The Guardian (UK) 10/20/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 9:03 pm
Getty Museum Director Resigns Deborah Gribbon has resigned as director of the Getty Museum, citing differences with Getty president Barry Munitz. "Barry and I have differences on a range of things. They are real differences. I think this is a very important moment for the Getty. Perhaps to a fault, I believe in the good of the institution. I think it's better to resign than let differences become a distraction." Los Angeles Times 10/19/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 4:17 pm
- Gribbon: Leaving The Getty So why did Deborah Gribbon resign as director of the Getty Museum? "Her resignation, submitted Monday, came as no surprise to the museum world. It has been well known among directors and curators that Ms. Gribbon and [Getty president] Barry Munitz never got along." The New York Times 10/20/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 4:04 pm
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Domingo To Run Metropolitan? Who will be the next general director of the Metropolitan Opera? Insiders say Placido Domingo is on the short list. "Mr. Domingo is quietly pursuing the position, meeting individually with several Met board members, the officials said. In addition, he spent time with members of the board's search committee on Oct. 6." The New York Times 10/20/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 9:27 pm
Starbucks Brews Up New Music Biz Starbuck's has unveiled its new music business, which lets customers select and burn CDs while they sip their brew. "Coffeehouse customers use computer tablets to select from 150,000 tracks, which include reggae, world music, jazz and religious songs. The tablets transmit the selections to the CD-burning machine, which can burn two discs at a time." Seattle Post-Intelligencer 10/19/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 4:35 pm
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DC Arts Finally Recover Post-9/11 After 9/11, arts institutions in Washington DC struggled to find audiences (and income). But the post-9/11 slup is officially over, with attendance (and income) on the rise. "The upturn is attributed to the rise in tourism, resumption of school field trips, economic security enjoyed by the theater-going public, and rise of the Internet as an easy way to buy tickets, according to managers of many of the region's 60-plus theatrical companies." Washington Post 10/19/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 9:38 pm
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A Mayor Who Transformed Her City's Landscape How much can a mayor affect the landscape of the city they serve? Quite a bit, writes Randy Gragg. Portland, Oregon's Vera Katz has transformed the city during her time in office. "She helped lay the foundation for a new Portland, newcomers and prospering longtimers in equal parts." The Oregonian 10/18/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 7:09 pm
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Dreyfus Cancellation Could Be A Hit So Richard Dreyfus is unable to go on in "The Producers" when it opens in London in a few days. But wait - it's not a disaster. Indeed, it could make the show a bigger hit, as Nathan Lane steps in to fill the role. "Whether or not Dreyfuss is a victim of the role, or the demands of the backers, or just bad luck - one thing's clear: for those in possession of a ticket, it's the equivalent of getting an unexpected upgrade from economy to club class. And, in many ways, the moment of panic couldn't have arrived at a better time - everyone will now be pulling together harder than ever to ensure that it's all right on the night." The Telegraph (UK) 10/20/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 9:12 pm
Greeks In New York This season's big new thing in New York theatre? It's Greeks. New York is awash in Greek revival plays. "Between the threat of terrorism and the war in Iraq, we're all apparently in desperate need of a whopping catharsis—or at least a few old-comedy laughs at the rulers driving us to the brink of catastrophe." Village Voice 10/19/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 5:01 pm
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A Fugitive's Tale (It's Scandalous) Radovan Karadzic is on the run, a $5 million bounty on his head, and facing charges of genocide in Bosnia at The Hague's war crimes tribunal. But that hasn't stopped him from writing and publishing a book. "The strong autobiographical element is a reminder of a man with a large ego and a small sense of responsibility. It is scandalous that he should have had the leisure to write anything but a confession. The fact that he has been able to publish a book does not inspire confidence that Nato and the Bosnian Serb police are doing enough to harass him and his network of loyal supporters so he can be brought to justice." The Guardian (UK) 10/20/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 5:59 am
García Márquez Vs. The Pirates It's taken Gabriel García Márquez a decade to get his new book ready for publication. Now the publication date is being moved up by the book's publishers to combat pirates who are getting their own version out. "In a full-page advertisement in Colombia's leading newspaper on Saturday, the publishers announced the early launch and denounced the pirated versions being peddled on the streets of the Colombian capital as 'mutilating the content of the work'." The Guardian (UK) 10/18/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 8:45 pm
Are National Book Award Noms Too Obscure? People are still puzzling over the nominated field for the National Book Award. "Consider some of the writers who were eligible this year: Philip Roth, Tom Wolfe, Joyce Carol Oates, John Updike, Cynthia Ozick. And the nominees are: Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, Christine Schutt, Joan Silber, Lily Tuck, and Kate Walbert. All of the authors are women, and each lives here in New York City. According to the Times, only one book has sold even two thousand copies." The New Yorker 10/18/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 6:51 pm
Hollinghurst Nabs Booker Alan Hollinghurst has won this year's Booker Prize for his novel The Line of Beauty. "I hardly know where I am. My whole psychological technique for dealing with this evening was to convince myself I wasn't going to win it. BBC 10/19/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 4:42 pm
- Hollighurst By A Booker Nose The result was a split vote, with Hollinghurst, odds-favorite David Mitchell and Colm Tóibin's The Master, a fictional portrait of the author Henry James, "all very close". The Guardian (UK) 10/20/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 4:21 pm
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Getting Rid Of That Unwanted TV... The TV in your local bar bugging you? Well, now you don't have to suffer the blare. A new device called TV-B-Gone shuts off any television set in the vicinity. "The device, which looks like an automobile remote, has just one button. When activated, it spends over a minute flashing out 209 different codes to turn off televisions, the most popular brands first." Wired 10/19/04
Posted: 10/19/2004 7:04 pm
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Dancing The U of C Shuffle "Even if you don't know the merengue from a lemon meringue pie, be assured: Dancing is big at the University of Chicago. There are nearly a dozen student-driven clubs specializing in ballet, jazz, folk and modern dance, but here we're talking ballroom and swing." Chicago Tribune 10/20/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 5:30 am
