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Thursday, December 2




Ideas

The No. 1 Threat To Creativity Today "At just the moment when the technologies of borrowing, sharing, repackaging, and reinventing -- technologies such as blogs, wikis, peer-to-peer file sharing, full-text searching, digital video, and off-the-shelf music mixing software -- have become so powerful as engines for creative expression, copyright law permits, in effect, nothing at all. Just when the future of creative expression looks so promising, argues Lawrence Lessig, the claims of the past have been shored up, and they block the way." Reason 11/29/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 7:00 pm

Why Digital Humans Look Creepy There's something creepy about the digital realism of thre computer enhanced movie "Polar Express." But why? Perhaps things in the movie look too real? Or are they not real enough? "Stated simply, the idea is that if one were to plot emotional response against similarity to human appearance and movement, the curve is not a sure, steady upward trend. Instead, there is a peak shortly before one reaches a completely human “look” . . . but then a deep chasm plunges below neutrality into a strongly negative response before rebounding to a second peak where resemblance to humanity is complete."
Mile High Comics 11/10/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 5:43 pm

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Visual Arts

The Ugliest Building In Town (Why Can't It go Away?) Wouldn't it be lovely if you could wave your hand and the ugliest building in town would go away? Of course ugly is subjective, as John King admits, but there are some basic rules about what defines an offensive piece of architecture... San Francisco Chronicle 12/02/04
Posted: 12/02/2004 9:57 am

Canadian Attacks Koons Sculpture In Berlin "Istvan Kantor, best known as the man who was banned from the National Gallery of Canada in the 1990s for tossing a vial of his own blood on the walls, has turned up in Berlin where he sprayed more of his bodily fluids at a statue of Michael Jackson yesterday. Also known as Monty Cantsin, Kantor was banned from the Art Gallery of Ontario for vomiting on a painting in 1996. Six months later he repeated the performance at New York's Museum of Modern Art. At the time he said he was protesting the 'oppressively trite and painfully banal' nature of the works in question." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/02/04
Posted: 12/02/2004 7:52 am

China's Third Wave Art "In the past 25 years, Chinese artists have followed and studied the art of Europe, America and Asia's developed countries. There has been scant contemporary Chinese art with its own distinctive language and aesthetic value that does not defer to the expectations of the established art circuit." Now, a third wave of Chinese artists is wrking with a language that is distinctly Chinese... People's Daily (China) 12/02/04
Posted: 12/02/2004 7:12 am

Disney In The Buff Keepers of LA's Disney Hall are considering dulling the finish of the exterior after a study finds that reflection of the sun heats nearby apartments and poses a hazard to traffic. Gehry is said to agree to the changes. The New York Times 12/02/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 11:58 pm

Cambridge Considers Getting Out Of Architecture Cambridge University is considering closing down its architecture school. "The prospect of our leading research university closing its only department that has a direct impact on the quality of our built environment is worrying and may indicate deeper attitudes and realities that are of equal concern." The Guardian (UK) 12/02/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 9:17 pm

Duchamp Named Most Influential "Marcel Duchamp's iconic urinal has been named the most influential piece of modern art. "The Duchamp came out top in a survey of 500 artists, curators, critics and dealers commissioned by the sponsor of the Turner prize, Gordon's. Different categories of respondents chose markedly different works, with artists in particular plumping overwhelmingly for Fountain. 'It feels like there is a new generation out there saying, 'Cut the crap - Duchamp opened up modern art'." The Guardian (UK) 12/02/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 9:04 pm

American Government Moves To Seize Picasso From Collector The American government is trying to seize a Picasso from a Chicago collector. "The attempt is a rare instance in which federal prosecutors, apparently for the first time in California, are invoking the US National Stolen Property Act (NSPA) against an individual collector in an attempt to seize art in a Nazi-loot claim, on the theory that the work is stolen goods which crossed state lines." The Art Newspaper 12/01/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 6:25 pm

Tut As Entertainment The newly announced show of King Tut treasures coming to America is a for-profit affair and being packaged as entertainment. "The Egyptian government intends to clear $10 million in every city visited by a new touring show of Tutankhamun artifacts. Its financial goals have cultural institutions around the United States weighing the crowds his treasures are likely to draw against the prospect of having to charge as much as $30." The New York Times 12/02/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 5:45 pm

  • Tut'll Cost Ya In LA Hoping to get a glimpse of King Tut when he comes to Los Angeles? It'll cost you. Tickets will be as much as $30. "A portion of the exhibition's proceeds will fund construction of a new museum in Cairo, as well as preservation and conservation of archeological sites in Egypt." Los Angeles Times 12/01/04
    Posted: 12/01/2004 5:26 pm

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Music

Tenors, Tenors, Everywhere... The planet is awash in tenors. They're popping up everywhere. But have we hit tenor aturation? "Among serious opera people, suspicion is warranted. Legitimately trained tenors often come and go in a few seasons. And ours is a time when questionably trained pop tenors sweep the country with massive marketing campaigns and then disappear before they can develop artistically." Philadelphia Inquirer 12/02/04
Posted: 12/02/2004 10:06 am

Proof That Readers Don't Pay Attention To Critics Take a look at lists of critics' choices for top recordings of the year, then look at what music sold best. Guess what? They don't match. "The only thing people who buy records and those who write about them agree on, then, is an album whose pastel wistfulness just begs for the spine-stiffening effect of a stint in the marines. This prompts the disheartening thought that the only listeners whose habits rock journalists have any influence over are in fact other rock journalists." The Guardian (UK) 12/02/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 9:25 pm

Armstrong Quits Scottish Opera Richard Armstrong has resigned as director of the Scottish Opera. "James MacMillan, the country's leading composer, reacted angrily and accused the Scottish Executive and Arts Council of 'making Scotland into a laughing stock the world over'. Mr MacMillan said the executive and SAC's lack of support for the opera company, which is to have 88 jobs cut in a money saving move, was down to "a misguided anti-elitism. They see high arts as not really Scottish - which is an insult to the people who want the highest level of opera, theatre and music provision." The Guardian (UK) 12/02/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 8:51 pm

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Arts Issues

Arts Transformation In South Africa Has Failed Attempts to transform South Africa's culture since apartheid have failed, says the country's culture minister. "These problems were attributed to the legacy left by apartheid plus a skills shortage. Dismantling the legacy of apartheid had taken a lot of time and energy." Independent Online (South Africa) 12/02/04
Posted: 12/02/2004 7:01 am

Do Culture Wars Mean Ignoring Science? In Pennsylvania and elsewhere in America, culture wars are heating up in schools. A drive to include creationism in textbooks is emboldened by the recent election. Some schools also propose censoring school reading lists of "immorality" or 'foul language' and to allow the distribution of Bibles in schools. "In Texas, the nation's second-biggest school textbook market, the State Board of Education approved health textbooks that defined abstinence as the only form of contraception and changed the description of marriage between 'two people' to 'a lifelong union between a husband and a wife'." San Francisco Chronicle 11/30/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 6:00 pm

Arkansas - Where Arts Education Matters Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has made arts education a priority of his administration: "It’s a critical part of the education of any child. A part of what I feel like I have to do is help superintendents, school chiefs and other governors realize that they’ll be leaving a lot of children behind if they don’t put a focus on arts education." Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 12/01/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 4:36 pm

Arts Funding, Jersey Style (It Helps To Have Connections) Three New Jersey arts groups split $1.2 million from special allocations determined by members of the state legislature. The grants did not go through the traditional arts funding process. "The politicians conferred with members of the Treasury's Division of Administration to decide the grants. The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the state agency that already distributed $22.7 million to arts organizations this year, was not consulted." Newark Star-Ledger 12/01/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 4:30 pm

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Theatre

Deal Brings Classic Broadway To Classrooms "A new deal between the leading licensor of rights to Broadway shows and the No. 1 U.S. textbook publisher means schools will soon be teaching students as young as first grade to do the 'Hey, gang, let's put on a show' thing with some of America's classic musicals." Philadelphia Inquirer (Reuters) 12/02/04
Posted: 12/02/2004 10:09 am

A Theatre In Every Pot A major new initiative in the UK aims to make sure there's an ensemble acting company in every major town. “The quality of output in Britain is simply not as good as elsewhere. I’ve seen nothing in the UK over the last ten years to rival the standard of theatre I’ve seen in Krakow and St Petersburg. The object for actors nowadays is to go to drama school and get into EastEnders and if we don’t do something the industry will get even more mediocre.” Stage (UK) 12/02/04
Posted: 12/02/2004 7:06 am

12 Theatres To Watch What new American theatre companies ought you to be paying attention to? American Theatre Magazine has compiled a list: "Our representative dozen is by turns tenacious and permeable, ambitious and on a budget, esoteric and low-brow. The work ranges from re-envisioned classics (with or without clowns) to new work by contemporary playwrights; it's vaudevillian, dance-centric, visual art–focused, music-infused, socially conscious, ethnically organized—and fun." American Theatre Magazine 12/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 5:31 pm

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Publishing

Sylvia Plath In The Original A new edition of Syvia Plath's last collection of poetry - restored to the author's intentions - has been published. It includes a forward by the author's daughter... Morning Edition (NPR) (Audio link) 12/02/04
Posted: 12/02/2004 10:14 am

Sherlock's First Case The British Library is putting Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first literary effort on display. "The contents have never been made public or published since Conan Doyle wrote the book while he was working as a doctor in Southsea, probably in the early to mid-1880s, soon after he finished his training at Edinburgh, the city of his birth." The Scotsman 12/02/04
Posted: 12/02/2004 9:49 am

Alabama Legisator Proposes Banning Gay Books An Alabama legislator is proposing legislation that would ban books with gay characters or themes from libraries in the state. "Our culture, how we know it today, is under attack from every angle," Gerald Allen says. "Allen said that if his bill passes, novels with gay protagonists and college textbooks that suggest homosexuality is natural would have to be removed from library shelves and destroyed. 'I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them'."
Birmingham News 12/02/04
Posted: 12/02/2004 9:11 am

Amazon - Not Just For The Books Anymore For the first time, Amazon, which began in the books business but has steadily diversified in recent years, has sold more of other products than books. "During the four-day Thanksgiving weekend, consumer electronics surpassed books as Amazon's largest sales category. The milestone, set at a time when its book business also posted record sales, is an important indication that Amazon can diversify beyond media products." Seattle Times 12/02/04
Posted: 12/02/2004 8:02 am

Lost Truman Capote Novel Found An unpublished first novel by Truman Capote, long thought lost, has been found in a box of photographs and documents abandoned by the author in 1966. The Guardian (UK) 12/02/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 10:58 pm

Did Iris Murdoch Have Alzheimer's? A scientist has analyzed Iris Murdoch's later work and suspects that she may have been suffering from Alzheimer's. The analysis "found that her vocabulary had dwindled and her language become simpler. Alzheimer's is difficult to establish with certainty until after death, but the evidence was there in her last work, diagnosed by computer-based analysis of word use, Dr Peter Garrard reports in the December issue of the journal Brain." The Guardian (UK) 12/02/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 10:09 pm

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Media

Canadian Film Industry Argues For More Tax Breaks Members of the Ontario (Canada) film industry rally to pressure the government to increase film subsidies. Film production has declined dramatically in the province in the past two years. "My income is down to about a quarter of what it was last year, and I've seen it plummeting in the last three years. I'm one of the lucky ones, you know? There are actors I know who are losing their homes, (and) there are families breaking up." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/02/04
Posted: 12/02/2004 7:55 am

Why Is Tavis Quitting NPR? Why is Tavis Smiley quitting his NPR show? He says that his audience on NPR is not high enough and that NPR needs to do more to reach out to minority audiences. "The show, carried by 87 public stations nationwide, was created by NPR with the African-American Public Radio Consortium, in response to a campaign by public radio stations at historically black colleges for more programs aimed at minority audiences. Mr. Smiley's show reached just under 900,000 listeners a week, according to NPR, many of them young and African-American." But the show has built audience steadily, beginning with an audience of only 300,000 two years ago. The New York Times 12/01/04
Posted: 12/01/2004 5:39 pm

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