Blogs Snuff Words? LOL! ROTFL! Not A Chance! We've all heard the argument: e-mail, instant messaging, and the online universe in general are killing the written word, and producing a generation of multitaskers who can't put a simple, well-crafted, correctly punctuated sentence together. But as one linguist points out, what the internet has actually done is to get more people reading and writing than ever before, and the strange informal quirks of much of that writing are not a harbinger of literary doom. "The prophets of doom emerge every time a new technology influences language, of course -- they gathered when printing was introduced in the 15th century." Wired 02/22/05
Posted: 02/22/2005 5:45 am
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Scots Plea For Architectural Mercy Killing "When the makers of a new Channel 4 series on Britain’s ugliest buildings invited viewers to nominate the eyesore they would most like to see demolished they were hardly prepared for a request to flatten an entire town. But civic pride appears to be truly dead and buried in Cumbernauld, a 1950s creation that is home to 52,000 souls 15 miles northeast of Glasgow. Its residents were among the first to contact the programme, begging for dynamite and bulldozer to deliver them oblivion." The town's design won architectural awards in the brutalist-besotted 1970s, but the 2003 "Idler’s Book of Crap Towns" called Cumbernauld the second-worst place to live in the UK. The Times (UK) 02/21/05
Posted: 02/21/2005 7:35 pm
Milan Gets Its Groove Back Stagnant since the 1970s, Milan is in the midst of a revitalization that transforms its old industrial sites and sets it up to compete with Paris and Barcelona. "Now, as the city comes to terms with its post-industrial future, a new layer is about to be added to the city bringing in some of the greatest names in 21st-century architecture – Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid, Arata Isozaki, Massimiliano Fuksas, Norman Foster, Cesar Pelli." Leading the way is Fuksas' new Milan Fiera complex, set to open April 2. The Telegraph (UK) 02/22/05
Posted: 02/21/2005 7:13 pm
Where Are The New Collectors? Disposable income has increased substantially in Britain, but changes in the ways people spend their money have left the art-and-antiques trade scrambling to find buyers. "The truth is that although many people have money to spare, most are not spending it on art and antiques in the way that perhaps their parents and almost certainly their grandparents would have done. Business at the top end of the art market is still brisk, yet there are problems further down the price scale.... There are fewer collectors." The Telegraph (UK) 02/22/05
Posted: 02/21/2005 6:57 pm
Reality-TV Wrecking Ball: The People's Architecture Critic If its citizens have their way, an entire town could be destroyed in a new reality-television series, "Demolition," coming this fall on Britain's Channel 4. "The series is asking for suggestions of eyesores to be put to death, provoking outrage from many architects. ... Of course, it is a bit trite to apply makeover-television ethics to the landscape. But perhaps this series will highlight the inadequacies of a British planning system that so excludes the public." The Times (UK) 02/22/05
Posted: 02/21/2005 6:32 pm
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More Classical Radio Woes Pittsburgh's non-commercial classical music station, WQED, just wrapped up its winter fund drive, with seriously disappointing results. The station is one of the few remaining in the U.S. to program its own classical music without the use of a satellite-based voice tracking service. Some observers suggest that 'QED listeners were angry over the recent dismissal of two popular announcers, but station officials have a gloomier perspective, pointing out that almost no one is making any money playing classical music on the radio these days. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 02/22/05
Posted: 02/22/2005 6:50 am
St. Louis: So Close, And Yet So Far The two sides in the 8-week-old St. Louis Symphony work stoppage are still wrangling, but mediated negotiating sessions very nearly produced a deal last week. The SLSO's president has claimed in the press that new musician demands derailed the deal at the last minute, but the musicians' chief negotiator has been speaking with ArtsJournal blogger Drew McManus, and he says that it was the management that reneged on an agreed-to framework, leaving the two sides stalemated a mere $4000 apart. Adaptistration (AJ Blogs) 02/21/05
Posted: 02/22/2005 5:16 am
Aboriginal Music Goes Industrial "An industry group dedicated to Canada's aboriginal music scene was launched at the East Coast Music Conference and Awards over the weekend." The National Aboriginal Recording Industry Association already has "more than 100 founding members, including 'movers and shakers within aboriginal music.'" CBC 02/21/05
Posted: 02/21/2005 8:57 pm
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Russia Enjoys A KGB Renaissance "The intrepid Russian spy, saving the Motherland if not the world, has come in from the cold. Not since his heyday in the 1960s and '70s, when espionage novels and movies grabbed the imagination of a teenaged Vladimir Putin, has the Russian secret agent enjoyed such a celebrated place in popular culture. Blockbuster movies, TV series, best-selling novels and even theme restaurants are restoring luster to the FSB, the Russian intelligence service, and its predecessor, the KGB, as the country mines the contemporary fight against terrorism and the Soviet past in a search for incorruptible heroes." Washington Post 02/22/05
Posted: 02/22/2005 7:05 am
Climate Change A Threat To Historic Houses? The National Trust for Scotland is one of more than two dozen groups that have united in a campaign aimed at winning politicians to the cause of cutting global climate change. The Trust "is concerned that many of the 120 properties it has responsibility for could be at risk from violent storms, rising sea levels and a dramatic change in temperatures that will devastate wildlife and cause extensive damage to buildings." The Independent (UK) 02/22/05
Posted: 02/21/2005 8:21 pm
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The Thompson Legacy: Pessimism As A Muse To anyone familiar with his writing, Hunter S. Thompson's suicide probably wasn't a big shock, but his drug-addled, gloom-filled prose was some of the best writing done in America in the last hundred years. "He was also what you get when you combine Murphy's Law and some hillbilly Calvinist preaching the doctrine of innate depravity. He believed every man had it in him to do wrong... He spoke in bursts of words that later in his life became so unintelligible that a documentary about him provided subtitles. He had a sharp eye for the right people and he hung out with them. He had charisma. Being around him gave you the charmed but unsettled feeling of having joined an entourage." Washington Post 02/22/05
Posted: 02/22/2005 7:00 am
News Flash: President Bush Has An iPod Okay, he may not have the pop cultural clout of MTV or, um, Paris Hilton, but the President Of The United States actually has a fairly weighty impact on national culture - when he cares to, anyway. "There are certain colorful aspects of the [current] president's life that have not been much explored, understandably overshadowed by war and a hard-fought election. That he listens to Creedence Clearwater Revival on his iPod, for instance. That he loves biographies and has recently dipped into Tom Wolfe's latest take on American culture. That he and his wife are enthusiastic art collectors. That he has no idea what's happening on Wisteria Lane." Chicago Tribune (LA Times) 02/22/05
Posted: 02/22/2005 5:59 am
A Resignation at Scottish Arts Council The head of music for the Scottish Arts Council has resigned to take a position as chief executive of England's Bath Festivals Trust. The SAC has been under fire in recent months for its lack of support for Scottish art and music, particularly in the wake of the government's temporary shutdown plan for Scottish Opera, but Nod Knowles was reportedly highly respected in musical circles. The Herald (UK) 02/22/05
Posted: 02/22/2005 5:34 am
Appreciating Thompson, The Outraged Observer "Hunter S. Thompson died on Sunday, alone with a gun in his kitchen in Woody Creek, Colo. In doing so, he added heft to a legend that came to obscure his gifts as one of journalism's most influential practitioners. Somewhere beneath the cartoon - he was Uncle Duke in the Doonesbury strip, of course, but Bill Murray inked him well in the 1980 film 'Where the Buffalo Roam' - and a lifestyle dominated by a long and sophisticated romance with drugs, Mr. Thompson managed to change the course of American journalism." The New York Times 02/22/05
Posted: 02/21/2005 9:12 pm
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Hunter S. Thompson (67) Kills Himself Hunter S. Thompson shot and killed himself at his home in Aspen Sunday night. "Juan Thompson found his father's body. Thompson's wife, Anita, was not home at the time." The New York Times (AP) 02/20/05
Posted: 02/21/2005 6:16 am
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No Broadway For Hurlyburly The New York revival of Hurlyburly, starring Ethan Hawke and Parker Posey, has decided to skip its turn on Broadway, opting instead for a run at a high-profile off-Broadway theater. The producers say that the decision was largely a financial one. The New York Times 02/22/05
Posted: 02/22/2005 6:36 am
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No Laughing At The Narrators (Until They Leave The Room) "As a researcher at Recorded Books, the audiobook publisher, Paul Topping hunts for precise pronunciations of foreign expressions, medical maladies and obscure geographical and biological names." His job also requires that he keep from laughing when narrators ask him how to pronounce much simpler words. "Proper pronunciation is serious business among audiobook publishers, who are enjoying double-digit sales growth in an otherwise stagnant publishing industry. When reviewers hear gaffes, they let it rip." The New York Times 02/21/05
Posted: 02/21/2005 9:37 pm
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Oscar As A Marketing Tool For Outrage There is no shortage of "message movies" in Hollywood these days, but even films which were designed to be apolitical have been getting the polemical treatment in the highly competitive run-up to Oscar night. In fact, screenings of such highly regarded films as Hotel Rwanda and Vera Drake have been sponsored by activist groups hoping that an Academy Award could bring new attention to their favorite causes. The New York Times 02/22/05
Posted: 02/22/2005 6:39 am
The Unknown Stuntmen Would Like A Trophy There is no Academy Award for stuntmen, largely because Hollywood and its stars want to preserve the widely-believed myth that big stars do their own stunts. But this year, the industry's stunt professionals are demanding that Oscar recognize their considerable contributions. Why not, says Jack Mathews, especially if it means the possibility of getting to watch some of these specialists perform their stunts live on Oscar night? New York Daily News 02/22/05
Posted: 02/22/2005 6:28 am
A Calculated Move The Denver International Film Festival is tired of trying to score quality premieres and attract attention just as every other city in North America fires up its own filmfest, so the well-regarded Colorado festival is moving from October to November in an effort to have the spotlight to itself. "Festival organizers also believe they can use the November date to host sales from filmmakers to distributors. Two movies from last fall's festival won deals during Denver talks, Erickson said, and moving to November, away from more traditional sales markets in other cities, may help increase that number." Denver Post 02/22/05
Posted: 02/22/2005 6:12 am
Can't TiVo A Movie Theater, Can You? "While cinema ads have been around since the 1980s, in the last few years they have become more widespread -- and more sophisticated. The Cinema Advertising Council estimates that cinema advertising revenues have been expanding by more than 30 percent annually. Nationally, about 26,000 of the roughly 30,000 movie screens show commercials." But why run the ads, when consumers are so clearly annoyed by them? Simply put, advertisers are desperate, and the emergence of TiVo and other digital television manipulators has made it ever harder to get advertising messages across. Movies provide a captive audience that can't fast-forward the commercials. But there's backfire potential... Chicago Tribune (Cox) 02/22/05
Posted: 02/22/2005 6:03 am
Edinburgh Film Chief Blasts Renovation Proposal "The head of the Edinburgh International Film Festival today hit out at the proposed redevelopment of one of the city’s most famous cinemas. Only the art deco facade of the former Odeon in Clerk Street will be retained under plans to demolish the historic building to make way for a restaurant and bar and a 240-room student housing complex. The controversial proposal has disappointed film chiefs and heritage watchdogs, who have called for the cinema to be saved from the bulldozer." The Scotsman (UK) 02/21/05
Posted: 02/22/2005 5:43 am
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