When All Of The Knowledge Of The World Comes Together We're in a new era of globalization, writes Thomas Friedman. "We are now in the process of connecting all the knowledge pools in the world together. We've tasted some of the downsides of that in the way that Osama bin Laden has connected terrorist knowledge pools together through his Qaeda network, not to mention the work of teenage hackers spinning off more and more lethal computer viruses that affect us all. But the upside is that by connecting all these knowledge pools we are on the cusp of an incredible new era of innovation, an era that will be driven from left field and right field, from West and East and from North and South." New York Times Magazine 04/03/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 9:40 pm
Click here for more Ideas stories...
Tapestries Solved In Billions Of Numbers An attempt to clean and digitally photograph important tapestries from New York's Cloisters becomes a puzzle only solved when sophisticated mathematicians crunch the billions of numbers stored in digital images. "Each pixel had to be calculated in its relationship to every other nearby pixel, a mathematical problem, known as an N-problem, big enough to practically choke [a supercomputer]. This was a math problem similar to the analysis of DNA or speech recognition..." The New Yorker 04/04/05
Posted: 04/05/2005 8:57 am
The Moscow Biennale's Important First Steps It’s not clear if the first Moscow Biennale achieved its ambitious goals, but "visitors, Russian and Western, agreed that the biennale was the most important event in Russian art of the past ten years. And it seems that legitimization of contemporary art was at least partially achieved." ARTnews 04/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 10:54 pm
Click here for more Visual Arts stories...
Christie's Baroque "The Pied Piper of the ongoing revival of Baroque operas, William Christie is not a man to be disobeyed. If we are now familiar with countless rarities by Handel, as well as long-forgotten gems by Monteverdi, Purcell and the French masters Lully, Charpentier and Rameau, it’s largely because of Mr. Christie’s passion for music written between, roughly, 1600 and 1750, and his ability to sniff out buried musical gold as unerringly as a pig finds truffles." New York Observer 04/04/05
Posted: 04/05/2005 9:21 am
I Starbucks, Major Music Label? Starbucks has had big success selling music in its 4000+ US stores. Building on that success, the coffee retailer is introducing its first album by a little-known band, a next step in building a major music business. The New York Times 04/05/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 10:09 pm
Why Does Opera Get A Pass For Bad Taste? How does the English National Opera get away with portraying Brünnhilde as a suicide bomber? "We confuse medium and message. In other words, more bluntly, if something - be it a person or an art form - is posh, it can play with as much fire as it likes, and if it isn't, it can't even play with matches. As Twilight of the Gods shows, this scheme obtains regardless of the gravitas the subject is actually accorded. If you'd seen a suicide bomber used this flippantly on Holby City, there'd have been resignations by now." The Guardian (UK) 04/05/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 6:38 pm
Stucky Wins Pulitzer Composer Steven Stucky has won this year's Pulitzer Prize for music. "Born in 1949, Stucky has long been associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he currently serves as Consulting Composer for New Music. He also sits on the faculty of Cornell University. He is published by Theodore Presser. As a conductor, Stucky appears frequently with the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group and with Ensemble X, a contemporary music group he founded in 1997." NewMusicBox 04/04/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 2:13 pm
Click here for more Music stories...
After The Theatre? Clevelanders Sleep In The Next Day Clevelanders going out to theatre or concerts on weeknights may be eligible to come to work two hours late the next morning. "The "Late Out, Late In'' promotion, announced Monday, is meant to encourage music and theater fans to enjoy the city's nightlife, even on weeknights. The city's tourism agency organized the promotion with participating employers." The Star-Tribune (Mpls) (AP) 04/05/05
Posted: 04/05/2005 8:03 am
Official: Some Non-Profits A Hotbed Of Tax Evasion The IRS says that some non-profits have become a "hotbed of tax evasion and abuse." Congress is threatening action. "The findings have already sent alarms through the nonprofit community. Last month the industry-convened Panel on the Nonprofit Sector offered a preliminary report on how laws could be tightened and practices improved to curb abuse. In some cases fraud and abuse are committed by the nonprofit itself, such as when a charity is established to benefit its main donor; in other cases, the nonprofit acts an enabler for tax-shelter promoters, such as when a municipality or union takes a fee to participate in a deal that allocates "profits" to it and losses to wealthy individuals." Washington Post 04/05/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 11:25 pm
Record Spending By US Foundations In 2004 Foundation spending in the US increased to record levels in 2004. "An estimated $32.4 billion spilled out of the nation's roughly 66,000 independent, community and corporate foundations in 2004, compared with $30.3 billion in the prior year, a 4.1 percent increase when adjusted for inflation." The New York Times 04/04/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 10:00 pm
An Arts Pulitzer Primer Wondering about the winners of this year's arts Pulitzers? Here's an archive of reviews and features about the play, music and writing that won. The New York Times 04/05/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 9:18 pm
Canada To Toughen Copyright Canadian Heritage Minister Liza Frulla says her government intends to inrtoduce tough new copyright laws later this year. "Frulla expressed her intention to toughen Canada's 'antiquated' intellectual property laws through proposed new copyright legislation to be tabled in June. 'We'll also be addressing the peer-to-peer issue. It will give the tools to companies and authors to sue'." CBC 04/04/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 7:31 pm
Click here for more Arts Issues stories...
The Bocelli Phenomenon "No one can deny that he's successful: Bocelli has sold about 45 million recordings worldwide, and maintains a permanent address on Billboard magazine's top-classical-artists chart. Like all big stars, he's become an industry, slickly packaged and watched over by agents, recording executives and concert promoters. His image is carefully managed: Any journalist who would interview him is advised by his handlers not to ask about his blindness or his personal life. In other words, there will be no questions about the loss of his eyesight to glaucoma at the age of 12, or about his divorce in 2001 from his wife, Enrica." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 04/05/05
Posted: 04/05/2005 9:33 am
Click here for more People stories...
Celebrity Shakespeare It used to be that actors did Shakespeare to prove themselves. "Obviously the old standards of judging Shakespeare have to be modified to deal with this new phenomenon. In the old days we might have fussed over how Academy Award winner Denzel Washington lived up to the demands of Brutus. Now it makes more sense to determine how the character of Brutus fits the qualities Washington brings to him." New York Daily News 04/04/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 7:42 pm
August Wilson: A Century Of Plays "August Wilson has almost completed his series of plays chronicling the 20th Century. "His output over the past 20 years has been prodigious. His name is frequently mentioned in the same breath as Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill, and Tennessee Williams. O'Neill set out to write a cycle of plays chronicling the life of a single American family over time, but he completed only one play before he died. Wilson is about to achieve his ambitious goal, and for years to come his cycle will be studied as a reflection of the black ethos in the 20th century. But Wilson is not without his detractors." Boston Globe 04/03/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 5:37 pm
Shanley Wins Drama Pulitzer John Patrick Stanley wins this year's Pulitzer for drama. "Shanley's play opened on Broadway just last week to critical acclaim after an off-Broadway run. It tells the story of a confrontation between a nun and a Roman Catholic priest at a Bronx parish; she suspects the priest of molesting a male student. Shanley, who has written a number of successful off-Broadway plays, captured the Academy Award for best screenplay for "Moonstruck" in 1988." Back Stage 04/04/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 2:15 pm
Click here for more Theatre stories...
Video Finds The Book Biz "With the advent of services like VidLit, which produces short, humorous, animated Flash films about books, authors have a new way to reach online readers. Because of the viral quality of online videos, some writers are finding success at the end of the broadband pipe..." Wired 04/05/05
Posted: 04/05/2005 9:23 am
Pulitzer Win Boosts Poet Laureate US Poet Laureate Ted Kooser's win of a Pulitzer Monday will boost exposure and sales of his work. Kooser's publisher Michael Wiegers said that, "in the wake of yesterday's announcement, he received orders from book distributors for an additional 10,000 copies of "Delights," which has already sold some 30,000 copies. "You're looking at selling 40,000 copies of a poetry book in a world where you'd be happy if you sell 3,000." Washington Post 04/05/05
Posted: 04/05/2005 6:35 am
A Dictionary That Changed The World (It's 250 Years Old) Samuel Johnson was a failed teacher, who, in 1746 began work on his monumental Dictionary of the English Language. It was a labor designed to rehabilitate his reputation and redefine use of the English language. It took him nine years. April 15 marks the 250th anniversary of its publication. The Guardian (UK) 04/03/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 7:14 pm
Click here for more Publishing stories...
Are Discs Dead? "Over the past decade, consumers have purchased well over 10 billion CDs and DVDs. And if you believe the electronics makers, optical discs are now entering their golden age. In the coming months, you're going to hear a lot about two new disc technologies, Blu-ray and HD-DVD, and the powerful coalitions that aim to bring them to market." But guess what? Neither format is going to be a hit. Why? It's all online, baby... Wired 04/05/05
Posted: 04/05/2005 9:37 am
Gore's TV For The Internet Generation What will Al Gore's new TV network look like when it launches this summer? "At first called INdTV, the network now named Current plans to air short- form, fast-paced segments and snippets called "pods'' rather than shows. Tailored for the short attention span, they will be anywhere from 15 seconds to five minutes long." San Francisco Chronicle 04/05/05
Posted: 04/05/2005 7:10 am
American TV Networks Find Religion (Will Ratings Follow?) America's TV networks think there's money in religion. So get ready for a string of religious-themed programming. "A miniseries about the Book of Revelation airs next week, while shows about a Catholic priest probing the supernatural and an Episcopalian minister who converses with God are on the drawing board. Traditionally soft-focused spirituality, exemplified by "Touched by an Angel" and "Joan of Arcadia," is giving way to programs rooted in specific religions and their elements." Back Stage (AP) 04/05/05
Posted: 04/05/2005 6:22 am
Satellite Radio Is Changing An Industry Satellite radio is gaining traction. And as it gains credibility, it i changing the programming landscape. "Total subscribers at XM and its competitor, Sirius Satellite Radio, will probably surpass eight million by the end of year, making satellite radio one of the fastest-growing technologies ever - faster, for example, than cellphones. To keep that growth soaring, XM and Sirius are furiously signing up carmakers to offer satellite radio as a factory-installed option and are paying tens of millions of dollars for exclusive programming." The New York Times 04/05/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 11:17 pm
The Summer Blockbusters - Managing The Risk "The summer movie release schedules show around 25 "major" productions poised for release - most on a near-simultaneous global rollout, to foil the pirates - at an average cost, we've worked out, of $85m. It must be remembered that actual box-office takings are now a minor part of a film's income-generating potential: it's taken as read that individual movies now act as a brand, developing ancillary products from soundtracks to video games to DVDs that - if all goes according to the business plan - will far dwarf what cinemagoers themselves fork out. The pressures to get it right are now so huge that one thing is clear: Hollywood is deeply reluctant to get involved with anything that hasn't already proved itself." The Guardian (UK) 04/05/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 10:45 pm
New Gore Network: TV For The Internet Generation? Al Gore announces the launch of a new cable TV network. "The former vice president and longtime Internet champion joined investors Monday to announce the creation of Current, a cable TV channel that will target younger viewers with a blend of news, culture and viewer-produced video. Gore will serve as chairman of the board of the new venture, which will be based in San Francisco." Yahoo! (AP) 04/04/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 6:23 pm
The Colors Of NPR Does National Public Radio have a diversity problem? " 'Public radio news and information audiences tend to be curious about their world, enjoy learning and are heavier consumers of information than the general population. . . . Our own research finds that these characteristics are present in both groups of listeners, black and white.' But doesn't that let public radio off the hook by pretending its focus on white culture is really just a focus on a transcendent culture - blaming the lack of minority listenership on the fact that not enough minorities go to college?" St. Petersburg Times 04/03/05
Posted: 04/04/2005 6:20 pm
Click here for more Media stories...
