Insta-Answer Changes The Class Tecahers are finding that devices that instantly register student answers to questions in class, change the dynamics of a class. "The devices, which the students call "clickers," are being used on hundreds of college campuses and are even finding their way into grade schools. They alter classroom dynamics, engaging students in large, impersonal lecture halls with the power of mass feedback. Clickers ease fears of giving a wrong answer in front of peers, or of expressing unpopular opinions." Wired 05/16/05
Posted: 05/16/2005 7:48 am
Hand Off To Better Story-Telling A new study suggests that we may be able to use language better irf we move our hands. "The very fact of moving your hands around helps you recall parts of the story--the gestures help you access memory and language so that you can tell more of the story." Science Daily 05/11/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 3:59 pm
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A Conceptual Art Day Camp In The Shadow Of New York "On Saturday, with the help of the Public Art Fund, the artist Allison Smith and more than 100 other artists commandeered [New York's] Governors Island to create a kind of conceptual art version of day camp. Or maybe a Dadaist's dream of a craft fair. Or else a mini-Woodstock in which music was replaced by artists taking the stage in mock-military style to declare that they were fighting for causes like "sequined religious figures," "the right to sing sentimental songs in full," "the right to be scared" or more straightforward causes like financial support for AIDS research and ending overfishing of the oceans." The New York Times 05/16/05
Posted: 05/16/2005 8:57 am
Saving Buildings Of The Soviet Avant Garde Important historical buildings are being threatened in Moscow. Preservationists are "concerned about the legacy of the Soviet avant-garde, the buildings designed in the 15 or so years following the 1917 October revolution, perhaps the most fertile period in Russian architectural history. These buildings range from the expressionistic forms of architects like Konstantin Melnikov to the machine-inspired, functionalist structures of the Constructivists. They are stunning for their eclecticism, yet they were united by an unfaltering optimism. The goal was to overthrow centuries of cultural history and to replace that past with an architectural order that would embody the values of a new, modern society." New York Times Magazine 05/15/05
Posted: 05/16/2005 7:27 am
Rolf To Paint Queen Queen Elizabeth has agreed to have her portrait painted by TV painter/entertainer Rolf Harris. "She will have a formal sitting with the Australian entertainer for a Rolf on Art special for BBC One. Harris said he was "thrilled to bits". When the BBC put the idea to Buckingham Palace, they were told the Queen would be delighted to take part." BBC 05/16/05
Posted: 05/16/2005 7:24 am
Turkish Dam Theatens Historical Sites Turkey plans to go ahead with a controversial dam that theatens to submerge important historical sites. "If the dam goes ahead the whole town will be submerged with the exception of the citadel, perched on top of the cliffs. Among the losses will be the Sultan Suleiman Mosque, the minaret of which is one of the most outstanding examples of early 15th-century Ayyubid architecture; the cylindrical tomb of Zeynel Bey, a rare example of Central Asian style architecture in Anatolia; and the tomb of the holy Imam Abdullah, grandson of Cafer-i Tayyar, uncle of the prophet Mohammed, a shrine visited by about 30,000 Shia pilgrims each year." The Art Newspaper 05/13/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 7:39 pm
Brits Drop Stolen Art Database "The British government has quietly dropped plans for a database of stolen art and antiquities, although this was a key element in helping to enforce a new law. The Dealing in Cultural Objects Act came into force at the beginning of 2004, and the government then advised dealers that consulting the projected database should be part of the “due diligence” process, to help establish that they were not knowingly handling tainted objects." The Art Newspaper 05/13/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 7:36 pm
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Opera Idol In Montreal Two hundred singers entered the 2005 Concours Musical International de Montréal. Now it's down to the finals. "The competition used to be a triumvirate of voice, violin and piano. But that's all changed. Voice is undoubtedly the star of the event at the Centre Pierre Peladeau, where music fans mingle with voice teachers and coaches, as well as aspiring singers from the Conservatoire, McGill and the Atelier lyrique of Opéra de Montréal. 'Voice is where it's at. Piano and violin are important, don't get me wrong, but everybody wants to know who the next great tenor or bass or mezzo is going to be'." The Globe & mail (Canada) 05/16/05
Posted: 05/16/2005 8:49 am
Benedetti Debuts At No. 2 Seventeen-year-old vilinist Nicola Benedetti has a hit. Her self-titled new album has landed at No. 2 on the classical charts after only a week on sale. "It is the highest ever position in the classical chart for a debut violinist in the first week of sales. In the popular charts, the album has achieved a position in the top 75 - also a record-breaking first week of sales for a classical violinist." The Scotsman 05/16/05
Posted: 05/16/2005 8:07 am
Melbourne Opera Merger Called Off Two Melbourne opera companies have called off a planned merger. "Independent opera companies Melbourne City Opera and the Melbourne Opera Company announced plans in December to merge under the new name VicOpera. The new company appeared destined to benefit from a State Government funding boost, but the merger has been scrapped." The Age (Melbourne) 05/15/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 8:48 pm
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WWII's Enduring Hold On Us Why does World War II endure as a topic of our imagination? "There are important cultural reasons for its persistence. This was, historically, the first continental war to be waged in the age of broadcasting. Radio and film conveyed its actuality and artists quickly converted its sounds and images into creative work. Art was a battlefront in itself. Dictators harnessed it to their propaganda machines while the democracies unintentionally inspired a spontaneous cultural renaissance." La Scena Musicale 05/13/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 8:34 pm
Taking The Mass Out Of Mass Media Our consumption of mass media is dropping off. Why? "It can't be a coincidence that the five major pillars of the American media — movies, television, radio, recorded music and newspapers — are all suffering at the same time. And it isn't. Something major has changed over the past year, as the availability of alternative sources of information and entertainment has finally reached critical mass. Newly empowered consumers are letting the producers, creators and managers of the nation's creative and news content know that they are dissatisfied with the product they're being peddled." New York Post 05/10/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 4:04 pm
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Jack Soto's 25 Years At NY City Ballet "Jock Soto retires from the New York City Ballet’s stage on June 19 at the age of 40, after 25 years with the company. For the latter part of that period he has been extolled as a partner—as if that were his main (even sole) virtue, as was, essentially, the case with the company’s Conrad Ludlow in the past and Charles Askegard today." But there was so much more to his dancing... Seeing Things (AJBlogs) 05/15/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 7:44 pm
An Operatic Power Player Goes Home "Matthew Epstein, who left Lyric Opera of Chicago last month after a 25-year association, has returned to his former home base at Columbia Artists Management Inc. in New York. He agreed to a five-year contract as director of the company's various vocal divisions. Currently celebrating its 75th anniversary, CAMI is one of world's most prestigious artist management firms." Chicago Sun-Times 05/14/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 9:01 am
Malcolm X, Reconsidered A new exhibit at the New York Public Library is prompting a scholarly reexamination of the life and work of civil rights leader Malcolm X. The artifacts and writings from the life of the controversial activist provide a more complete look at the life of a highly complex thinker than has ever previously been available to the public, and "the exhibition also represents an end to a wrenching public struggle over their ownership of Malcolm X's personal effects. After almost being auctioned in 2002, most of the items were reclaimed by the family, which deposited them with the [library] in 2003." The New York Times 05/14/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 8:30 am
Art Is In The Heir You won't usually find Alice Walton's name listed among America's more prominent art collectors, but the WalMart heiress has spent the last 15 years amassing an impressive array of American art. "Slowly and methodically, Ms. Walton has paid top dollar at auction and through dealers for the best paintings, drawings and sculptures she can find by artists like Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, George Bellows, Marsden Hartley and Charles Willson Peale. The goal, the family foundation says, is to start a museum in Bentonville, Ark., where her father, Sam Walton, opened his first retail store in 1951." The New York Times 05/14/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 8:10 am
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"Rings" Advance Sale Goes Crazy The new Lord of the Rings musical doesn't open in Toronto for 9 months yet, but tickets are selling like crazy. "Tickets for The Lord of the Rings went on sale yesterday on the Internet only and were expected by midnight to reach an impressive total of nearly $1 million (all figures Canadian). Add to that the $3 million in advance group sales and it means that close to $4 million or roughly 40,000 tickets have been sold before the box office opens to the general public today at 9 a.m." Toronto Star 05/16/05
Posted: 05/16/2005 9:09 am
Snubbed Jukebox Musicals Here To Stay This year's Tony nominations ignored jukebox musicals - those that are built around the songs of pop groups or pop songwriters, inserting them into a story. But that doesn't mean the popular shows are disappearing any time soon. Backstage (AP) 05/15/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 7:32 pm
Dragone - Ambition Outstrips Ability Franco Dragone has reinvented theatre in Vegas. After a string of hits, he's undertaken his most ambitious show yet, at Steve Wynn's new mogul-named hotel. "Dragone's new water-based extravaganza -- which opened here last weekend -- is at once deeply troubled and proudly uncompromising; arrestingly original and inevitably derivative; dripping with heart and strangely removed. You could say much the same about the much-hyped Wynn Las Vegas Hotel, wherein whimsy has been left outside on the street. And yet "Le Reve" also is at war with its surroundings." Chicago Tribune 05/15/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 7:25 pm
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The Cranky Font "Typography, it turns out, is not always such dumb fun. Graphic designers, who often have fonts to sell, can be cranky about where their p's and q's come from, and they seem to be getting crankier by the minute. Maybe it's because there is less and less demand for original typefaces; free fonts are easy to come by on the Web." The New York Times 05/16/05
Posted: 05/16/2005 9:02 am
Looking In On Captive Writers Three writers are spending a month locked up together while they write. "Architects and designers created three studio "pods" for the writers to live and work in - an indoor "treehouse" with grass on the roof, a high-tech Japanese-style angular box with rice-paper walls, and an open-plan space made of boxes and movable walls that can be hoisted with ropes and pulleys. The writers are allowed to use a roof terrace and other areas within the gallery for 90 minutes a day - they must clock out on time cards. There are no locks on the doors, but they are encouraged not to leave the building." Philadelphia Inquirer (Reuters) 05/15/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 5:32 pm
Libraries Without Books The University of Texas is moving out all of its books, replacing them with an "electronic learning center". "Such digital learning laboratories, staffed with Internet-expert librarians, teachers and technicians, have been advancing on traditional college libraries since appearing at the University of Southern California in 1994. As more texts become accessible online, libraries have been moving lesser-used materials to storage. But experts said it was symbolic for a top educational institution like Texas to empty a library of books." The New York Times 05/14/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 3:57 pm
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Searching For Media - The Next Big Thing? Sure, there's plenty of music and video online. But how do you filter it all so you can find what you're looking for? "This desire for a better multimedia mousetrap has led Internet firms large and small to respond with search engines that can filter results by media type like music or video, similar to how they can for images or news today. Such functionality represents the next battlefield of the Internet search wars, and a potential opportunity for those challenging Google's crown." Yahoo! (Billboard) 05/16/05
Posted: 05/16/2005 7:56 am
Shape-Shifter - Is TV Really Changing? So VCRs and Tivo and DVDs have changed the ways we watch TV. But has it really changed TV? "Time-shifting was supposed to revolutionize the way we watch TV. But while there's an undeniable shift towards more consumer control at work here, time-shifting hasn't changed the overall pattern of viewing TV shows: You still watch a standard rotation of programs -- you just get to juggle the rotation to fit your schedule." Boston Globe 05/15/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 6:45 pm
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Ballet Newcomers To LA Have A Rough Road Ahead Three new ballet companies have their sights set on making a home in the Los Angeles region. But these efforts look naive to some. "Perhaps the directors of the struggling ballet companies in such communities as San Diego, Santa Barbara, Claremont, San Pedro, Anaheim and the L.A. metropolitan area ought to invite the classical newcomers for a facts-of-life session about survival in our battle-scarred ballet landscape. Even the Pentagon might learn a thing or two about strategies for existing in a constant state of emergency." Los Angeles Times 05/15/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 3:53 pm
Boston Sheds Some Russians, Gains Some Skill This weekend marked the close of Boston Ballet's third season under artistic director Mikko Nissinen, and the change in the quality of the company's performance over that time has been striking. "Without the kind of wholesale purge that could have left the Ballet reeling, [Nissinen] has slowly changed the company's personnel both behind the scenes and onstage. The coaching staff he's brought in -- especially Spanish-born Trinidad Vives -- is first-rate. Those additions have largely replaced the Russian teachers and coaches whose attitude was that their dance heritage alone made them superior." Boston Globe 05/15/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 10:24 am
Selling The Dance Dance executives across the country bemoan the modern-day public's lack of interest in the form, and despair of ever again convincing large numbers of ticket-buyers to attend a traditional ballet not concerned with nutcrackers and sugar plum fairies. But Kennedy Center chief Michael Kaiser insists that the marketing of dance is not rocket science. The key is to trust the public's intelligence, create a marketable identity for your company, and never to overestimate your own popularity. The New York Times 05/15/05
Posted: 05/15/2005 10:13 am
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