Is America Obsessed With Ethics? How exactly did American life become so saturated with ethical dilemmas? From Deep Throat to Tom DeLay to journalists who invent characters and plagizarize each other's work, hardly a day seems to go by anymore without someone, somewhere, causing severe moral outrage. "Does that proliferation mean we've become a less ethical society? It's hard to know. One man's blatant violation can be another's technicality... Ethical questions that seem clear-cut in theory - I would never lie - can become complicated in reality." Of course, gray areas of ethics have always existed, but only in the age of instant information and amateur journalism have they become so likely to cause serious problems for so many individuals. Philadelphia Inquirer 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 6:42 am
America's Preoccupation With Class "There is an un-American secret at the heart of American culture: for a long time, it was preoccupied by class. That preoccupation has diminished somewhat - or been sublimated - in recent years as we have subscribed to an all-purpose, mass-market version of the American dream, but it hasn't entirely disappeared. The subject is a little like a ne'er-do-well relative; it's sometimes a shameful reminder, sometimes openly acknowledged, but always there, even, or especially, when it's never mentioned." The New York Times 06/08/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 8:20 pm
Theatre For A New Century (But How?) "The closure of Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's controversial play Behzti at the Birmingham Rep last December exposed a troubling conflict in British theatre. So how does the theatre industry progress into the 21st century, ticking all the right multicultural and ethnicity boxes while reserving the right to be offensive, or at least critical, in its discussion of our increasingly fragmented society and its faiths?" New Statesman 05/30/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 7:35 pm
The Wacky Economics Of Movie Advertising Turns out movie studios are spending much more on advertising their movies than they take in. In 2003, they spent, "on average, $34.8 million to advertise a movie and earned, on average, just $20.6 million per title. Even if the studios had made the movies for free—which, of course, they didn't—they would have lost $14.2 million per film on the theatrical run." Slate 06/07/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 7:20 pm
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LACMA Hires A New Prez From Within The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has found half of the team it plans to install to replace departing president and director Andrea Rch. "Melody Kanschat, a 16-year administrator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, will take over the museum's presidency July 1, museum officials said. The move is part of the restructuring that will make the presidency the second-ranking job in the institution." The top job will be director, and LACMA's search to fill that position is ongoing. Los Angeles Times 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 6:16 am
AGO 70% To Goal "The Art Gallery of Ontario announced yesterday it has raised more than 70 per cent of the CAN$254-million it says it needs to bring superstar architect Frank Gehry's renovation to fruition by spring, 2008, and not coincidentally pay off 'a little bit' of the debt from the AGO's last $60-million expansion, in 1993... The gallery has earmarked CAN$30-million of the anticipated CAN$254-million for the administration and maintenance of its collections, with another $5-million going into a fund to acquire Canadian and international contemporary art." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 5:55 am
- Quite A Comeback AGO's fundraising triumph represents a considerable turnaround from the museum's misfortunes of a year ago. For a while, it seemed that AGO couldn't stumble out of a crisis without bumping headlong into another one. But Toronto's cultural elite rallied behind the beleagured museum, and this week's announcement that AGO is within striking distance of having money in the bank sufficient to stabilize itself and pay for a glamorous new building goes a long way towards rehabilitating its bruised image. Toronto Star 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 5:52 am
Bringing A Bit Of Retailing Wisdom To The Arts How is it that American art museums are flourishing, even as orchestras, theatres, and so many other arts institutions find themselves desperate for cash and running annual deficits? The answer may be as simple as an increased focus on the customer. "Art museums have learned the lessons of successful retailers in that they allow people to visit at all times of day, including evenings and weekends, not at a prearranged time. And a visitor can go at his or her own pace in a museum, looking, reading, thinking and enjoying. Plus, a concert, dance, performance or film is often included in the price of admission." Seattle Times 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 4:59 am
Philadelphia Museum In Half-Billion Dollar Expansion "The Philadelphia Museum of Art is embarking on what would be the largest cultural expansion in Philadelphia history, an extremely ambitious, $500 million effort to expand and renovate its iconic building at the end of the Parkway." Philadelphia Inquirer 06/07/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 6:52 pm
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The Right-Wing Folk Machine? In North America, folk music has traditionally been the purview of the political left, the stripped-down performance of protest representing a quaint, if frequently ineffective, method of protest against the powerful. But in Israel, it is the far right which has embraced folk music, using it to protest Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to pull Jewish "settlers" out of the Gaza Strip. As in most folk music, subtlety is cast aside, and the message is clear: this land is our land. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 6:09 am
Bach Work Found Three Centuries Later Hidden for 300 years in a shoebox, a long forgotten Bach aria has been rediscovered. 'The work, for a soprano and harpsichord, was written in October 1713 as a birthday present for Bach's patron, Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar." The Guardian (UK) 06/08/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 8:08 pm
English National Opera Adds Supertitles The English National Opera says it will start using supertitles, even though its operas are performed in English. The company says that "research showed 61% of its audience was more likely to return to the Coliseum if surtitles were used. They will be introduced from March 2006, beginning with Vaughan Williams' Sir John In Love." BBC 06/07/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 7:00 pm
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What Is It About That Harvard Brand? "Why does Harvard continue to dominate its rivals, at least in terms of reputation? It's not as though its degrees guarantee great jobs. According to research from the University of Pennsylvania, the percentage of top executives at Fortune 100 companies who were Ivy League undergrads dropped from 14% to 10% from 1980 to 2001. A study by Spencer Stuart, the executive search firm, shows that as of 2004, Harvard no longer owns the No. 1 ranking as the university attended by the most CEOs of Standard & Poor's 500 companies (just under 4%). The school that caught up to it: the University of Wisconsin." USAToday 06/07/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 6:55 pm
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Actress Anne Bancroft, 73 "Bancroft was awarded the Tony for creating the role on Broadway of poor-sighted Annie Sullivan, the teacher of the deaf and blind Helen Keller. She repeated her portrayal in the film version. Yet despite her Academy Award and four other nominations, "The Graduate" overshadowed her other achievements." Yahoo! (AP) 06/07/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 7:44 pm
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Tony Can't Save La Cage "On Sunday, La Cage aux Folles won Tony Awards for best musical revival and choreography. On Tuesday, producers of the $10 million revival said the show will close June 26 after a disappointing seven-month run of 229 performances." Mixed reviews hurt the show's box office, and had recently been playing to half-empty houses at Broadway's Marquis Theatre. Washington Post (AP) 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 6:59 am
Pittburgh Cherry Picks A Cleveland Director "[Pittsburgh's] City Theatre has a new managing director, Greg Quinlan, former managing director of the Great Lakes Theatre Festival in Cleveland. Starting Aug. 15, Quinlan will team with artistic director Tracy Brigden to run the $2.4 million not-for-profit South Side company that owns two theaters and specializes in the production of contemporary plays." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 6:49 am
Odd Couple Has Bonanza First Day Box Office In its first day on sale, the Matthew Broderick/Nathan Lane production of The Odd Couple sells $7 million woth of tickets. "At this astounding pace, it is thought that the production could potentially sell out its limited run before the first preview, set for Oct. 4. It is also conceivable that the Joe Mantello-directed revival could recoup well in advance of opening." Playbill.com 06/07/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 8:22 pm
Manhattan Theatre Club Rebounds The Manhattan Theatre Club has had a great year. Contrast this with a horrible 2003-04 season, and the success is evern sweeter... The New York Times 06/08/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 8:17 pm
Belfast's Lyric Shrugs Off Extinction Belfast's Lyric Theatre has staved off demise with an injection of cash fundraising. "The Lyric is Northern Ireland's only producing theatre. It famously kept its doors open during the Troubles, with actors such as Simon Callow sometimes performing to a background of bombs and gunshots. Neeson, born in Ballymena, called it his "Belisha beacon of light". During blackouts, actors would hold candles and ask the audience to hold lamps. But the Lyric's rotting building has been described as squalid. Backstage, the actors cannot flush the toilet during a performance." The Guardian (UK) 06/08/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 8:06 pm
RSC Gives London Another Try The Royal Shakespeare Company is returning to London, performing in three theatres owned by Cameron MacIntosh. "It is hoped Tuesday's deal, to last over the next five years with theatre producer Sir Cameron, will provide a more stable future for the RSC, which receives almost £13m of public funding." BBC 06/07/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 7:04 pm
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Europeans Take On Google Amazon and Google have both launched major book-digitizing intitiatives in recent months, and that has publishers outside the U.S. concerned about increased competition and the further encroachment of American corporations on their turf. "Google's ambitious undertaking has created unease in France over the hegemony of the English language and has led to a European effort to organize an alternative library scanning initiative." Now, a group of German publishers have started their own digitizing project as well, in an effort to head Google off at the pass. Still, given the financial resources available to Google and Amazon, the European projects have to be considered a long shot. International Herald Tribune (Paris) 06/06/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 6:33 am
Scholars On A Mission Eight decades ago, a book collector from Cleveland gathered an impressive array of medieval manuscripts, then divided them into 40 boxes and dispersed them to locations around the world, in an effort to increase the accessibility of such rare antiquities. But over the years, scholars had lost track of the boxes, and the collector's vision was never truly realized. Now, two Canadian scholars are hard at work tracking down the boxes (they've found 33 already,) with the aim of digitally reconstructing the original manuscripts so that they can be shared with the entire world. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 5:59 am
Big Thrills, Little Exposure Authors of suspense novels don't get a whole heck of a lot of respect from the rest of the publishing world, and even getting their books displayed can be a challenge. But the second-class status may be changing, at least if the authors themselves have anything to say about it. "Thriller writers across the country have formed a national organization to burnish their image, honor excellence in suspense writing, and create new ways for readers to discover their books." Boston Globe 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 5:28 am
Another One Goes Down - Palahniuk's Readings Inspire Fainters Chuck Palahniuk has been having difficulty reading from his story Guts on his recent tour. "So far, 67 people have fainted while I've read Guts. For a nine-page story, some nights it takes 30 minutes to read. In the first half, you're pausing for so much laughter from your audience. In the second half, you're pausing as your audience is revived." The Telegraph (UK) 06/07/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 8:12 pm
How Returns Are Killing The Book Industry "Returns are the dark side of the book world, marking not only failed expectations, but the crippling inefficiencies of an antiquated business. It's a problem that's only getting worse. The industry's current economic model pushes publishers to generate a small number of blockbuster hits. But picking winners is a quixotic enterprise, and as publishers ship an ever-increasing number of books to stores, hoping to hit the jackpot every time, stores are sending an ever-increasing number back." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (WSJ) 06/07/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 7:47 pm
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Everything Must Go! "Over the next three months, Miramax Films, founded and operated by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, will release at least 10 movies, including seven films that have been gathering dust on the studio's shelves for up to four years. The backlog is so profound that the directors of three of those films have started, filmed and almost completed new movies with other studios in the time it has taken Disney-owned Miramax to bring their earlier films to theaters... The release of several of the Miramax movies was held up partially by the very public divorce of the Weinsteins and Disney, which bought the studio in 1993. With the Weinsteins set to leave Disney and Miramax on Sept. 30, the brothers say they are determined before their exit to supervise the debuts of movies they produced and purchased." Los Angeles Times 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 6:14 am
The DaVinci Trailer How big a pop cultural phenomenon is The DaVinci Code? Well, here's one indication: filming on the movie version of Dan Brown's runaway bestseller hasn't even begun (and Westminster Abbey has declined requests for parts of the film to be shot there,) and yet a preview for it is running in front of George Lucas's latest Star Wars installment. The book has generated considerable controversy amongst Catholics, but the quibbling doesn't appear to have hurt the book's popularity, and Hollywood is salivating over the prospect of carving out a chunk of the franchise. Chicago Tribune 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 5:36 am
Right Stuff - Hollywood Right Organizes Its Own "Some outnumbered Republican entertainment workers not only yearn for equal access to filmmaking in famously left-leaning Hollywood but also consider themselves at war against a hostile left-wing majority, with battles being waged on the Internet, in books, at film festivals and even in nightclubs (hence a comedy troupe named the Right Stuff). They're even -- gasp! -- organizing in groups like the Hollywood Congress of Republicans, which sponsors luncheons at which celebrities including Ben Stein and Morgan Brittany offer moral support to a like-minded political minority that is sick of being mocked by industry taste-setters." Yahoo! (Reuters) 06/07/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 7:49 pm
Study: "G" Movies Outperform "R's A study by a group that promotes family movies says that "G"-rated movies are more profitable than those rated "R". "The study, released Tuesday by The Dove Foundation, showed that the average G-rated flick was 11 times more profitable than its R-rated counterpart, but the film industry made more than 12 times as many R-rated as G-rated movies from 1989-2003." Backstage (AP) 06/07/05
Posted: 06/07/2005 7:09 pm
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