The Brain's Central Command How is it that the human brain is able to multi-task, processing many pieces of information at the same time? New research suggests that the brain has a central "command center" that controls multiple inputs... Discovery 07/20/05
Posted: 07/20/2005 6:46 am
Critical Conversation: Do Critics Make The Art? Sydney music critic Peter McCallum observes that great critics don't reult in great art. "The vigorous state of criticism in London may be a better measure of its democracy than of its art, particularly as far as composition is concerned. That isn’t entirely the critic’s fault. Producing the sort of society which values music is more than critics can achieve. It goes to much deeper values built up over time and is particularly complex in a modern metropolis, which, of its nature, has several powerful forces which are somewhat antithetical to art. It also has the critical mass to enable diverse artistic activity to take place but, as we would all be aware, there are also many deadening effects. In the long term it is the art that is important, not the critics. Criticism is a good measure of social a democratic health but that doesn’t automatically imply artistic health." Critical Conversation (AJBlog) 07/19/05
Posted: 07/19/2005 8:59 pm
Mind Over Machine? "Researchers at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research program, or Pear, have been attempting to measure the effect of human consciousness on machines since 1979. Using random event generators -- computers that spew random output -- they have participants focus their intent on controlling the machines' output. Out of several million trials, they've detected small but "statistically significant" signs that minds may be able to interact with machines. However, researchers are careful not to claim that minds cause an effect or that they know the nature of the communication." Wired 07/19/05
Posted: 07/19/2005 8:24 pm
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Gehry And Piano In A New York Makeover "Frank Gehry and his one-time competitor Renzo Piano are not the house architects of New York City. That distinction belongs to Skidmore Owings and Merrill, the lofty developer to Manhattan’s biggest guns in business and real estate. But the new New York that is taking shape—with its ambitious towers, its cities within a city like the far West Side, Ground Zero and the Atlantic Yards—belongs to these two. So far, the two émigrés seem to be splitting the pie like a couple of New York old-timers." New York Observer 07/20/05
Posted: 07/20/2005 6:55 am
The Smithsonian's Falling Down? The Smithsonian's 18 museums, 10 science centres and zoos, and other facilities are in bad disrepair, and many of have suffered “structural deterioration” and “chronic leaks” so severe that they have limited access to their collections. "Naturally, it all comes down to money. The Smithsonian spent $184.4 million for its facilities in fiscal year 2004, nearly 20% of its annual operating budget of $904 million which comes from federal appropriations and endowment revenues. But the Smithsonian estimates it needs $2.3 billion for revitalisation, construction, and maintenance of its buildings between 2005 and 2013." The Art Newspaper 07/15/05
Posted: 07/20/2005 5:36 am
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Alsop And Baltimore - Many Questions "Exactly what those objections are or why Baltimore's management was willing to hurt relations with the players to rush this appointment [of Marin Alsop] through are unclear. Is it, for the players, personal? Do they dislike her as a conductor? Are they unhappy with her predilection for American music? And what about management? Is it interested in Alsop's vision? Or is it out for the publicity of hiring a woman? The Baltimore Symphony is not in particularly good shape these days. It's deficit has been variously reported as $10 million and $12 million. And the orchestra has hardly demonstrated strong artistic vision of late." Los Angeles Times 07/20/05
Posted: 07/20/2005 6:15 am
Alsop And Baltimore - A Difficult Future? Marin Alsop hasn't yet accepted the music director job of the Baltimore Symphony, which was offered to her Tuesday over the objections of the orchestra's musicians. "The course of events in Baltimore leaves Alsop in an awkward spot. The job may be hers, but musical success hinges on that ineffable thing called chemistry. Liking, respecting, and trying hard for the conductor on the podium count for much in how well a performance goes. Such relationships are even harder to develop after the atmosphere has been poisoned with complaints such as the ones cataloged by Baltimore musicians and magnified in yesterday's Washington Post." Philadelphia Inquirer 07/20/05
Posted: 07/20/2005 6:06 am
Baltimore Symphony Board Offers Music Director Job To Alsop "Despite pleas by its musicians that it consider other candidates, the board of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Tuesday formally offered the post of music director to Marin Alsop, the principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in England, who will become the first woman to head a major American orchestra." The orchestra's musicians responded: "The musicians of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra are disappointed in the premature conclusion of the music director search process. However, this will not dampen our enthusiasm and zest for music-making. We will work together with Marin Alsop and every other conductor to present the inspiring performances our audience has come to expect." Baltimore Sun 07/19/05
Posted: 07/19/2005 8:38 pm
- Marin On The Merits? Marin Alsop would seem to be an excellent choice to lead the Baltimore Symphony, but one shouldn't dismiss the objections of the orchestra's musicians. "The voices were too numerous and too strident to be dismissed as typical grumbling of jaded union musicians. What to make of it? Ms. Alsop's debut with the Baltimore Symphony in May 2002 was well received by critics and audiences. Though I have not heard her conduct the orchestra, her performances with it since her debut have seemingly been successful." The New York Times 07/20/05
Posted: 07/19/2005 8:20 pm
A New Maestro For Calgary The Calgary Philharmonic has a new music diretor. Roberto Minczuk, the recently appointed music director of the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira in Rio de Janeiro, has signed a three-year contract with the orchestra. "Minczuk, who until last May was principal guest conductor of the Sao Paulo State Symphony, recently completed a nine-year tenure as co-artistic director with the same orchestra as well as a two-year term as associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic." Calgary Herald 07/16/05
Posted: 07/19/2005 6:02 pm
Orchestra For Rent Some Australian orchestras are earning a nice side income hiring themselves out. "Want an ensemble for your next corporate do, musicians for a film soundtrack, a backing band for a pop diva? Your state orchestra will be happy to oblige - and no wonder. Despite union claims that it's been stripped of more than $2.2 million in government funding in real terms over the past five years, the Sydney Symphony has notched up a surplus every year since being corporatised in 1996. Driving this is the money that has been coming in from hiring out the orchestra for commercial events. Last year was the fourth consecutive year that income from this sector has grown." Sydney Morning Herald 07/19/05
Posted: 07/19/2005 6:00 pm
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New York Museums Puzzled Over City's Security Funding Plan Many of New York City's cultural institutions are asking why the City funded increased security out of a $2 million pot at only three museums. "Insurance costs are off the chart. Since 9/11, it’s the fastest-growing cost of doing business in the world of exhibitions. New York museum officials became particularly worried after the looting of the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad, speculating that they would face some kind of retribution." New York Observer 07/20/05
Posted: 07/20/2005 6:50 am
Toronto Arts Groups Unite For The Big Ask Five major Toronto arts organizations have joined forces to ask their provincial government for more cash to help complete major expansion projects currently in construction. "The united front is occurring at a crucial time in Toronto's cultural renaissance, as organizations strive to find the final 10 or 15 per cent needed to complete their projects." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 07/20/05
Posted: 07/20/2005 6:27 am
La Fenice Evacuated On Terrorist Scare Italy is trying to assure tourists that its cultural treasures are safe from terrorists. "Police evacuated La Fenice -- Venice's famous opera house -- on Tuesday after finding a suspect package in the building. It proved to be a false alarm." Yahoo! (Reuters) 07/19/05
Posted: 07/19/2005 8:29 pm
Burning Man Revolt Charges Artistic Batteries The annual Burning Man festival is 20 years old this summer. Last year a number of artists were upset about what they perceived as a decline in artistic merit of the event. So they staged a revolt. "BORG2, made up of artists and others upset by the lack of art at last year's Burning Man, did not meet the $250,000 fund-raising goal set at the beginning of the revolt, but did manage to start a nonprofit, elect an art council, raise more than $20,000 and hold an election to decide which artists would get the cash." San Francisco Chronicle 07/19/05
Posted: 07/19/2005 6:34 pm
Does New York's Arts Funding Make Sense? New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs "gives more money for the arts, officials there say, than any other government agency in the United States, including the National Endowment for the Arts. The way they do it, however, doesn’t have everybody cheering. 'It's inequitable, it's irrational, it doesn't satisfy anybody,” says Norma Munn, who has been following the city’s arts budget since she helped found the New York City Arts Coalition two decades ago. 'The bulk of the organizations that get the money use it extremely well. But as a city policy, the way it’s distributed just doesn’t make much sense'." Gotham Gazette 07/19/05
Posted: 07/19/2005 6:27 pm
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John Irving, Mr. Rewrite Author John Irving is working on his 11th and morst complicated novel. "If he weren't a novelist, the guy could run seminars on the art of discipline. His work ethic has always been prodigious. "How many times can I rewrite this book that is three times longer and five times more complicated than most people's novels? More times than anybody else. If I value one thing in myself as a writer, it's that I could work and could learn to be proud of how many times I could revisit the same sentence, the same character." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 07/20/05
Posted: 07/20/2005 6:22 am
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Now Write Your Way Out Of This One! The former heads of the Colobian drug cartel are in US prison, where a the government won't let them pay for their defense with drug money. What to do? Write a book. "Such a book could contain explosive revelations about past connections between the political establishment and the drug trade in Colombia. Former Colombian president Ernesto Samper's time in office was tainted by claims that the Cali cartel contributed six million dollars to his 1994 electoral campaign, though the congress eventually cleared him of the charges. During its heyday in the 1980s, the Cali cartel controlled 80 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the United States, according to US authorities." Yahoo! (AFP) 07/20/05
Posted: 07/20/2005 6:59 am
How The Post Office Threatens To Kill Rural Canadian Libraries "Since 1939, Canada Post has offered libraries across the country a subsidized shipping rate of less than $1 per book when sending books back and forth for inter-library loan programs. Under a new plan proposed to take effect April 1, 2006, libraries will be charged commercial rates, which can be as much as $14 per book. If this change goes ahead, many rural libraries won't be able to afford to take part in the service and many Canadian readers will have access to fewer books." CBC 07/19/05
Posted: 07/19/2005 6:52 pm
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Product Placement Gone Wild "In 2004, the value of television product placements (a product or brand name inserted for marketing purposes into entertainment fare) increased by 46.4 per cent over the year before, to $1.88 billion, according to the research firm PQ Media. For the networks and producers raking it in, that's quite a haul. Meanwhile, the audience is at the receiving end of a sales drive neatly tucked into the story line, whether it's for the Buick touted by sexy Gabrielle on ABC's Desperate Housewives or the Campbell's Soup served up on NBC's American Dreams." Toronto Star 07/20/05
Posted: 07/20/2005 5:56 am
Shorts Hit The (Medium) Big Time Big media ompanies are on the hunt for young filmmakers who have been working in short-form internet video. "There's very little quality short-form video available. Outside of the music industry, movie studios and cable channels aren't in the habit of producing short videos, so there isn't much inventory. What's more, creating short formats popular on the internet isn't a talent many professional TV and film producers have developed, since it's enormously difficult to tell a story in three minutes." So studios are turning to "a new breed of internet video producers creating low-budget, short-form films and animations for websites and web video channels." Wired 07/20/05
Posted: 07/20/2005 5:43 am
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