Copyright - Liberators V. Protectors
"Challengers of copyright and patent legislation often portray themselves as liberators, bravely opposing a greedy global corporate culture that tries to claim each bit of intellectual property for itself the way imperialist explorers tried to plant the motherland's flag on every unclaimed piece of land. Meanwhile, advocates of tighter control over copyright see things very differently, viewing this attack as an assault on the rights of inventors and writers, undermining those who invest their time and labor to answer human needs and desires."
The New York Times
11/14/05
Posted: 11/14/2005 9:12 am
The Future Of Books In A Digital World
"Because books and their metadata have, until recently, been physical objects, we've had to pick one and only one way to order them in defined, stable ways. When Melvil Dewey introduced the Dewey decimal classification system in 1876, it was an advance because it shelved books by topic, making the library's floor plan into a browsable representation of the order of knowledge itself. But no one classification can represent everyone's way of organizing the world. You may file a field guide to the birds under natural history, while someone else files it under great examples of the illustrative art and I file it under good eating. The digital world makes it possible for the first time to escape this limitation. Publishers, libraries, even readers can potentially create as many classification schemes as we want. But to do this, we'll need two things."
Boston Globe
11/13/05
Posted: 11/13/2005 5:13 pm
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Questions Mount About NY's Landmarks Commission
New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission has not acted on helping to decide the fate of 2 Columbus Circle. "Once considered the most powerful agency of its kind, the commission has lost the confidence of many mainstream preservationists by repeatedly refusing to hold a public hearing on the building's fate. At the urging of those preservation advocates, a city councilman, Bill Perkins, has introduced a bill that could force the commission to hold public hearings on potential landmarks. The implication is that the commission cannot always be trusted to protect the public interest."
The New York Times
11/14/05
Posted: 11/14/2005 7:42 am
TV Show Snubs Scottish Sculpture
A British TV show holding a contest to find the 100 best public sculptures has decided nothing in Scotland is good enough to be considered. "The programme makers told Scotland on Sunday that when they looked for the nation's 100 best public sculptures they decided that, compared with England, Scotland had failed to invest in public sculpture, especially in the 20th century. The humiliating snub has sparked outrage in Scotland, with experts north of the Border accusing Artsworld of 'geographical snobbery' and 'cultural ignorance'."
Scotland on Sunday
11/13/05
Posted: 11/14/2005 7:27 am
The New MoMA - Modernism As Elevator Music?
It's been a year since the new Museum of Modern Art opened. Jerry Saltz has come to an unhappy conclusion about the place. "The more I go to the new MOMA?and I've been there over 50 times since it reopened a year ago this week?the more I think this crown jewel is becoming a beautiful tomb. At MOMA the unruly juice of art history, the chaos, contradiction, radicality, and rebellion, are being bleached out. Instead, we're getting the taming of modernism?modernism as elevator music."
Village Voice
11/11/05
Posted: 11/14/2005 7:23 am
Italian Claim On Minneapolis Vase
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is on the list of museums Italian authorities say have stolen art in their collections. "The Italians support their claim on the Minneapolis piece with a photo of a pottery fragment that appears to match the vase. 'We've not received any notification from the Italians and have no proof that the object was looted,' said William Griswold, the museum's director. 'If we have reason to believe an object has been stolen, we would absolutely want to respond in an ethical and legally responsible fashion'."
The Star-Tribune (Mpls)
11/13/05
Posted: 11/13/2005 7:54 pm
A New Chicago Skyline?
Chicago is famous for its skyscrapers. But a whole new generation of soaring edifaces is being proposed that would transform the skyline. "Every week, it seems, a rendering of a new tower is splashed across the front page or the business page in the hopes of generating positive "buzz" and attracting potential buyers and investors. Some of this may be pure hucksterism. Nothing like a sexy architect's rendering to drum up a prospective tenant or two. Still, every proposal bears watching. It's the ugly one we ignore that -- surprise! -- will get built."
Chicago Tribune
11/13/05
Posted: 11/13/2005 5:52 pm
Italy Contacts Princeton Museum
Italian authorities have contacted Princeton University about two vases they say were stolen from Italy. "This week, Princeton said it had been contacted in December 2004 by Italian law enforcement officials about the vases, which university officials said the museum legally acquired in 1989."
Newsday
11/12/05
Posted: 11/13/2005 5:26 pm
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Shulgold: A Second Listen To Denver's Opera House
Marc Shulgold has some misgivings about Denver's new opera house. It's a cold space, for one. "Acoustically, the Ellie is quite nice. But then, great pains were taken to create a natural, unamplified space for singers. Still, this was not the vibrant, room-filling sound we had expected. From downstairs, the singing and talking during Carmen often faded away if the performers didn't project out to the house or put some oomph in their delivery."
Rocky Mountain News
11/13/05
Posted: 11/14/2005 7:04 am
Italian Divas On Hunger Strike Over Proposed Funding Cuts
Italian opera singers have gone on a hunger strike over proposed government cuts in arts funding. "Culture minister Rocco Buttiglione has threatened to resign over the matter, while opera singers and others in Italy's theatrical world came up with the idea of hunger strikes. Some people have gone on rotational one-day strikes, while others such as Vignudelli starved themselves for two weeks. She is also angry that Berlusconi claims La Scala employs too many people. Barbara Vignudelli has lost 13lb. 'I am a person who is healthy and takes care of herself, so to do this is difficult,' she said. 'But it shows how strongly I feel'."
The Observer (UK)
11/13/05
Posted: 11/13/2005 6:23 pm
What Bloggers Are Doing To Pop Music
"In many ways, the writers at Pitchfork and the Village Voice bloggers are picking up where the late rock critic Lester Bangs - who wrote for Rolling Stone and, later, a pre-blog Village Voice - left off, adding a dose of irony lifted from satirical magazine the Onion to his self-referential, often impenetrable reams of excited babble. Thanks to the bloggers' often highly subjective rants, bands become much talked about on the internet long before they enter the charts. It's all about being in the know, or at least pretending you're in the know."
The Observer (UK)
11/13/05
Posted: 11/13/2005 6:17 pm
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Prize Possession: Competing For Taste
Prizes have shaped and transformed our taste over the years. "It's not just the Oscars, the Emmys, the Pulitzers and the Nobels. It's the film festivals, best-of lists, poetry contests, architectural competitions and international pressure-cookers that serve up the next piano star."
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
11/13/05
Posted: 11/14/2005 8:53 am
Richmond Committee To Study Performing Arts Center Plans
Richmond Virginia mayor Douglas Wilder has formed a new committee to study controversial plans for a new downtown performing arts center. "Wilder and the arts foundation have clashed in recent months over the foundation's plans to expand and renovate the Carpenter Center and surround it with additional arts venues."
Richmond Times-Dispatch
11/13/05
Posted: 11/14/2005 8:44 am
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Author Koontz Accused Of Racism
Dean Koontz is being accused of racism after the author recounted to an audience a story of his dispute with a Japanese executive over a movie."Dear Mr Teriyaki," he read to the audience. "My letter of 10 November has not been answered ... I would assume your silence results from the mistaken belief that World War II is still in progress and that the citizens of your country and mine are forbidden to communicate. Enclosed is a copy of the front page of the New York Times from 1945, with the headline, 'Japan Surrenders'." In other letters Koontz talked about the Bataan Death March and Godzilla.
The Guardian (UK)
11/11/05
Posted: 11/13/2005 6:39 pm
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Three Small DC Theatres That Rock
Three small Washington DC theatres are making names for themselves. "What distinguishes Catalyst, Rorschach and Theater Alliance from the dozens of other upstart troupes is not only a certain consistency but also the sense that these three companies have broken through. In the choice of projects -- whether an experimental twist on a classic, a resurrection of an obscure, centuries-old play or the first American presentation of a modern work by a foreign writer -- there's a level of daring in their offerings. The nerviness of some selections reflects an effort to challenge as well as to entertain."
Washington Post
11/13/05
Posted: 11/13/2005 10:36 am
The Virtual Theatre Stage
"The Woman in White" is the first Broadway show in which "computer-animated images completely dominate the stage. Projections appear on six, 16½-foot-tall curved gray screens that move around the edge of the stage in a circle. Think of the computer animation in a Pixar movie like "Toy Story," with a more realistic, less cartoonish look. The setting can change instantly: as two characters tour an estate, the actors stay put as the background dissolves from one room to another. Or, the animation can take the audience through a three-dimensional environment, over fields, houses, churches and graveyards."
The New York Times
11/13/05
Posted: 11/13/2005 10:20 am
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Securing The Walrus
"The Walrus Foundation has finally obtained charitable status from the federal government, assuring the future of The Walrus magazine. The award-winning magazine, when launched in Sept. 2003, had proclaimed itself Canada's Harper's, Atlantic and Mother Jones ? essential U.S. periodicals that are also supported by non-profit foundations. The Walrus was underpinned by $1 million annually for five years, to come from the Montreal-based Chawkers charitable foundation. But the money could not flow to the Walrus Foundation until its charitable status, too, was confirmed by Revenue Canada."
Toronto Star
11/13/05
Posted: 11/14/2005 8:21 am
Doing The Big Read
The NEA is launching 'The Big Read, its plan to 'revitalize the role of literature in American popular culture.' Set to launch early next year, its pilot effort will fund book projects in six cities. Chairman Dana Gioia said it will be 'the biggest federally run literature program in American history,' a stunning comment from an administration that has pledged to shrink government. Shades of the Federal Writers Project! The inspiration behind 'The Big Read' is community-wide efforts in cities from Seattle to Pittsburgh that use novels to encourage public discussions on social issues."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
11/13/05
Posted: 11/13/2005 8:39 pm
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Why My DVD Won't Copy
"Call it collateral damage in the ongoing war against copyright infringement. Technologies that were designed to combat file sharing and copyright infringement have also limited the average consumer's ability to make personal copies of legally purchased media." International Herald Tribune
11/13/05
Posted: 11/14/2005 9:28 am
Next: TV's Reinvented Business Model
"The iPod video player doesn't matter. Downloading episodes of 'Lost' and 'Desperate Housewives' to computers barely matters. What does matter is the crack in the traditional television business model. Some networks already have skipped the traditional television model and started shipping shows, some of which are produced for online audiences only, directly to the Web. With the growth of broadband, up from 25.3 million households in 2003 to an estimated 42.3 million this year, watching the shows on computers has become easier." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
11/13/05
Posted: 11/13/2005 8:23 pm
Entertainment Unions: Regulate Hidden Ads
"Hollywood writers and actors are calling for a code of conduct to govern a growing trend of hidden advertising in TV shows and films, and they say they will appeal to federal regulators if studios don't respond. The also want their share of the billions of dollars in advertising revenue generated by what they write and act in, their unions say." Newsday (AP)
11/13/05
Posted: 11/13/2005 8:12 pm
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Why Indy Ballet Went Down
Why did Indianapolis's Internationale Ballet go out of business? Insufficient ticket sales, a decline in donations, rising expenses and the lack of an endowment. "The sad thing is we are at a time when Indianapolis has an appetite for something other than sports. And when sports can get the support of government, what you have is a situation where, in many ways, the commitment to the arts is expressed more in words than in actions."
Indianapolis Star
11/13/05
Posted: 11/13/2005 5:19 pm
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