Tuesday, February 21
Seven Wonders Of The Modern World
What would they be? "In the past few years, voters nominated a number of manmade sites, and the 77 top vote-getters advanced. They were narrowed to 21 in January by a panel of world-famous architects (seven of them). Results will be announced Jan. 1, 2007. The only remaining U.S. site in the top 21 is the Statue of Liberty, though at least the Golden Gate Bridge, Empire State Building and Mount Rushmore made the list of 77 finalists. Even so, it's an interesting glimpse at which of humankind's architectural accomplishments still have the power to inspire."
Seattle Times (Chi Trib)
02/19/06
Posted: 02/21/2006 12:38 am
Click here for more Ideas stories...
Ideas stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
An Oath For Better Building
Too many buildings get built where they don't belong or where they aren't wanted. So how about a Hippocratic Oath for architects...
Chicago Public Radio
02/20/06
Posted: 02/21/2006 7:02 am
UK Heritage Battered By Climate Change
The UK's historical buildings are being damaged by climate change. "Every decision we now make that hasn't factored in climate change is a potential mistake that could cost us time and money to put right later on. This isn't just to do with protecting an 18th-century house," he adds. "It's us saying: this is what our experience is telling us about the whole environment."
The Guardian (UK)
02/21/06
Posted: 02/20/2006 11:46 pm
Germany Returns Parthenon Fragment To Greece
Last month, a German University returned a piece of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece. "On the front, it is simply cut, with the outline of part of a male foot, and on the back is a modern incised inscription, in Greek, with the word “Parthenon”. It was not until 1948 that archaeologist German Hafner recognised that it was the heel of figure number 28 in block viii of the north frieze."
The Art Newspaper
02/20/06
Posted: 02/20/2006 10:54 pm
Italy Accepts Met's Offer To Return Art
Italy has accepted the Metropolitan Museum's offer to return 20 artifacts. "The agreement reached in Rome between Italian officials and the director of the Western Hemisphere's biggest art museum, Philippe de Montebello, may pave the way for other such accords between U.S. museums and countries with rich archaeological resources."
Bloomberg.com
02/20/06
Posted: 02/20/2006 10:52 pm
-
Inside The Met's Italian Decision
The Metropolitan Museum's decision to return artifacts to Italy was Not a decision arrived at recently. "Documents in the case show that much of that evidence had circulated for years — and that while the Met until recently cast skepticism on the Italian claims, it had concluded as early as 2003 that the silver should be returned."
The New York Times
02/20/06
Posted: 02/20/2006 10:50 pm
Tate Britain's Excellent Year
Tate Britain had the "highest rise in visitor numbers among the country's leading tourist attractions. The total number of visitors that passed through the Millbank gallery was 1,733,120 - up 58 per cent in 12 months. By contrast, almost all other leading attractions in London slumped after the 7 July bombings. The National Gallery had 15 per cent fewer visitors, the London Eye was down 12 per cent and the Tower of London by 9 per cent."
The Independent (UK)
02/21/06
Posted: 02/20/2006 10:47 pm
Click here for more Visual Arts stories...
Visual Arts stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Dutoit Sails As Montreal Struggles
Charles Dutoit turned the Montreal Symphony into an exceptional instrument. But he made an abrupt departure four years ago. "Since Dutoit's abrupt exit, the OSM has endured a series of setbacks: The organization has struggled with persistent deficits and a crippling players' strike that lasted for five months. There have been no new discs in the last four years, and the orchestra won't be making its annual pilgrimage to Carnegie Hall next season. Dutoit, on the other hand, hasn't missed a beat."
The Globe & Mail (Canada)
02/21/06
Posted: 02/21/2006 7:48 am
Wanted: Detroit's New Music Director
The Detroit Symphony is looking for a new music director. What kind of person should that be? "Every music director brings his own agenda, his own interests. They are all conductors first. Thirty years ago, that was enough. Now we expect them to be ambassadors as well, and in many different ways, raising money, speaking before concerts, meeting the public after performances. We have to realize that a conductor is a human being with his own strengths and weaknesses."
Detroit News
02/19/06
Posted: 02/20/2006 11:20 pm
English National Opera Gets Some Private Help
Lord Laidlaw, one of Scotland's richest men, is helping to bail out English National opera, with a £2 million donation. Laidlaw, "who has almost single-handedly kept the Scottish Conservatives afloat since 1997, is to help to finance a number of productions over at least two seasons at the Coliseum in London’s West End. His intervention will be a huge relief to the opera company, which has been beset by a wave of financial and managerial problems."
The Times (UK)
02/19/06
Posted: 02/20/2006 11:14 pm
Click here for more Music stories...
Music stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
More Woes For Virginia Performing Arts Center Project
Budget proposals pending before the House of Delegates and the state Senate would strip $4.5 million of the $8.5 million appropriated last year for the planned performing-arts center in downtown Richmond.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
02/21/06
Posted: 02/21/2006 8:11 am
American Arts - Reliable (But Where's The Risk?)
American viewpoints are still scarred by the 1990s National Endowment for the Arts grant debacle, when radical art exhibitions and abrasive performance artists came under fire for using government money. That's one reason American arts organizations would rather do with less than depend on the government. Still, it's hard to argue with the stimulating, government-subsidized stuff that greeted me at every turn earlier this month in Paris. Is what we're missing important? Is America stunting its own artistic growth?
Philadelphia Inquirer
02/20/06
Posted: 02/21/2006 12:09 am
Click here for more Arts Issues stories...
Arts Issues stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Historian Irving Sentenced For Denying Holocaust
British historian David Irving has been sentenced to three years in jail for his statements denying the Holocaust. "Austria has Europe's toughest law criminalising denial of the Holocaust. Irving went on trial for two speeches he delivered in the country almost 17 years ago. He was arrested in November last year after returning to Austria to deliver more speeches despite an arrest warrant against him and being barred from the country."
The Guardian (UK)
02/21/06
Posted: 02/20/2006 11:40 pm
Click here for more People stories...
People stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Zambello Trades Opera For Musical Theatre
Francesca Zambello is one of the top opera directors. But Zambello has decided the time is right to move from opera to musicals. "I've worked on a lot of world premieres in operas and found that it's gratifying but frustrating because it doesn't get done a lot. So I've started to shift quite recently into the musicals market, working with composers and lyricists. And ultimately I do want to work in my language."
The Guardian (UK)
02/21/06
Posted: 02/20/2006 11:50 pm
Springer Into The Future
Jerry Springer, The Opera, has had a rough ride on its UK tour. There have been protests, and ticket sales are slow. "So what does the future hold for Jerry Springer: The Opera? Producer Jon Thoday hopes to stage it in Australia, and has not given up on the idea of a Broadway production, although the controversy around the show has previously made it difficult to attract sufficient funding in America, where the Christian lobby is so powerful."
Glasgow Herald
02/19/06
Posted: 02/20/2006 11:27 pm
Click here for more Theatre stories...
Theatre stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Romance Novels - The New Erotica
The big thing in romance novels these days? Not so much with the wooing and courtship. What do readers want? Erotica, and today's romance novels are spicing it up as the genre grows by double digits. "Publishing goes in cycles. Erotica now seems to be the new hot thing."
USAToday
02/21/06
Posted: 02/21/2006 8:00 am
Doctorow Wins Pen/Faulkner
E.L. Doctorow has won this year's PEN/Faulkner Foundation fiction award for his novel "The March." "It is the second PEN/Faulkner award for the much-honored Doctorow, who won in 1990 for "Billy Bathgate" and whose 1975 novel "Ragtime" established him as a writer capable of combining literary ambition and commercial success."
Washington Post
02/21/06
Posted: 02/21/2006 12:20 am
Click here for more Publishing stories...
Publishing stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
CBC's New Programmer: All About The Numbers
CBC-TV has a new chief programmer, and she has a theory about programming: read the metrics right and you can choose the shows. " 'If a show scored 7.6 out of 10 and that ended up bringing in an audience of x-hundred thousand, I can build models on that that I couldn't with qualitative research.' Which is great if you want the trains to run on time backwards but not very useful if you're trying to engage viewers forwards. Toronto Star
02/21/06
Posted: 02/21/2006 7:57 am
TV While You Work
"We find ourselves in the midst of the long-anticipated convergence of Internet and television, and a weird thing is happening: people are watching television during the workday, in offices, at their computers, sitting up straight in unupholstered desk chairs. They're watching fake ads or clips from "Saturday Night Live" that show up in e-mail in-boxes. And they're watching with their fingers on keyboards, toggling between "Lost" or lusty Colin Farrell and Excel spreadsheets. No wonder, then, that the latest programmers — people trying to create sustainable, popular, commercial Internet television — are incorporating workday attitudes of diligence, can-doism, detail-orientation and, above all, procrastination into new shows." The New York Times
02/21/06
Posted: 02/21/2006 12:03 am
Inside Building The Oscars
"The Academy Awards show is consistently the largest entertainment-driven live broadcast in the world, and it takes roughly 1,000 people to make it happen. At this year's production meeting, there were more than 200 in the room, representing the disparate areas of expertise the show requires, from the medical staff to the stage manager, from the set designer to the telephone technician, the limousine coordinator to the director." Los Angeles Times
02/20/06
Posted: 02/20/2006 11:59 pm
Click here for more Media stories...
Media stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
South African Dancers Go For Record
A South African dance company plans "a double-pronged attack on existing Guinness World Records - the biggest ballet class ever taught and the most dancers to be on pointe together for one minute." The company is recruiting 600 dancers for the attempt.
Independent Online (South Africa)
02/21/06
Posted: 02/21/2006 12:29 am
Click here for more Dance stories...
Dance stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
|
