Do Plants Hold The Next Engineering Breakthroughs? Scientists looking for new engineering breakthroughs are "studying plant bionics, which involves cherry-picking evolution's best biological solutions and applying them to engineering problems. The advantage is that you have these hundreds of thousands of (biological) systems and you know they work because of evolution."
Wired 07/10/06
Posted: 07/10/2006 7:51 pm
Click here for more Ideas stories...
SF Museums, Victoria & Albert Museum To Share Collections The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London have made an agreement to share collections. "Under the new arrangement, the Fine Arts Museums and the V&A will have preferential position for sharing exhibitions they respectively organize." San Francisc Chronicle 07/11/06
Posted: 07/11/2006 8:38 am
SOS For The Smithsonian The Smithsonian Museums need some urgent attention from Congress - both financial and ethical. "The Smithsonian's leaders and their congressional overseers are allowing too much of our national museum to be transformed into a series of pavilions where, in exchange for sponsorship money and other deals, corporations may determine what parts of the American story should be told." Los Angeles Times 07/10/06
Posted: 07/11/2006 7:02 am
Kansas African American Museum Stalls Frustrations among some board members of the Kansas African American Museum are building amid reports of a stalled capital campaign, poor attendance at board meetings and a high travel budget. Wichita Eagle 07/10/06
Posted: 07/10/2006 10:51 pm
Turner Prize To Liverpool? For the frst time in 24 years, the Turner Prize will be staged outside of London. "The 2007 show is likely to open at Tate Liverpool, rather than at its traditional home at Tate Britain - a huge coup for Liverpool, which takes up its role as European Capital of Culture in 2008." The Guardian (UK) 07/11/06
Posted: 07/10/2006 8:24 pm
Greece: We Want It All Back Thrilled by its success at getting the Getty to return artworks, Geece plans to "reclaim hundreds of looted art works and antiquities from museums and private collections around the world, the government said yesterday. 'Whatever is Greek, wherever in the world, we want back'."
The Guardian (UK) 07/11/06
Posted: 07/10/2006 8:22 pm
Preserving Video Video art has been around for a while. Much of it is stored away. But now there's a question about how to store and preserve it, and two California institutions are working on solutions... Los Angeles Times 07/09/06
Posted: 07/10/2006 7:18 pm
Click here for more Visual Arts stories...
What Your Ringtones Say About You "Ringtones used to suffer the reputation of music's annoying little cousin. The frustratingly raw, digitized song sketches often recalled the early days of synthesizers and video game soundtracks. But as the technology has come into its own, so has the range of uses, transforming ringtones into a bona fide cultural phenomenon." Denver Post 07/11/06
Posted: 07/11/2006 9:12 am
That Picture Of Mrs Mozart? (Nevermind) Experts are surfacing to dispute the authenticity of a photo from 1840 purported to be of Constanze Mozart. "There are no outdoor photographs of groups of people dating from 1840, because the lenses invented by Joseph Petzval, which were to make such portraits possible, were not available yet. It was simply not possible in 1840 to take sharp outdoor pictures of people as long as the necessary exposure time still amounted to about three minutes." Sounds & Fury 07/10/06
Posted: 07/10/2006 11:02 pm
- Previously: A Photograph Of Mozart's Wife Surfaces "The previously unknown print was discovered in archives in the southern German town of Altötting, local authorities said yesterday, and has been authenticated as including Mrs Mozart. The long-lost photograph was taken in October 1840, when Constanze Weber was 78, at Max Keller's home. The Altötting state archive said it was believed this was the only time in her life that she had been photographed." The Guardian (UK) 07/09/06
Conductor Suddenly Departs Australian Orchestra When Matthias Bamert became music director of the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra, he was touted as the group's savior. Now he has suddenly departed, and no one's talking. "The reason Bamert fell out of favour depends on who you ask, although no one can say on the record because players have received written and verbal warnings not to make any public comment. Before the China tour they signed a code of conduct that reminded them that section 70 of the Crimes Act made it an offence to publicly disclose company matters." The Australian 07/11/06
Posted: 07/10/2006 8:08 pm
Click here for more Music stories...
Lose Weight And We'll Rehire You (Disturbing) "There are potentially disturbing implications in the rehiring by the London Royal Opera House of American soprano Deborah Voigt after she lost 135 pounds. If major opera companies are going to start requiring their stars to be svelte - well, 135 pounds closer to svelte - this could kill one of the last stages where artists don't have to apologize for not being a size 2." New York Daily News 07/11/06
Posted: 07/11/2006 8:53 am
Click here for more People stories...
In Defense Of Contemporary Playwrighting Randy Gener is tired of all the doom-saying about American theatre these days. And why are critics attacking our playwrights? "They [playwrights] are taking real risks and reinvigorating our repertory of contemporary drama with muscular ideas and imaginative fervor. The bitter irony is that these bringers of new works are treated as if they were glassy-eyed dreamers and beggars in a house of plenty." American Theatre 07/06
Posted: 07/11/2006 7:53 am
Is There Too Much Meddling In Birthing Plays? "The new interventionism seems to have begun around 1979 as part of a proliferation of new ideas - devised theatre, documentary, attempts at new forms, physical theatre - that had their roots in the 60s. The emphasis on top-down thinking, rather than anything created writer-up, meant that a new form of censorship began to impose itself. This has led to young writers delivering drafts instead of plays, knowing the humiliation that lies in store." The Guardian (UK) 07/11/06
Posted: 07/10/2006 9:38 pm
Tharp's Bob Dylan Musical Coming To Broadway Twyla Tharp's latest project, a jukebox musical featuring the songs of Bob Dylan, is coming to Broadway. "The Times They Are A-Changin'," a musical conceived, directed and choreographed by the Tony Award-winning Tharp, opens this fall. Backstage 07/10/06
Posted: 07/10/2006 7:10 pm
Click here for more Theatre stories...
Meet Wales' New Poet Laureate Gwyn Thomas has been named Wales' second poet laureate. "Thomas stated his intention to use the role to raise the profile of his country's poets, saying that he hopes to draw attention to the poets of Wales and their work, and try to show that poetry is a unique medium to respond to the world in which we live." The Guardian (UK) 07/10/06
Posted: 07/10/2006 9:41 pm
Historians To Appeal Da Vinci Code Case Two historians who lost their case charging Dan Brown with plagiarizing "The Da Vinci Code" have decided to appeal. "Random House, which won the copyright case earlier this year at the High Court in London, expressed disappointment at the decision by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh to appeal." Yahoo! (Reuters) 07/10/06
Posted: 07/10/2006 7:40 pm
Click here for more Publishing stories...
Nielsen To Measure Ratings For TV Commercials The ratings company Nielsen "plans to measure how many people actually watch TV commercials starting in November, a move that could result in a decline in advertising rates..." Yahoo! (Reuters) 07/11/06
Posted: 07/11/2006 8:24 am
Canadian Government Declines Help For Quebec Fim-makers The Canadian government has declined to give Quebec filmmakers $20 million in "emergency" aid. Last month 20 representatives of the Quebec industry went to Ottawa to complain about "Telefilm Canada's recent announcement that, because of lack of funds, it could help bankroll only four or five Quebec features this year, leaving more than two dozen projects without support." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 07/11/06
Posted: 07/11/2006 8:14 am
CBC In Hot Water Over Mini-series Canada's CBC is embroiled in a dispute over a mini-series about Tommy Douglas, a 20th Century political leader. Descendants of one of Douglas's opponents are protesting the depiction of their ancestor. The CBC seems willing to accommodate the protest, but not to the protesters satisfaction. Meanwhile researchers for the series stand by their portrayals and are angry that CBC is considering the protests. "Is there only one accepted version of history? It's shocking that this is coming from a public broadcaster." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 07/11/06
Posted: 07/11/2006 8:03 am
Why Hasn't Internet Movie Ticketing Caught On? "Because of user fees and a confusing tangle of theater alliances, online ticket sellers like MovieTickets.com and Fandango.com, whose purpose is to save people from long waits at the ticket counter, have yet to win the hearts of mainstream theatergoers. But surging revenues from advertising and a possible shift in business philosophy could change that." The New York Times 07/10/06
Posted: 07/10/2006 7:13 pm
Click here for more Media stories...
Ballet Florida Moves To Compete Ballet Florida is stepping up its game, making new hires and expanding its activities in Palm Beach. "The changes come two years after the Miami City Ballet expanded its presence in Palm Beach County by adding more shows at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts and establishing a development arm there. That company's efforts have paid off with fundraising dollars increasing 45 percent in two years and attendance to Kravis Center performances growing to 25,529 at 25 performances during the season." South Florida Sun-Sentinel 07/10/06
Posted: 07/11/2006 9:22 am
Click here for more Dance stories...
