Concentration Camp Museum Won't Return Survivor's Paintings Dina Gottliebova Babbitt is a survivor of Auschwitz. While she was there she made watercolor paintings. The paintings are in the Auschwitz Museum, but the 83-year-old Gottliebova Babbitt wants them back. "The Auschwitz museum, which considers the watercolors to be its property, has argued that they are rare artifacts and important evidence of the Nazi genocide, part of the cultural heritage of the world." The New York Times 08/30/06
Posted: 08/30/2006 7:53 am
Protection Asked For Arctic Carvings Archaeologists are pressing for protection of rare ancient Arctic rock carvings after news they have been damaged. "The approximately 170 petroglyphs are mask-like images and animal shapes carved into a soapstone ridge on Qajartalik Island, one hour by boat from the village of Kangiqsujuaq." CBC 08/29/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 7:03 pm
Museum Of Modern Art Takes (Economic) Stock "What is MoMA's value to society? It may seem a callous inquiry. Artists view MoMA as a priceless collection. But economists, being an unsentimental lot, frequently occupy themselves with such diversions. Indeed, MoMA itself entered the fray with a June study by the firm of Audience Research and Analysis claiming that from late-2004, when it reopened, through mid-2007, the museum's economic impact on the city will total $2 billion." OpinionJournal.com 08/30/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 5:50 pm
Illuminating A "Trash-aesthetic Extravaganza"? "This autumn more than three million people will travel to Blackpool to see a work of art that is hardly ever mentioned in the metropolitan press. The Blackpool Illuminations attract many more visitors than the Edinburgh Festival. They have been up and running for far longer, too. So why do the broadsheets ignore this trash- aesthetic extravaganza? They don't know what they're missing. The Illuminations aren't just an excuse for a good piss-up: they also shine a light on Britain's light-entertainment past."
Posted: 08/29/2006 12:18 pm
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Orchestra On The Move (Literally) How do you move a large symphony orchestra around Europe? It's a ballet of trunks and containers. "The payload has its own itinerary, flying from Toronto to Rome to Athens to begin the tour, while the musicians flew through Frankfurt. The cargo has its own seating arrangement, with each case holding multiple instruments stacked like a Tetris game on pallets loaded into the plane. It also has its own strict program -- an important customs document called the carnet that is as strictly adhered to as any concert personnel chart." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 08/30/06
Posted: 08/30/2006 8:56 am
Reversal - Music Giant Okays Free Downloads "Universal Music Group announced Tuesday that it would license its digital catalog to a website offering free legal downloads. The two-year deal marks a significant shift in an industry long criticized for fighting, rather than harnessing, the Internet's potential. The new website, backed by New York company SpiralFrog, hopes to make money selling advertisements that play while songs download." Los Angeles Times 08/30/06
Posted: 08/30/2006 7:41 am
Boston Symphony Changes Crew Rules (And With Them, A Tradition) The Boston Symphony has decided to change the work rules for its hall crew. "It is no secret that BSO management has wanted to cut overtime for the non-unionized crew for years. Cost is not the only issue, as the symphony will save no more than $250,000 by making the overtime cuts, according to a symphony official who did not want to be identified because BSO officials prefer not to speak on personnel matters. The move is also about modernizing an old-fashioned way of operating the department, the official said." Boston Globe 08/30/06
Posted: 08/30/2006 7:10 am
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TicketMaster Invalidates Stolen Tickets TicketMaster has voided thousands of tickets for Barbra Streisand's upcoming tour. The tickets were purchased with stolen credit cards then resold over te internet. "Ten of her 19 concerts in October and November are affected, including dates in New York, Las Vegas and Chicago. Fans may be at risk if they did not buy their seats directly from Ticketmaster or venue box offices, the agency said." BBC 08/30/06
Posted: 08/30/2006 7:30 am
Pushing Out Pushkin The city of Moscow is considering putting a shopping mall where a famous statue of Pushkin now sits. "If the city government gets its way, a four-storey shopping mall and traffic tunnel will soon be built on the square where Pushkin stands on his pedestal. PamPush - as the monument to the author is affectionately known to Muscovites - will survive, but protesters against the development warn that his square will be ruined. 'Red Square may be the heart of the city, but Pushkinskaya is its soul'." The Guardian (UK) 08/30/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 10:23 pm
UK To Study Stonehenge Traffic The British government has decided to take up the issue of traffic at Stonehenge. "The National Trust warned last month that Stonehenge risked being stripped of its status as a world heritage site because of "second-rate" proposals to ease traffic congestion around it." The Guardian (UK) 08/30/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 9:40 pm
Someone To Tell You What To Like As we have more access to more music, movies, books, etc, it becomes more difficult to sort your way through it all. Thus the rise of internet curators who recommend culture... Denver Post 08/29/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 6:00 pm
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Naguib Mahfouz, Nobel Writer, 94 "Acclaimed Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, the first Arab writer honoured with the Nobel Prize in literature, died in a Cairo hospital Wednesday morning. He was 94. Regarded as one of the Middle East's finest writers, Mahfouz rose to international fame in the 1950s with his renowned Cairo Trilogy — the novels Palace Walk, Palace of Desire and Sugar Street." CBC 08/30/06
Posted: 08/30/2006 7:37 am
Composer James Tenney, 72 "As a composer he was a kind of hard-core conceptualist driven by theoretical curiosity. As a result his music could be awfully dry at times, but in about half of it or more the conceptualism transformed in kind of an amazing alchemy to an extreme sensuousness, lovely, slow sound-metamorphoses that you just couldn't believe." PostClassic (AJBlogs) 08/26/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 7:15 pm
Art Critic As Katrina Reporter When Katrina hit New Orleans, Times-Picayune art critic Doug MacCash jumped into reporting. "Who knew the 49-year-old art critic could tackle the hardest of hard news stories in history? Who would have guessed he'd even be there -- and as a volunteer? A couple days later, nearing the breaking point and struggling to focus, MacCash would find himself interviewing Mayor Ray Nagin on a helicopter ride over the city." Baltimore Sun 08/29/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 5:52 pm
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"Amadeus" And I Simon Callow was 29 years old and a struggling actor when the script for Peter Shafer's "Amadeus" landed on his doorstep and the role of Mozart offered. Not a bad way to make a career... The Guardian (UK) 08/29/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 7:28 pm
Bloggers Versus The Critic The Philadelphia Inquirer got a new theatre critic - Toby Zinman - this year. Some in the city's theatre community have grown to hate her work, so they set up a blog to air compaints. 'We Love Toby! The Blog' is an ascerbic rebuttal to reviews the bloggers don't like. The blog is sometimes savage, but Zinman says she doesn't read it... Philadelphia Magazine 08/28/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 5:23 pm
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Library Book Challenges Fall The number of books threatened with removal from American library shelves dropped to an all-time low last year. "Challenges have gone up and down over the past few years, but overall have dropped by more than half since Banned Books Week was started. Judith Krug, director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, cited a couple of possible factors for the decline: Librarians are better prepared to organize community support on behalf of a book, and would-be censors are focusing more on online content." Pittsburgh Post- Gazette (AP) 08/30/06
Posted: 08/30/2006 8:59 am
A Smattering Of Intelligence Frank Kermode is England's foremost literary critic. "I don't at all think that the time we spent on Theory was wasted. One of the great benefits of seriously reading English is you're forced to read a lot of other things. You may not have a very deep acquaintance with Hegel but you need to know something about Hegel. Or Hobbes, or Aristotle, or Roland Barthes. We're all smatterers in a way, I suppose. But a certain amount of civilisation depends on intelligent smattering". The Guardian (UK) 08/29/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 10:08 pm
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Emmy Ratings Droop Against Pirates "The annual trophy-fest drew 16.2 million viewers on NBC. It was the Emmy show's second smallest audience since 1990, when it aired on Fox, which was in its infancy and not available in some parts of the country. Opposite the Emmys, ABC's Sunday telecast of "The Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" drew nearly 10 million viewers to become the most watched theatrical film on television this year." Washington Post 08/30/06
Posted: 08/30/2006 8:41 am
Investigation Cites Ex-Corporation For Public Broadcasting Chief Kenneth Tomlinson has been head of CPB until a previous damning investigation last year. He is still chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. "A year-long State Department investigation has found that the chairman of the agency that oversees Voice of America and other government broadcasting operations improperly used his office, putting a friend on the payroll and running a 'horse-racing operation' with government resources." Washington Post 08/30/06
Posted: 08/30/2006 8:37 am
Flood Of Pirate DVDs Only Grows "According to industry figures, Toronto is the source for 90 per cent of pirated discs sold in Canada. Last week, police shut down an operation that was capable of manufacturing three million discs a year. It was just one of 51 similar busts countrywide this year. In an effort to stem the tide of illegal copying, motion-picture industry officials have been pushing for aggressive enforcement and stiffer penalties for copyright violators, but they were dealt a blow yesterday when the federal Justice Department said it has no plans to change laws." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 08/30/06
Posted: 08/30/2006 7:49 am
Canada Also Taxing Swag Like other big celebrity events, the Toronto Film Festival gives swag bags full of gifts to celebrities who attend. And like American authorities, Canadian tax officials are hovering. "Those receiving gift bags must pay tax on the fair market value of such items. It's up to the individual to declare each and every gift on their personal income tax return. We will be conducting reviews and audits of income tax returns to ensure compliance with the tax legislation." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 08/30/06
Posted: 08/30/2006 7:46 am
The Movie Festival For Those Who Love Movies The Telluride Festival is a serious place for movies. "Sundance has swag, Cannes has yachts, Toronto stars. Telluride has class. Because it's a holiday weekend, and because it's virtually impossible to get to — it's easier to get to Cannes than it is to Telluride — the people who go to Telluride are truly die-hard movie fans. Everyone is there to see movies. There is no other agenda, there are no deals. It's a place to discover movies." Los Angeles Times 08/30/06
Posted: 08/30/2006 7:43 am
Hackers Conquer Media Copy Protection Hackers have broken Microsoft's digital rights protection. "The program apparently strips Windows Media audio (wma) files of Microsoft's DRM 10 or 11 protection, removing any usage restrictions. A post on the forum said: 'This program is only designed and intended to enable fair-use rights to purchased media'." BBC 08/29/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 7:17 pm
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