If You Have To Explain The Joke... Comedy is big business these days, but the art of making people laugh remains as mysterious as ever, particularly for those of us who don't know how to do it. "Irony and detachment are not enough. Joke writing and performing is a craft, and while an all-encompassing theory of humour may elude us, it is possible to identify some of the basics in the building of a successful joke." The Telegraph (UK) 10/28/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 11:24 am
Quiet. Please. A Canadian ecologist is on a crusade to preserve silence in his country's national parks. Specifically, Gordon Hempton wants the government to legislate certain areas in which all kinds of man-made noise - airplanes, traffic, electric generators, even overly chatty campers - are forbidden. CNews (AP) 10/29/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 9:41 am
Click here for more Ideas stories...
Creating Identity, Or Taking It Away? As architecture gets more and more creative, and buildings spring up in shapes and configurations never before thought possible, the "wow" factor frequently gives way to more practical reactions. "Are the new skyscrapers giving us a new poetic language -- or are they the architectural equivalent of profanity, strictly designed to grab attention and make a buck? Do the towers create vibrant urban places -- or are they simply drop-dead objects that could be shifted from one look-at-me boomtown to another without anyone noticing?"
Chicago Tribune 10/29/06 Posted: 10/29/2006 11:10 am
Iraq In Watercolor Sketch artists are no longer a regular sight on the battlefield, having been long since replaced by omnipresent reporters and photojournalists. But following the 9/11 attacks and the US invasion of Iraq, one New York artist decided that the most important thing he could do was to report to Baghdad and serve as the art world's eye on the war. "With press credentials provided by the online artnet Magazine, Mumford made four trips to Iraq in 2003 and 2004, and he created hundreds of ink and watercolor drawings documenting many different experiences of the war."
Boston Globe 10/29/06 Posted: 10/29/2006 11:03 am
Trumping The Public Good? A week or so ago, Chicago architecture critic Blair Kamin publicly blasted a ten-foot kiosk erected in the city's downtown loop by developer Donald Trump to advertise his planned new 92-story hotel/condo building. As it turns out, The Donald doesn't take criticism particularly well. "Trump argued that the kiosk is justified because he spent $18 million to rebuild the superstructure of Wabash Avenue next to his tower... [But] the significance of this battle transcends the tiny stretch of North Michigan Avenue sidewalk where Trump's kiosk was planted. Cities around the country are struggling with similar conflicts..."
Chicago Tribune 10/27/06 Posted: 10/29/2006 9:02 am
Good Times For Fundraising In Phoenix The Phoenix Art Museum's capital campaign (initiated to pay for a major expansion) has been so successful that museum officials have doubled their final goal. "It started with about $18.2 million in bond money approved by Phoenix voters in 2001. The initial goal was to raise another $12.5 million, but the museum so far has been able to raise about $30 million."
Arizona Republic 10/28/06 Posted: 10/29/2006 8:17 am
Click here for more Visual Arts stories...
Dobrin: PhilOrch Has Dug Itself A Big Hole Peter Dobrin says that the Philadelphia Orchestra has never really had much of a handle on this whole music director search business. "The orchestra is once again looking for (any?) port in a storm... Waiting for chemistry could take years, but the orchestra really has no choice if it remains committed to the idea of musical quality as the criterion. No one can afford another arranged marriage. Too much is at stake, and some critics believe that the orchestra is already injured." Philadelphia Inquirer 10/29/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 11:35 am
Is There Anybody Out There? Radio orchestras have a long and distinguished history in Germany, where their proliferation was a major part of the postwar rebuilding of the country's infrastructure. "Unlike regular symphony orchestras, they did not have to worry about selling tickets, and focused on studio recordings of unusual repertory, including contemporary music... [But] radio stations no longer have deep pockets; licensing fees have not risen to keep pace with inflation. And in the age of CD’s and iTunes, studio recordings made for broadcast are no longer essential." Despite efforts to adapt, many radio orchestras are teetering on the brink as Germany attempts to square budgetary concerns with its record number of professional orchestras. The New York Times 10/29/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 9:34 am
They'll Still Call Themselves "Cleveland," For Old Time's Sake The Cleveland Orchestra has always been a bit of an anomaly among America's major orchestras, based as it is in a low-profile, mid-sized city with a history of economic problems. The challenge of maintaining one of the world's top bands in a community that doesn't really have the money or the population to support it has caused the ensemble to begin seeking periodic residencies away from home, notably in New York, central Europe, and beginning this year, at Miami's new performing arts center. Akron Beacon Journal 10/29/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 9:24 am
China Rising "Anyone who likes classical music is aware of the changing face, literally, of this Old World art form. Increasingly, its new virtuoso practitioners are coming from Asia, and especially from China, where European art music has entered a golden age." San Jose Mercury News 10/29/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 9:16 am
The Continuing Relevance Of Shostakovich Mozart has gotten most of the attention, but this year is Shostakovich's centenary as well, and John Terauds makes the case that the latter is far more relevant to today's musical experience than the former. "Mozart conjures up powdered wigs, salons and silk-stockinged aristocrats. Shostakovich evokes mass media and tyranny, peace protests and global war, science and enslavement... This music can chill to the bone and tug at our heartstrings at the same time. It is tonal and rhythmic, bearing familiar sounds supported on a masterful architecture of harmony, dissonance and counterpoint — like the music of Bach." Toronto Star 10/28/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 8:52 am
Could Detroit Land Davis? The Detroit Symphony has been searching for a new music director for a couple of years now, with no visible frontrunner emerging. But could Andrew Davis, who will shortly leave a leadership post with the Pittsburgh Symphony, be the DSO's knight in shining armor? "Not that the DSO should act rashly. But 16 minutes into this concert, after a perfectly exquisite, poised, witty, not to say airborne turn through Haydn's little Symphony No. 22 in E-flat, I would have been pushing a contract into Davis' hands and filling his ear with honeyed promises." Detroit News 10/28/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 8:23 am
Click here for more Music stories...
U.S. Cultural Diplomacy Getting A Boost "This summer, the United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, once again made its presence felt on the cultural scene by sponsoring a photo exhibition, an experimental jazz performance, a classical music concert and a visit from the Whiffenpoofs, Yale University’s a cappella singers. Americans have been teaching hip-hop in Indonesia, Malaysia and Jordan. Chinese and American filmmakers are getting together to talk shop. Videography is coming to Belarus. And all of it is thanks to Uncle Sam." The New York Times 10/29/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 10:50 am
Click here for more Arts Issues stories...
Gordimer Attacked During Home Invasion Nobel Prize-winning author Nadine Gordimer was attacked on Thursday at her home in South Africa, according to local authorities. Gordimer, who is 83, was not seriously injured when burglars broke into her home and made off with cash and jewelry. BBC 10/29/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 9:46 am
Looking For That Old Fear & Loathing Ralph Steadman's name will probably always be irrevocably tied to that of his fellow counter-culture anti-hero, Hunter S. Thompson. "But where indeed is Steadman these days, that co-creator of early 1970s drug- and booze-drenched gonzo journalism as the artist who sketched Watergate-Middle America grotesqueries to accompany Thompson's words, and who decades later helped to shoot Thompson's ashes out of a 150-foot cannon? Where's Steadman when we need his satire the most? Comfortably at home in England, thank you." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 10/28/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 8:34 am
Meeting Alice Again For The First Time Author Alice Munro is beloved by countless readers, but has always maintained an iron barrier between her private life and the invasive culture of literary celebrity. But her latest collection of stories is "as close as Munro has come to turning her family's life into stories," and she seems slowly but surely to be letting the world into her life. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 10/28/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 8:29 am
- And The Last...? Alice Munro has declared that her new collection of short stories will be her last, saying that, at age 75, she simply has nothing more to say... Toronto Star 10/28/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 8:27 am
Click here for more People stories...
Now You Know Why Everything On Broadway Looks The Same Increasingly, off-Broadway hits making the transition to Broadway are doing more than minor tweaking in between shows. Some are asked to change nearly everything that made the show appealing in the first place. "Urinetown and Avenue Q showed it was possible to go Broadway without shedding one’s eccentric or unconventional Off Broadway appeal." But that hasn't changed Broadway's insatiable appetite for commercially safe, non-controversial theatre, and many are left wondering whether a move to Broadway is even worth the trouble. The New York Times 10/29/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 10:54 am
Click here for more Theatre stories...
Dispute Arises Over (Possibly) Historic Novel "The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride, is believed by some scholars to be the first novel ever published by an African-American woman," and this month, it will be reissued for the first time since its initial printing in 1865. "But the republication has stirred a dispute between its editors... and the Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.," who believes that he discovered a published novel by an African-American woman six years older than Slave Bride. The New York Times 10/28/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 8:44 am
Click here for more Publishing stories...
Appointment TV? That's So Last Decade. Critics have been practically begging viewers to support a raft of new serialized dramas on American TV this fall, but reality (in the form of ratings) seems to suggest that few viewers have the time or interest to commit to watching a complex and ongoing story week after week. The New York Times 10/29/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 10:46 am
When Oscar Buzz Becomes A Cutthroat Brawl Has Hollywood suddenly begun churning out too many high quality movies for its own good? "All these quality adult-oriented movies can only mean one thing: Oscar fever. The industry's obsession with the Academy Awards, which began as a symbol of achievement and are now a high-powered marketing tool, has transformed the end of the year into the Oscar Follies, offering a legitimate batch of award contenders surrounded by a scrum of hapless pretenders being released at year's end only because of studio delusions, blind adherence to conventional wisdom and arm-twisting by narcissistic stars and filmmakers. The result is often a bloodbath." Toronto Star 10/28/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 8:55 am
"Entertainment Tonight" Doesn't Want You To Read This Blurb Hollywood has a favorite promotional angle for controversial films: it involves giving as much airtime as possible to the people who don't want you to see them, thus creating a sense of dangerousness around what are frequently relatively innocuous movies. But does the ploy actually convince anyone to buy a ticket? "In fact, veteran movie marketers say that while entertainment journalists keep falling for the ploy, audiences have long since wised up to it." The New York Times 10/28/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 8:39 am
We Have The Technology, But Do We Have The Interest? When satellite radio was first launched, its proponents promised that it would revolutionize the music business, and allow consumers to discover untold amounts of new music that didn't fit the increasingly narrow playlist of terrestrial radio. But have satellite and other new music delivery services delivered on their promise, and more importantly, is the public buying into it? Washington Post 10/29/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 8:13 am
Click here for more Media stories...
Dancing Away With A Warning "For 28 years Val Bourne, indefatigable and indomitable, has been the most constant figure in British dance. She has widened our horizons and shaped our taste in ways we didn’t even know we wanted. Like a terrier she has fought for contemporary dance, and like a mother hen she has nurtured some of its most important creators." As Bourne prepares to retire this weekend, she says that she fears for the future of dance in the UK, despite impressive gains in recent years. The Times (UK) 10/30/06
Posted: 10/29/2006 11:26 am
Click here for more Dance stories...
