Ideas

Meet The Mega-Niche The internet is all about niches, right? But with a billion people online, some of those "niches" are getting pretty darn big. "The Net is chockablock with special-interest sites and services you've never heard of but whose user base exceeds the print circulation of The Washington Post." Wired 10/30/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 6:36 pm

To Tell The Truth (The Machine Knows) Technology is being developed that claims to be able to tell if a person is lying. "In the pipeline are several cheaper, faster, easier-to-use brain-examining technologies, all intended as major improvements on the unreliable chicken-scratching polygraph we use now. Some seem to identify mental preparations for telling a lie even before the liar opens his mouth -- verging on mind-reading. Another is meant to work from across the room, even if you do not wish to cooperate." Washington Post 10/30/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 4:02 pm

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Visual Arts

Lauder Selling Schieles To Cover Klimt Cost "Apparently, even a tycoon like Ronald Lauder has to make choices sometimes. Four months ago, Mr. Lauder paid a reported $135 million to bring Gustav Klimt's 'Adele Bloch-Bauer I' (1907) to the Neue Galerie, the museum of German and Austrian art he founded. Now, the museum is selling three works by Egon Schiele at Christie's on November 8 to help defray the cost."
New York Sun 10/31/06 Posted: 10/31/2006 7:11 am

Picasso's Bullring May Be Built At Last "A bullring that was the only building ever designed by Pablo Picasso may be built in the artist's home town, a close friend of the Spanish artist said last week. ... Malaga-born Picasso had wanted the bullring built in Madrid, but that idea was vetoed by military dictator Francisco Franco, who was in power at the time. Picasso died in 1973; Franco, in 1975."
Washington Post (AP) 10/31/06 Posted: 10/31/2006 5:40 am

Whitney To Move Downtown? "The museum won its struggle to have the city approve a tower designed by the architect Renzo Piano. But after weighing the pros and cons, those familiar with the process say, the Whitney has determined that the Piano project may not get the museum sufficient additional space for the money. The museum has instead set its sights on a location downtown at the entrance to the High Line, an abandoned elevated railway that is to become a landscaped esplanade."
The New York Times 10/31/06 Posted: 10/30/2006 7:09 pm

Looking At A New Pompidou "Next Tuesday, construction work begins on the new Centre Pompidou-Metz, designed by the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. Situated around 200 miles east of Paris and close to the borders of Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, the city of Metz will be graced with the Pompidou's first outpost and another extraordinary architectural emblem."
The Telegraph (UK) 10/30/06 Posted: 10/30/2006 5:35 pm

The Art-For-Rent Circuit "High-rent shows, which even the Met is now organizing, perniciously up the ante for museum loans everywhere. These days, loan shows increasingly come not only with reasonable costs but also with kickbacks."
CultureGrrl (AJBlogs) 10/30/06 Posted: 10/30/2006 3:57 pm

Hi, I'm Charles Saatchi And I'm Interested In Your Work "Saatchi, who helped make international stars of British artists Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst, e-mailed Catriona Millar several months ago after viewing her website. He asked permission to upload images of eight paintings to his own website, which led to six of them being sold within weeks."
Scotsman on Sunday 10/29/06 Posted: 10/30/2006 3:41 pm

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Music

Keeping Score On "Keeping Score" Once upon a time in America, Leonard Bernstein brought music to the masses -- to the children, even -- on TV. "Classical music is much more marginalized now, at least in American life, and any appearance on television is to be enthusiastically celebrated." But is Bernstein protégé Michael Tilson Thomas, host of the PBS program, "Keeping Score," the right person to take up the mantle? New York Sun 10/31/06
Posted: 10/31/2006 7:37 am

Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Saved "The community has bailed out the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, saving it from looming bankruptcy and closure. In less than a month, more than 1,400 people pledged a total of $2.3 million to the struggling orchestra. It's enough money to ensure the symphony will not be forced to shut down at the end of this month. ... On Oct. 4, the symphony announced it needed $2.5 million by the end of the month or it wouldn't be able to carry on." As the symphony works on a sustainability plan, musicians and staff have taken pay cuts. The Record (Kitchener, Ontario) 10/31/06
Posted: 10/31/2006 3:28 am

UK Copyright Law Needs Overhaul For Digital Age UK copyright laws are out of date in the digital age, says a new report. "The explosion in the sale of MP3 players means that more people in Britain are copying their music and film collections on to home computers. However, the practice can in theory result in a small fine." So the law needs to be changed. The Guardian (UK) 10/30/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 5:44 pm

Will Korean Pop Storm America? "K-pop music is already becoming one of Korea's top cultural exports to other Asian countries. Pop stars like BoA, Rain, Se7en, TVXQ and Shinhwa are overcoming the language barrier with their music, even drawing thousands of fans to their concerts in China, Japan and S
Southeast Asia." But will the music sell in the US Korea Times 10/30/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 5:39 pm

Bavarian State Opera Takes On A New Future "With 2,100 seats, its home, the early-19th-century National Theater, is Germany’s largest opera house. The company also boasts Germany’s biggest opera audience (580,000 last season), the most productions (40) and performances (350) per year, and the richest budget ($100 million)." But new leadership means a new path... The New York Times 10/30/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 5:21 pm

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Arts Issues

Art In The Midterms What's this? Arts funding an issue in the American midterm elections? And In Idaho? Modern Art Notes (AJBlogs) 10/30/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 3:53 pm

A Getty Tale "The world in general, but America in particular, relishes cautionary tales of great wealth causing great woe. Yet there can be little doubt that the house that Getty built has brought its own plague of miseries on itself, which can be comprehended without recourse to myths of supernatural interference the ancients needed to make sense of such otherwise inexplicable human folly." New York Review of Books 11/16/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 3:51 pm

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People

Museum Director Pontus Hulten, 82 "Pontus Hulten, a visionary art impresario who embraced artists of many persuasions, conceived of museums as public forums for mind-bending experiences and infused his ideas into the foundations of several major institutions, including the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, died Wednesday at his home in Stockholm." Los Angeles Times 10/31/06
Posted: 10/31/2006 5:17 am

Drama Critic Richard Gilman, 83 "Richard Gilman, the drama and literary critic whose elegant, contentious voice resonated through four decades in American letters, earning him both admirers and enemies of partisan fierceness, died Saturday at his home in Kusatsu, Japan." The New York Times 10/31/06
Posted: 10/31/2006 3:48 am

The Painter To The Court Andrew Vicari is the offical court painter to the royal Saudi family. "Goya, van Dyck and Holbein were all court painters, and so I am just following in a great tradition. Some people sneer at the thought of court painter, I don’t know why. It’s a great privilege. Some of the best paintings in the world were done of kings and princes." The Times (UK) 10/31/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 5:30 pm

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Theatre

Brits Import American Play-Development Scheme. Whoops. "Over the last 10 years a new play development culture - based on American models - has taken root in British theatres and it is now so firmly embedded that it has become an industry in itself. ... Access is important, but what's the point of providing access to schemes to develop plays but not to the stages themselves? It's like teaching people to swim but then denying them access to swimming pools. There is something cockeyed about a theatre culture that has put so many structures in place to develop plays and so few to stage them." The Guardian (UK) 10/30/06
Posted: 10/31/2006 6:39 am

As If Switching The Clocks Back Weren't Confusing Enough ... "A matinee of 'The Little Dog Laughed' was delayed on Sunday because the show’s star was at Bed Bath & Beyond buying mattress pads." The Broadway play, in previews, had pushed its regular 3 o'clock matinee up to 2 o'clock. "The audience understood the new schedule. So did the stage manager, and the director, and most of the actors. Just about everyone did except for the play’s star, Julie White. 'It gets to be about noon, which is the time I would start getting ready to go to the theater for a 2 o’clock,' Ms. White said yesterday. 'And I think, "Oh wait, I have a whole ’nother hour, and I hate my mattress pads!" ' " The New York Times 10/31/06
Posted: 10/31/2006 4:18 am

Lortel Foundation Names First Playwriting Fellows "The Lucille Lortel Foundation, which recently started a program to award fellowships to playwrights every two years, announced the first eight recipients. Melissa James Gibson ('[sic]'), David Greenspan ('She Stoops to Comedy'), Jessica Hagedorn ('Dogeaters'), Julia Jordan ('Tatjana in Color'), Lisa Kron ('Well'), Lynn Nottage ('Intimate Apparel'), Dael Orlandersmith ('Yellowman') and Adam Rapp ('Red Light Winter') will each receive $50,000. ... The winners were selected by a seven-member panel that included the playwrights David Henry Hwang and Paula Vogel." (sixth item) The New York Times 10/31/06
Posted: 10/31/2006 4:03 am

Where Twyla Went Wrong Twyla Tharp's new Bob Dylan show has been getting slammed by critics. "When a serious artist produces a dud, a lot of energy can be spent trying to figure out why, but sometimes the reason is just that the artist took on the wrong subject, and later realized this, and couldn’t back out, and ended up having to fake something." The New Yorker 10/30/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 9:27 pm

Seattle's Empty Space Theatre Closes "After 36 years of operations and a recent move to a new, high-tech space at Seattle University, Empty Space could not raise the funds it needed to continue the 2006 season. The three-production 2007 season, announced earlier this month, also will be scrapped." Seattle Times 10/28/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 6:30 pm

Colorado Judge Upholds Stage Smoking Ban A Colorado judge refuses to lift a state ban on smoking for theatre productions. The judge "ruled the act of smoking, even in performance, 'is not inherently an expressive behavior,' and therefore does not qualify for free-speech protections under the U.S. constitution. The plaintiffs had argued that any action performed on a stage - from a gesture to body language to smoking - communicates a meaningful artistic expression that must be protected." Denver Post 10/30/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 6:19 pm

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Publishing

Philly Chooses Cuban-American Memoir For Citywide Read "One Philadelphia business owner makes his views known with a sign reading, 'This Is America. When Ordering Please Speak English.' Two towns in the region have laws intended to drive out illegal immigrants. On the statewide political trail, two Senate candidates swap heated words about immigration issues. The question of who belongs here and who doesn't, who is American and who isn't, is dominating much local and national debate. Which makes the latest selection for 'One Book, One Philadelphia' all the more appropriate. Carlos Eire's 'Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy' is the citywide reading program's featured book for 2007." Philadelphia Inquirer 10/31/06
Posted: 10/31/2006 7:47 am

Books: One Of Kids' Essential Food Groups "We had a policy on books from the very beginning with our children; they are an essential need not a luxury. You can have as many as you like. A Christmas tradition soon developed. Each year they got a book stack - a selection of books wrapped individually in different coloured tissue paper and joined into a bundle with a large gold ribbon with the largest book at the bottom, the smallest at the top. ... Not cheap, since you need at least eight books to make an impressive stack, but one that has, I think, helped to keep their love of reading going." The Guardian (UK) 10/31/06
Posted: 10/31/2006 6:28 am

A Fresh Flare-Up Of Plagiarism At Harvard "A Harvard student newspaper cartoonist has been suspended from the paper and two of her cartoons retracted after editors learned of their resemblance to ones published in other media outlets. Harvard Crimson staffers found that four cartoons by Kathleen Breeden , a sophomore, bore striking similarity to cartoons shown on a website that compiles cartoons from around the world. ... The incident comes less than a week after Harvard Crimson staff members said they discovered that a columnist, Victoria Ilyinsky , had failed to cite literary references that she had lifted from a column posted to the online magazine Slate." Boston Globe 10/31/06
Posted: 10/31/2006 5:49 am

Unpublished Plath Poem To Be Unveiled Online "An unpublished sonnet that Sylvia Plath wrote in college while pondering themes in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel 'The Great Gatsby' will appear Wednesday in a Virginia online literary journal. Plath, who committed suicide in 1963 at 30, wrote 'Ennui' in 1955 in her senior year at Smith College." Washington Post (AP) 10/31/06
Posted: 10/31/2006 5:31 am

D.C. Authors Settle Scores By Telling All "It used to be that telling tales out of the White House was déclassé, even tawdry." No longer. "These days, book parties have replaced cocktail hours in Washington social circles, and power is no longer measured in proximity to the Oval Office but in phone time with Bob Barnett, book agent to Bob Woodward and other aspiring political literary stars. Things have gotten so bad that the 8 a.m. staff meetings at the White House have reportedly gone chilly, with participants reluctant to express their views for fear someone at the table is taking notes or planning revenge — by the book." Los Angeles Times 10/31/06
Posted: 10/31/2006 4:47 am

Fictionally Yours (The Fans Get Into The Act) "The rise of fan fiction comes as little surprise - it mirrors the trend in music for bands basing their careers on a single sound or period of a earlier act, or in film for endless sequels and remakes of older, classic films. With so much to choose from, at least there will be the enticement of familiarity - or so the thinking goes. Only perhaps in published literature has the premium on originality lasted somewhat longer, though this, too, has been taking a beating with so many recent cases of literary plagiarism." The Observer (UK) 10/29/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 5:56 pm

Publishing Surge For The Secularists "A glut of popular science books making a trenchant case against religion have soared up the bestseller lists both here and in America. The phenomenon represents a backlash against a perceived rise in religious fundamentalism and recent crazes for 'spirituality' by way of books such as The Da Vinci Code. Secularists are now eager to show that the empiricism of science can debunk the claims of believers." The Observer (UK) 10/29/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 5:48 pm

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Media

Reticence, A Scarce Quantity On The Big Screen "Everywhere we look, we live in a confessional age. The novel has been replaced by the memoir as our most talked-about literary genre. The sitcom, for years TV's water-cooler conversation starter, has been superseded by reality TV and talk shows, forms that thrive on exhibitionism. Hip-hop has done such a good job of blurring the lines between self-expression and self-promotion that it's almost impossible to tell the difference between Jay-Z's new album and his beer ad." No wonder stoicism has largely disappeared from our movie screens -- or are we aping what Hollywood shows us? Los Angeles Times 10/31/06
Posted: 10/31/2006 5:03 am

Comedy Central Make YouTube Take Down Shows YouTube is removing videos of Comedy Central shows after the network decided to assert its copyright. "The situation is tricky for a network like Comedy Central, part of Viacom. Its audience is young and technologically sophisticated, and Comedy Central stars in the past have used YouTube and clip services to interact with their audience." The New York Times 10/30/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 7:16 pm

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Dance

Iraqi National Folklore Group - Dancing Through Adversity "Together they are a band of 10 women and 15 men from varied religious backgrounds. Once they toured the world together. Today they are simply trying to survive, hoping one day to thrive again as a troupe. But the religiosity sweeping Iraq does not bode well for their future." The New York Times 10/30/06
Posted: 10/30/2006 5:17 pm

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