Is Borat A Reflection Of European Ignorance? Sacha Baron Cohen's runaway hit mockumentary, Borat, is being seen by most observers as a scathing indictment of American ignorance. But is it America that is cartoonish, or just the infuriatingly limited European view of America? Chris Jones says that Borat "functions very nicely as a smug celluloid confirmation of the cheap and ignorant Western European view of a homogenously ugly America." Chicago Tribune 12/03/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 10:16 am
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When Admission Is Free, People Flock To Museums (Who Knew?) Admission to England's museums and galleries has been free for five years. "To mark the occasion, the government released figures which showed an average 83% rise in visits to museums and galleries which formerly charged. That is 30m extra visits, says the government, and something to be celebrated, according to the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell." But some warn that if the state cuts its support, the price barrier may have to go back up.
The Guardian (UK) 12/02/06 Posted: 12/03/2006 5:15 pm
How To Fix A Crippled Art Fair
"Chicago-based Merchandise Mart Properties Inc... last year bought Art Chicago, the longest-running and once-leading contemporary art fair in the country, from its longtime producer. Its team will be at Art Basel Miami Beach -- as it has been at other such fairs around the world -- to try to make the contacts and find the elements that could return Art Chicago to international prominence... Part of the Mart's plan is to host five concurrent commercial shows, of varying size and focus, in its complex along the Chicago River."
Chicago Tribune 12/03/06 Posted: 12/03/2006 10:12 am
Baby, You're The Top "If things are looking up for architecture in the 21st century, it's partly because of the roof. After decades of neglect, it is once again becoming the most visible element of new buildings, let alone whole cities. All those flat-roofed towers constructed since the 1950s and '60s are being reimagined as occasions for greenery, gardens, pools, playgrounds and even parks. Then there's the advent of Google Earth, a free computer program that has people everywhere looking at buildings — and entire cities — from the top down. Suddenly, the whole planet has been turned into a roofscape."
Toronto Star 12/02/06 Posted: 12/03/2006 9:40 am
Fractal Geometry & Jackson Pollock: Something's Not Right "In an article published this week in the prestigious science journal Nature, two physicists contend that a method intended to identify complex geometric patterns in the seemingly chaotic drip paintings of Jackson Pollock is flawed and may be useless in the increasingly convoluted world of authenticating Pollock’s work."
The New York Times 12/02/06 Posted: 12/03/2006 9:31 am
Who Cares About History? It's Tall And Shiny! "Russia’s largest company, Gazprom, announced on Friday that it had chosen the architecture firm RMJM London to design [St. Peterburg’s] tallest building, brushing aside arguments from preservationists and residents that the project — whoever the architect — would destroy the city’s architectural harmony."
The New York Times 12/02/06 Posted: 12/03/2006 9:20 am
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Capitalizing The Kimmel Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts is five years old and still short on funds. The problem is that, while no expense was spared to build the center, organizers failed to see the need for a major endowment to keep it solvent. "The Kimmel and the Philadelphia Orchestra previously flirted with the idea of a merger, and have already combined some operations. A second study by Deloitte & Touche will look at various possible business models... The Kimmel would like to reach an endowment of $70 million and eliminate its $30 million debt, or have $100 million in endowment if retaining the debt." Philadelphia Inquirer 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 9:53 am
Traveling Musicians Play A Dangerous Game Of Chance This summer's terror scare in the UK resulted in some high-profile difficulties for musicians attempting to bring their instruments on airplanes in the country. But in point of fact, when there isn't a terrorist threat going on, it's always been far harder for musicians to travel with their instruments in North America than anywhere else in the world, and that hasn't changed. "The federal Transportation Security Administration and each airline have separate policies that can be confusing to musicians who wish to travel with their instruments. While airlines without specific musical instrument policies frequently welcome them aboard, some violin and viola cases may not meet strict size limits: limits that can be enforced at any time." Strings 01/07
Posted: 12/03/2006 8:28 am
More Red Ink In Minneapolis (But Not As Much) The Minnesota Orchestra finished the 2005-06 season nearly $600,000 in the red, but that deficit is less than half of last year's number, and keeps the organization on track for a planned return to balance next year. "Despite the deficit, the orchestra and its board reported a year of considerable achievement. Highlights included a critically successful tour of European festivals in August, the release of two Beethoven symphonies on CDs that earned rave reviews in both the U.S. and England, and a 5-percent increase over last year in ticket sales." Star Tribune (Minneapolis/St. Paul) 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 8:23 am
Florida Orch Finds Itself $1m Short The Florida Symphony, which is hoping to add a full corporate headquarters to St. Petersburg's Mahaffey Theater, hit a roadblock this week when the initial construction estimate came in $1 million over what had been budgeted. "Under current plans, the 10,000-square-foot headquarters would be housed in a new wing at the northeast corner of the Mahaffey, which was recently renovated. It is to include offices, a music library and space to store instruments." St. Petersburg Times 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 8:18 am
Are We Neglecting The Piano? Piano recitals used to be as common as coffee shops in cities around North America. But these days, opportunities for pianists (who often don't have the diverse career options afforded to other instrumentalists) are dwindling on this side of the Atlantic, and many young soloists are choosing to focus their careers in Europe. Toronto Star 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 8:05 am
$100m Overhaul For Denver Concert Hall The Colorado Symphony announced plans last week for a $100 million expansion and renovation of its concert hall, a project which will see the venue converted to a single-use facility after years of sharing between the symphony, opera, and ballet. "The project would reconfigure the shape and size of the 28-year-old building and address three main deficiencies highlighted in recent studies: inadequate public spaces, inferior backstage amenities and troubled acoustics." Denver Post 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 7:58 am
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On Erasing The Language Of Hatred Actor-comedian Michael Richards' explosive onstage use of the word "nigger" has ignited a movement to obliterate the term and substitute the euphemism "the 'n' word." The idea has comedians debating the power of language, and some, like Dick Gregory, are pointing to the danger of sanitizing speech. " 'Calling it "the 'n' word" is an insult,' said Mr. Gregory, whose 1964 memoir was titled 'Nigger.' 'It should be just as much an insult to Jews if they started changing concentration camp to "the 'c' word" and swastika to "the 's' word." You just destroyed history.' " The New York Times 12/03/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 3:21 pm
Borrowing As Artistry, Not Theft Contemplating the Ian McEwan plagiarism accusations, Charles Isherwood nearly sighs aloud. "Doesn’t it seem wearying, this stream of 'gotcha' stories trumpeting the news that a novelist or a lyricist or a playwright has used a few turns of phrase or the curves of somebody else’s life story without proper accreditation, or with improper specificity? I half expect to read of a lawsuit brought by a journalist covering last year’s plagiarism scandal against a journalist covering this year’s, asserting copyright infringement." The New York Times 12/03/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 3:03 pm
Exhibit™
Times have been good for North America's science museums, as blockbuster traveling exhibitions and commercial tie-ins bring in unprecedented crowds. "But the popularity of these branded shows may be exaggerated," and some say that museums have no business promoting commercial enterprises, regardless of whether the sponsor manages to wedge some educational content into the bargain. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 9:08 am
Alberta Artists Go Tory This weekend, a provincial election was held in Alberta, Canada's most conservative province, and a strange political push was observed among those who work in the arts. Traditionally a monolith of liberalism, Alberta's artists, musicians, and other cultural workers are "throwing [their] support behind Jim Dinning, the moderate conservative and front-running candidate who has promised to double the budget of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts to $40-million in the next two years." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 8:59 am
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Tan Dun On The Busking Life Composer Tan Dun chats about his life, including his student years, when he played the violin on a Greenwich Village street corner to make money: "It was West Fourth Street. That time it was very good. In an hour I can make maybe $30. Amazing. I still see those people who used to share the spot with me. 'Hey, Tan, where are you playing?' I say, 'I play at Lincoln Center, but inside.' " The New York Times 12/03/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 4:06 pm
Reconstructing Leonardo
"Anthropologists said they have pieced together Leonardo da Vinci's left index fingerprint-- a discovery that could help provide information on such matters as the food the artist ate and whether his mother was of Arabic origin... The research was based on photographs of about 200 fingerprints -- most of them partial-- taken from about 52 papers handled by da Vinci in his life." Washington Post (AP) 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 9:46 am
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Hare Feeds Broadway's Starving Masses David Hare's new Broadway play, "The Vertical Hour," has hardly been a hit with American critics, but hometown critic Michael Billington views it from an entirely different perspective. "In many ways, it's a characteristic Hare play. Dealing with the emotional journey of a woman who has swapped war reporting for academia, it is precisely about the intersection of public and private lives. But what moved me, almost as much as the play itself, was the audience response: the almost palpable hunger of Broadway theatregoers for a play about big issues. Even more than it might in Britain, Hare's play fulfils an urgent need." The Guardian (UK) 12/01/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 6:16 pm
Enron: The Ultimate Song & Dance
What do you do when a multi-billion dollar company headquartered in your city collapses under the weight of its own lies and lawlessness, leaving thousands of employees penniless and your civic economy in shambles? Write a musical about it, of course. The Guardian (UK) 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 10:23 am
Shaw Has A Good Year Canada's Shaw Festival finished its 2006 season in the black, with box office revenues of more than $14 million. "Attendance reached 295,016, or 70 per cent of capacity for 808 performances." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 9:18 am
Let's Go See A Show! (Anybody Got A C-Note?) The $100 ticket is old news for concertgoers in Los Angeles, and theatre tickets are starting to follow suit. Supply and demand is driving the high prices, but that doesn't change the fact that culture in America's second-largest city is increasingly becoming a luxury that only the wealthy can afford. Los Angeles Times 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 8:14 am
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In The New South Africa, Black Novelists Emerge -- Slowly "Twelve years after the end of apartheid, the South African literary scene remains as fragmented as ever, with writers exploring their own ethnic experiences. Although more books are published than ever before, few create a national conversation.... Since the end of apartheid, the national and international spotlight has been shifting to black writers, driven by an expectation that this is their moment to write the next chapter of South African history: the political, social and economic coming-of-age of the 80 percent of the population that was formerly disenfranchised." The New York Times 12/03/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 3:54 pm
NaNoWriMo: Embrace The Mediocrity
November was National Novel Writing Month, a seven-year-old extravaganza of wordsmithing in which participants attempt to complete a 50,000-word opus in thirty days. "The secret to writing a novel in a month is just to do it — and it’s a good idea to accept from the start that, barring miracles, it will be very, very bad." The New York Times 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 9:28 am
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LA's Noir Vision, An Export To The World "Noir is the indigenous Los Angeles form: It was created here, it grew up here and from here it spread, not only as a genre but as a way of looking at life, character and fate. As a framing lens, it's now so powerful that it seems not only to be a strategy for telling a story but a way to understand — automatically, unconsciously — how a story works. ... Raymond Chandler's narrow mean streets now encompass Tokyo, Berlin, São Paulo, London — any city that has crime or deceit or cracks in the facade or some event in which fate's jaws snap shut with cruel or ironic finality." Los Angeles Times 12/03/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 6:57 pm
TV For The Whole Family, Sans Saccharine "The debate over what should be considered 'family TV' is never-ending. We talk ourselves into spirals of contradiction, illogic, and subjectivity when we make big pronouncements about how to control a child's imagination. Oddly, if you ask the Parents Television Council what kids ought to watch, the answer is reality TV." Recoiling from that suggestion, Matthew Gilbert says the situation is not so dire. He points to "a number of recent prime time shows that have found a way to appeal to teens and their parents simultaneously, without insulting either group with sap or stupidity." Boston Globe 12/03/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 4:49 pm
Audio Books, Savior Of The Lowly Cassette "Variety recently published an obituary for the VHS format: 'VHS, 30, dies of loneliness.' If there’s a format heaven, you’d expect VHS to be joining audiocassettes there. At age 42, cassettes predate VHS and have been pummeled by CDs and digital downloads. But the cassette just won’t seem to die." What's keeping it alive? Audio books. The New York Times 12/03/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 3:10 pm
German Drama Takes Top Prize Among Euro Films
"A film about a secret policeman in the former East Germany has taken top prize at the European Film Awards in Warsaw. The Lives of Others - or Das Leben Der Anderen - beat Spanish production Volver by Pedro Almodovar, although this still came top in five categories. These included best director for Almodovar, top actress for Penelope Cruz plus the people's choice award." BBC 12/03/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 10:08 am
Call It The Rock Hudson Mental Block As liberal as Hollywood is, many gay actors have chosen to remain closeted throughout their careers, partly out of fear that American movie audiences wouldn't accept a known gay actor playing a straight role. "Indeed, while top straight-identified actors have for years received praise and prizes for playing gay characters — Tom Hanks in Philadelphia, for example — executives, casting directors and maybe mass audiences still seem to have a block when it comes to gay people in straight parts." Toronto Star 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 9:43 am
And By "Study," They Mean "Leave It For Someone Else To Deal With" The city of Cleveland has been making a big push to draw Hollywood films to its borders, but a major part of the plan - passing statewide tax incentives that would make the city competitive with other big film towns - has hit a snag. "An Ohio Senate committee is recommending a study of the incentives, instead of a bill that would go ahead and enact them." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 9:36 am
So, The Pirates Will Have To Move To Jersey? Harsh. The mayor of New York is cracking down on movie piracy, pushing a new city statute criminalizing unauthorized recording. There is already a federal law banning such practices, but advocates of the New York bill hope that "such a law would spur the Police Department to crack down on piracy and minimize the economic damage it does." The New York Times 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 9:23 am
The Borat Effect: Ethics & Integrity In Filmmaking The International Documentary Festival is underway in Amsterdam, and everyone is talking about... Borat. Well, not Borat, actually, but "many of the ethical issues that emerged in the Borat backlash are similar to those being discussed here this week by filmmakers from around the world. Not everyone here has seen Borat, but everyone certainly knows about it. So whether or not Borat will have any lasting effect on real documentary filmmaking is definitely up for unofficial debate." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/02/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 9:15 am
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Sinking, Swimming Or Soaring At City Ballet Only a handful of dancers are made City Ballet apprentices each year, but for them it is an almost certain prelude to becoming part of the company. "City Ballet does not hold auditions; other than a few dancers like Nikolaj Hübbe, who joined as a principal after attaining that rank at the Royal Danish Ballet, company members enter through the school, which was created to cultivate dancers of the quality George Balanchine needed." The New York Times 12/03/06
Posted: 12/03/2006 6:28 pm
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