“Two filmmakers were refused access to the Smithsonian Institution’s collections for their projects but researchers generally have not been restricted so far by the Smithsonian’s semi-exclusive deal with a cable network, congressional investigators said. The public has justifiable concerns nonetheless about the 30-year contract between the Smithsonian and Showtime Networks Inc., a cable network owned by CBS Corp., according to the Government Accountability Office.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
If Thomas Wolfe Had Had A Blog
“In the spring of 2005, a fire at the Hotel Chelsea sent residents fleeing to the lobby. While the firefighters worked, the residents passed a bottle and told stories about life in the legendary Bohemian outpost…. When the night ended, Debbie Martin and Ed Hamilton, a couple of transplanted Kentuckians who have lived at the Chelsea for more than a decade, wanted to find a way to keep the stories and camaraderie going. And so was born ‘Living with Legends’ (hotelchelseablog.com), a hip and literate blog about life in the red-brick and black-wrought-iron behemoth on West 23rd Street.”
News Corp. Details Regan’s Alleged Remarks
“Media giant News Corp. took the unusual step Monday of releasing notes of a conversation between one of its attorneys and former book publisher Judith Regan to show that she made anti-Semitic remarks that led to her firing.”
Recognizing Repatriation’s (Literal) Foot Soldiers
The “efforts of Allied officers and soldiers … to save and repatriate stolen treasures during and after the war is a chapter of World War II history still not particularly well known. Even during the war their work — when compared with saving lives and preserving ways of life — was sometimes discounted. Some members of the military referred to these soldiers as ‘Venus fixers,’ a term with more than a hint of the effete. But the accomplishments of these soldiers, better known as the Monuments Men, are finally starting to come into sharper focus.”
Thom Mayne, Softening With Age?
“Can it be that Thom Mayne, the architect of confrontation, has gone soft? His acclaimed design for Paris’s tallest office building, chosen on Dec. 1, is an elegant silhouette draped in a diaphanous skin, a far cry from the sharp corners, violent eruptions and fragmented forms that led some to call him the architect of dislocation. … He said: ‘Do I provoke as a method of investigation? Of course. That’s the essence of architecture. Do I do it with gusto? I do. At the same time, do I listen? My clients would tell you I’m a farm boy from Tipton, Ind.’ “
TV, Where Religion Is In Decline In America
“A study released Thursday by the Parents Television Council, a frequent critic of the TV industry over such issues as broadcast indecency, found that prime-time shows in the last year dealt with religion half as much as the year before. When they did, the Los Angeles-based group said, religion was cast in negative light more than one-third of the time.” The study points to the Fox network as an egregious mocker of religion.
CBS Records Reborn For The Internet Age
“In contrast to the lavish excesses of the music business of the 1970s and 1980s, the new incarnation of CBS Records, to be unveiled today, will start out small. CBS plans to sign a handful of songwriters whose music will be incorporated into shows on the CBS broadcast network, the youth-oriented CW television network and the company’s fledgling digital platforms. … CBS is betting that it can exploit the weakness in the music industry by signing recording artists who are hungry for support and promotion.”
Rappers Welcome, Rebellion Strongly Discouraged
“In a country like Cuba, where the state has its hand in just about everything, it is perhaps not surprising that there is a governmental body that concerns itself with rap music. Alarmed by the number of young people in baggy clothing and ill-aligned baseball caps rapping around the island, the government created the Cuban Rap Agency four years ago to bring rebellious rhymers into the fold. … Not surprisingly, most rappers, who are by definition a rebellious lot, are averse to joining forces with the government, even as they struggle to spread their rhymes on their own.”
Taking Charge To Seize A Stage For Tap
“Tradition is a thorny word in the tiny, fractious world of tap; unlike in modern dance, with its quest for the new, tap elders cast a grand shadow, and respect for the past is a powerful force…. While younger dancers hasten to stress this respect, some acknowledge impatience with the status quo, from lineup-style shows to a dependency on the festival circuit, which has played a crucial role in revitalizing tap.” And tappers in their 20s and 30s are moving from impatience to action.
Copying As A Way Of Seeing Anew
“When a young Turkish artist named Serkan Ozkaya set out recently to practice his skills as a copyist — a scrivener, as he says — his goals were a little less ambitious than channeling Cervantes. He simply wanted to draw and see printed a faithful copy of all the type and pictures planned for a broadsheet page of this newspaper: this very page you are reading right now, which shows his version of the page you are reading right now, which shows his version of his version of the page you are reading right now, which. . . . Do not be alarmed: There has been no break in the space-time-newsprint continuum.”