Category: today’s top story

“Facebook and Google say they have complied with an Indian court directive and removed ‘objectionable’ material. They are among 21 web firms, including Yahoo and Orkut, facing a civil suit in Delhi accusing them of hosting material that may cause communal unrest. A criminal case of similar allegations is due to be heard next month.”

“In a 60-year career that began on stage, the gravel-voiced Ben Gazzara appeared in more than 100 films and TV movies. He also starred in the 1960s series Run for Your Life, enjoyed a renaissance in the ’90s and won an Emmy in 2002.”

“An influential Los Angeles artist whose physically messy and psychologically complex projects laid the groundwork for present-day installation art, has died. He was 57. He was found dead Tuesday evening at his home in South Pasadena in what several friends described as a suicide following a serious depression.”

“She was popular in Poland, which tends to make romantic heroes of poets, but she was little known abroad. Her poems were clear in topic and language, but her playfulness and tendency to invent words made her work hard to translate.”

“Industry watchers say that many potential licensees have been perplexed by the complexity of rights management since different copyrights exist for the lyrics, score and recording of a song. That means that three or more parties might have to give permission before a track could be used.”

In Darkness “tells the true story of a small group of Jews who hid in the sewer system below Lvov for 14 months and survived the German occupation of Poland during World War II.” Holland had presumed that, by now, everyone in that group had passed away. Then she received an e-mail from Long Island …

The 1960 Picasso show at the Tate not only sold record numbers of catalogues and saw record numbers of patrons through the turnstiles; it reinvented what Britain thought of its place on the world stage – and changed the lives of artists like David Hockney, who’s now got a blockbuster of his own. Thank god the “ladies’ committee” pulled off the sangria.

“The theory has long been that more exposure to art created more people interested in art. If that’s true, than we’re in a budding Golden Age. But if more and more activity is happening outside of our institutions (arts, education etc), then what does that mean for the institutions?” Join This week’s ArtsJournal discussion Lead or Follow.

“What does pop culture have that we don’t? Popular culture has the ability to create a rabid fandom. They use their celebrities, their fan likes and dislikes, and their ability to attract an authentic niche following in order to create a continual conversation.”

It’s fine to talk about leading audiences artistically, but if no one’s paying attention, what’s it worth? Surely engaging an audience has to be about more than creating a better marketing tool…