A new pamphlet purporting to lay out the four greatest skyscrapers in the world has included San Francisco’s TransAmerica Pyramid on its list. Bay Area architecture critics are stunned. “There’s nothing brilliant about concrete and steel piled high in ever-narrower amounts. Nor is ‘exquisite’ the word that best describes an ungainly triangle with ear-like elevator shafts sticking out on two sides. And hey, I’m just picking at architectural nits. When the Pyramid was proposed in 1969, critics recoiled at the whole idea — viewing it as a threat to the very integrity of the city they loved.”
Tag: 01.05.06
Billionaire To Open Russia’s First Private Museum
Viktor Vekselberg, the Russian mining and oil billionaire is making the investment. “Mr Vekselberg’s new museums will display works drawn from his own holdings which include the Forbes Fabergé collection of Imperial eggs purchased from Sotheby’s in a private sale in 2004 for an undisclosed price which sources estimate at around $120 million. They will also show art belonging to other Russian collectors.”
As Usual, We Nominate “ArtsJournal”
What word best describes 2005? On-Demand? Podcast? Sudoku? Truthiness? (Yes, Mr. Colbert, we see you waving.) The debate will rage today at the annual gathering of the American Dialect Society, as America’s wordsmiths attempt to pinpoint, in a word or two, everything that 2005 was about. “In 2003, the word of the year was metrosexual, which seems to have stuck. The year before, it was weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, or maybe, in retrospect, it wasn’t.” Nominees for 2005 include “intelligent design,” “blogola,” and “muffin top.” (That last one is the bulge of flesh that results when low-rider jeans are worn by non-rail-thin individuals.) And no, Wonkette fans, “Abramoffakkuh” is not eligible, having emerged after the New Year.
Are Headphones Killing Our Hearing?
“Sales of MP3 players soared by 200% in 2005 and the market for headphone entertainment continues to grow with portable video players and handheld games consoles. But the trend has prompted concern from Britain’s leading hearing loss charity, the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID). It found 39% of 18 to 24-year-olds listened to personal music players for at least an hour every day and 42% admitted they thought they had the volume too high.”
Brokebacklash
In the month since its wide release, Brokeback Mountain has become far more than just a hit movie. The movie, focusing on a forbidden love between two cowboys in Wyoming, has evolved into a bona fide cultural flashpoint, with liberals claiming that the film’s commercial success proves that the religious right is not as powerful a force as everyone supposes. But Brokeback has also inspired a predictable backlash, with a not-so-predictable comedic focus. “What’s interesting about the gay cowboy jokes on television recently is, generally, there’s no joke. Instead, we get a banal repetition of the idea that the rural, taciturn, masculine, traditional-cowboy stereotype could be confused with its urban, expressive, effeminate opposite.”
Is There A Silver Lining In Detroit’s Abysmal Arts Year?
2005 was a tough year for the arts in Detroit, with funding cuts and red ink dominating the cultural landscape. But if there’s a bright side to be found in the latest round of government funding pullbacks, it may be that arts advocates have been prodded to begin looking seriously at a diverse array of funding mechanisms that may provide more long-term stability than the whims of finicky politicians would ever allow.
Better Late Than Never
The Electronic Records Archive, being undertaken by the U.S. National Archives at a cost of more than $300 million, is supposed to finally find a way to catalog all of the significant material that doesn’t fit on a piece of paper. As you might imagine, this is a monumentally complex project, and even the chief archivist doesn’t seem entirely certain where to begin. “The National Archives has been receiving electronic materials since 1970, but plans for long-term preservation of it all didn’t begin until 1998. And the government has only started to take it seriously in the past three years.The National Archives has been receiving electronic materials since 1970, but plans for long-term preservation of it all didn’t begin until 1998. And the government has only started to take it seriously in the past three years.”
Stewart To Host Oscars
An announcement is expected this morning from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences naming Daily Show host Jon Stewart as the new host of the Academy Awards. The Oscars have been searching in vain for a viable replacement for longtime host Billy Crystal for several years, with mixed results.
Portugese Museum Discredits Its Own Rembrandts
“Two oil paintings purported to have been the work of Rembrandt have been shown to be fakes, the director of the museum where they are kept has said. The works were donated to the municipal museum in Faro, southern Portugal, in 1944 and were displayed for 25 years despite doubts over their authenticity. Tests have now shown the 17th Century Dutch master could not have painted them… because they used pigments not available until the 19th Century.”
Two More Awards Shows You Don’t Care About
Awards season is in full swing in Hollywood, with the Producers’ Guild and the Writers’ Guild being the latest groups to announce their nominations for best pictures of 2005. Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, the ensemble drama Crash, and biopic Capote are on both shortlists, with nods being given as well to Syriana, Walk The Line, Cinderella Man, and Good Night and Good Luck.