Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg has been named the New Century Chamber Orchestra’s music director. NCCO has been searching for a new director for nearly two years, with numerous candidates “auditioning” as guest concertmasters
Tag: 01.22.08
Are Writers Still United?
The writers’ strike is dragging on, and Patrick Goldstein says that it may be time for the guild to cut a deal before a tired and impoverished membership forces it to cut its losses. “You had a membership that was united largely by vitriol for the studios who’d put them out in the cold by walking away from negotiations. All that aggravation is still alive — it’s just now pointing in a new direction.”
Vancouver’s Feistiest Bookstore To Be Sold
“The Vancouver bookstore that for more than two decades has battled against Canadian customs officials over material alleged to be obscene is up for sale – but the co-owner of Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium, a Vancouver institution, says it has nothing to do with his legendary legal troubles. In fact, Jim Deva says he will sell only to someone willing to keep up the fight.”
CBC Accused Of Playing Favorites With Foreigners
“A Toronto television distributor is alleging the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. intentionally withheld plans to sell a vast portion of the rights to its TV catalogue to a foreign buyer, even though it had a clear opportunity to let domestic companies in on the process.”
Staging An Act Of Heroism
Back in 1999, a group of high school students in Kansas discovered a reference to a little-known Polish woman who supposedly rescued 2,500 Jews from the Nazi regime during World War II. Stunned by their discovery, they dug for more information and wrote a short play about the woman, and figured that would be the end of it. Instead, the play has seen more than 200 performances worldwide, and the rescuer, freed from obscurity, has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Staring Back
Double amputees tend to draw no small number of stares, awkward questions, and rude reactions. One legless artist decided to turn the tables by snapping photographs of those who just couldn’t stop staring at him, and creating a gallery of our collective human fascination with the disabled.
Bleak Dramas Lead Oscar Nominations
“No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood led the nominees for the 80th Academy Awards, with eight nominations each. Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney, picked up nominations in several major categories,” and indie breakout hit Juno garnered a Best Picture nod as well as nominations for Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay.
The Incomparable Mr. Brown
Alison Jackson is a UK artist whose photos and films are known for poking fun at celebrities and powerful personages of all kinds, often using lookalike stand-ins for her targets. But Ms. Jackson has run into a problem: it seems that in all the UK, there isn’t anyone who looks, sounds, and acts like Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Amazon’s “Top Reviewers” Attracting Attention
Those “customer reviews” you can find on Amazon may seem like a populist answer to the ivory tower of literary criticism, but increasingly, the more prolific “voices of the people” may not be as independent and disconnected from the machinations of the publishing world as they appear.
Bush To Get Stoned
As if President Bush didn’t have enough fiascoes to worry about, director Oliver Stone has announced that he plans to make his next film about the deeply unpopular president. “The film would include a look at the president’s ‘belief that God personally chose him to be president of the United States and his coming into his own with the stunning, pre-emptive attack on Iraq’, he added.”