From his 1994 letter to the editor of the Boston Globe: “I can’t believe that you’re cutting ‘Spiderman’ — the only comic strip in the Globe, except for ‘Doonesbury’ half the time, worth reading. Do think again in making way for what sounds like one more jejune set of unfunny panels pitched at the nonexistent (or at least nonreading) X-generation.”
Tag: 01.27.09
Appreciation: John Updike, Sportswriter
“Among the many literary achievements of John Updike, who died Tuesday morning, is that he turned in one of the best and most famous pieces of baseball writing ever.”
With Book Soup Owner’s Death, LA Store’s Fate Undecided
“What will happen to Book Soup? Like most great bookstores, it is the product of one book lover’s taste and vision. Most of the store’s 60,000 volumes were handpicked by [owner Glenn] Goldman for a clientele he knew intimately after 33 years in the same neighborhood.” Though Goldman died this month “without a succession plan in place for Book Soup,” his death does does not dictate its end.
At Brandeis, A Nightmare Scenario For University Museums
Brandeis University’s decision to shutter its Rose Art Museum and sell off its collection “represents the worst fears of university art museums nationwide.” The president of the Association of College and University Museums and Galleries said that it “reflected a general lack of understanding that art is not a luxury, but is a central part of a liberal education.”
In NY, Tax Breaks For Film & TV Create Jobs
“Costly state incentives to lure film production and jobs may actually be paying off, at least in New York. A study of New York’s tax breaks for movie and television production suggested that a 30 percent credit offered by the state, along with an additional 5 percent offered by New York City, could be expected to keep or create about 19,500 jobs while yielding $404 million in tax revenue, at a cost of $215 million in credits.”
Dina Vierny, Maillol’s Muse, Dies At 89
She was “the model whose ample flesh and soft curves inspired the sculptor Aristide Maillol, rejuvenating his career, and who eventually founded a museum dedicated to his work.” In addition, during World War II, she ” ed refugees from Nazism across the Pyrenees into Spain as part of an American organization operating out of Marseille.”
Is Speed-The-Plow Better Off Without Jeremy Piven?
Ben Brantley observes that Piven’s departure allowed David Mamet “to come up with his funniest one-liner in years.” And yet, “now that I have seen two of Mr. Piven’s replacements in the central role of Bobby Gould, a film producer who catches a slight case of existential crisis, I am newly respectful of both Mr. Mamet’s accomplishment here and of the artistry of first-rate actors.”
The Best Of Updike, The Worst Of Updike
“To consider the 1,700-odd pages of his Harry Angstrom saga… is to find yourself considering a work with an excellent claim as the Great American Novel, but you’d be forgiven for preferring to spend time with four or five Very Good ones.”
Layoffs Hit L.A. Opera
“The company said today that it had laid off 17 employees, or approximately 17% of its staff. It has also mandated a pay cut for all employees, averaging 6% but with higher-paid staffers taking an 8% cut.” The stagehands’ and orchestra musicians’ unions will be asked to help find savings as well.
Bolshoi Cancels Tour And New Production
Mid-season budget cuts is response to the worldwide economic crisis have forced the Bolshoi Theater to cancel a tour of Mexico and a new production of Verdi’s Otello, described by general director Alexsei Iksanov as one of the most expensive stagings the house had planned in recent years.