“The inevitable rise in sea level that comes with climate change is going to make it increasingly difficult to control flooding in low-lying Holland. But instead of cursing their fate, architects are designing a new Holland that will float on water, and the Dutch government seems willing to try out the scheme.”
Tag: 01.28.08
When Technology Gets In The Way Of The Theatre
“It’s hard to connect with such notions when the physical aspects of the production are as alienating as much of what goes on here. The electronic connection among the casts lead to a second or two of lag time between a line uttered in Orlando and one in Ontario or Illinois, so the result feels slow and laborious.”
Body Double – Why Women Use Bodies In Art
“It is a truism of feminist history that women have been regarded primarily as body, passive, fertile body, as essential to human survival as earth.” But “why does a female artist need to use flesh in the first place? The feminist art historian can no more ask these questions than she can ask why most women’s art is no good.”
Stock Picker Revises Sotheby’s Outlook Slightly Down
A stock analysts has “lowered his estimate for auction sales at Sotheby’s to $5.02 billion, from $5.4 billion previously. He cut his earnings estimate for this year to $2.50 a share, from $3.09.”
A Language Dies – So How Do You Relearn It?
“How would you go about learning a language that nobody speaks? It depends. A well-documented language would have a dictionary, grammar book, a body of literature (such as folk tales or religious texts), and, in some cases, videos and recordings that a dedicated student could learn from…”
The Family That Forges Art Together…
“Shaun Greenhalgh, an Englishman whose furtive career has been unfolding in courtrooms, newspapers and museums for the last three months, may well be the most versatile art forger in history.”
The Britney Spears Effect (On Media Bottom Lines)
“For a growing number of people and businesses, Britney’s saga is about money: Every time she sinks to new lows, cash flows. And these days, no one is above the fray.”
Broadway Box Office Down
Despite the general downturn, the tally was still higher than the $14.7 million for 29 shows reported during the same week last year, and weekly attendance was up from 2007 (about 201,000 vs. 195,000).
Robert Weaver, Canada’s Literary Pioneer
“His literary judgement was shrewd. At the Tamarack or the CBC he could explain why one short story worked and another didn’t. That naturally made him Canada’s chief anthologist of stories. He was editor or co-editor of 10 anthologies for Oxford University Press plus three or four more for other publishers.”
Film Piracy – The Sundance Lesson
“Sundance films, present and past, simply do not register in the online pirate world–unless they are one of the few that have already made it big (like Clerks or Little Miss Sunshine). This proves two things: When it comes to content piracy, obscurity, not security, is the best defense. It also demonstrates that movie pirates are fundamentally parasitic, not predatory.”