New classes examining violence: “Starting in Violence 101, ‘Introduction to the Comparative Study of Violence,’ and on through ‘The Causes of Crime and Violence’ and ‘Violence in Film and History,’ students are encouraged to look at history, arts and sciences through a single lens: the infliction of injury and death.” But are such classes anything more than voyeuristic rubbernecking? – Salon
Tag: 01.31.00
ARTS CUTS?
Whether in reaction to the Brooklyn Art Museum fiasco or to woo the state’s conservatives for the impending Senate election, New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is said to be ordering up cuts in the city’s arts budget. Arts funding defenders are gearing up. – Backstage
EARWORMS
Why is it that certain tunes – and bad tunes at that – get stuck in our heads? As a student of Freud’s put it: “Whatever secret message it carries, the incidental music accompanying our conscious thinking is never accidental.” – Feed
WHERE THE CONTEMPORARY THRIVES
If it’s January and it’s really cold outside, it must be Winnipeg. It used to be necessary to marvel at the enormous crowds that flock to the Winnipeg Symphony’s annual festival of contemporary music in January. But after eight years, one of North America’s most successful new music festivals has firmly established itself. – Toronto Globe and Mail
MP3 SMACKDOWN
Copyright Control Services is in the business of stamping out the pirating of music on the internet. In a year, the group says, it has closed down 5,000 internet sites. – Wired
MODERNIZATION
- Christie’s turns some new corners under new leadership and modernizes its London headquarters. – The Telegraph (UK)
MASTERS OF THE NEW WORLD
Prices and sales of Old Master paintings are rising in New York. Many London dealers of Old Masters have opened branches in Manhattan, leading to speculation the Big Apple may surpass London as the center of the trade. – New York Times
CANADA DECIDES —
— to write the history of its art. The question is: what, and whose history should it be? – CBC
THE EXAMINED LIFE
The late writer Patrick O’Brian was famously private about his own life. O’Brian’s biographer Dean King, explains why he was drawn to write about the novelist: “I felt that by not telling the truth to reporters and to his live audiences in the United States during visits here, O’Brian forfeited the right to not have a closer look taken. There’s a right way and a wrong way to go about these things. My motive was not to bring down this man, it was simply to set the record straight, to present an accurate record of a great writer.” – The Idler
TAKING STOCK
Author Carol Shields puts aside her struggles with cancer as she publishes a new collection of stories and finishes her biography of Jane Austen. – National Post (Canada)