“Some of Hollywood’s most prominent players — including several with films in this year’s race — are privately grumbling that the rituals of Oscar night have outlived any real sense of excitement about the event. After the American audience for last year’s Oscar show hit an all-time low of about 32 million viewers, ABC cut its rate for a 30-second ad on this year’s broadcast to $1.4 million from $1.7 million, according to Advertising Age.”
Tag: 02.02.09
Valuable Book Thefts (And The Libraries That Abet Them)
There are a “handful of highly intelligent, well-educated criminals who operate in the somewhat murky world of international antiquarian book traders, collectors and curators. They successfully plunder priceless tomes, manuscripts and ancient maps, while the players in this closed world – the national and international libraries, the dealers and the victims themselves – largely remain silent about what is going on.”
A University That Purges Art?… Well – Not Much Of A School Then, Is It?
“The Brandeis vote was an act of breathtaking stealth and presumption: a raid on a museum that supports itself, raises its own funds and has consistently planned wisely for its own future without leaning on the university. The trustees treated it nonetheless as a disposable asset.”
Vancouver’s Olympic Cultural Festival Struggles For Profile
“The second instalment of Vancouver’s Cultural Olympiad is still fighting for profile. And while its organizers have their eyes firmly set on 2010, arts groups are looking beyond, wondering what kind of legacy will be left behind.”
Lukas Foss, 86
“Although he was a German émigré, Mr. Foss was, from the start of his composing career, considered an important voice in the burgeoning world of American composition, along with Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Elliott Carter and Leonard Bernstein.”
Being George Plimpton
“Throughout five decades, the writer and editor, to a breathtaking degree, enacted his daydreams and fantasies and fashioned them into a glittering persona. He was ‘George Plimpton’ – editor, host, naturalist, toastmaster, celebrity escort, fireworks specialist, athlete, gossip and playboy… [Yet] underneath Plimpton’s deeply amiable exterior was a person who sometimes came across as a Man Without Qualities.”