Tag: 02.03.06

Freedom Of Expression – The Most Important Question Of Our Time?

“The cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten raise the most important question of our times: freedom of expression. Are we in the west going to cave into pressure from societies with a medieval mindset, or are we going to defend our most precious freedom — freedom of expression, a freedom for which thousands of people sacrificed their lives? A democracy cannot survive long without freedom of expression, the freedom to argue, to dissent, even to insult and offend.”

Our Eroding Cultural Lingua Franca

“Not so long ago it seemed as if we all spoke the same pop-culture language. But in an era of 500 TV channels, billions of Web pages, unlimited Netflix rentals, and iPods with music libraries of Smithsonian proportions, popular entertainment has suddenly become mind-bogglingly vast. As the overlap between what we all watch, read, and listen to steadily erodes, the water cooler has become a modern-day tower of Babel, where conversations sound like the jumbled voices emanating from the jungle in “Lost.” (If that reference is lost on you then, well, Q.E.D.)”

The Arts Race

Colleges are escalating their arts offerings. “According to College Board data, there was a 44 percent increase from 1996 to 2005 in the number of high school seniors who say that they plan to major in visual and performing arts. For business and commerce majors, the gain was much less modest, at 12 percent, while the percentage who plan to major in social sciences and history has decreased by 15 percent.”

Of Truth, Lies And Theatre

John Heilpern returns from writing a biography to writing about theatre. Biographies are about getting th facts right. But theatre? “As I see it, it’s my job as a biographer to see behind the mythomania and print the truth. But as a drama critic, give me beautiful lies every time. As I return to the theater beat, I am for those who believe feelings are real and facts are secondary. I am for all those in theater with open hearts.”

Christian Booksellers Feel The Squeeze

Christian bookstores are struggling. “Association membership peaked at around 3,000 stores in the early 1990s but now totals less than 2,300. CBA said 337 retailers closed last year. To compete, independents look beyond books to sell music, gifts, jewelry, stationery, hymnals and communion supplies. Books now account for only 40 percent of sales in Christian retail stores. Religious books, primarily Christian, generated U.S. sales of nearly $338 million in 2003.”

Austria Won’t Buy Klimts

Austria says it won’t buy five paintings by Gustav Klimt stolen by Nazis that were awarded to the family of the original owner. “Austria’s minister in charge of education and culture, said the government wanted to acquire the masterpieces but decided it could not afford the $300-million price tag. Last month, an arbitration court awarded the paintings to Maria Altmann of Los Angeles, who says they were looted from her family by the Nazis.”

Awards Solve The Piracy Problem

To take away the piracy threat, this year’s Oscar voters were sent special DVD players that could read specially encrypted discs. “In all, 13,000 of the DVD players manufactured by Dolby Laboratories were sent to all academy members, British Academy of Film and Television Arts members and some of the other awards-bestowing organizations, to play encrypted discs that cannot be copied and downloaded. The new machines take away the downloading option.”

Mapping The Music Genome

“Customizable Internet radio such as Yahoo’s Launchcast.com has been around for years, but Pandora is a twist on the concept: Instead of relying solely on computer software to spit out playlists, Pandora draws on its Music Genome Project, a 6-year-old effort by a group of musicians to identify the hundreds of traits and qualities that form the building blocks of music — and then to map out each individual song within this framework, or genome. Genre disappears, and every song is at once relatable, however closely or distantly, to every other.”