“Tens of thousands of Buddhist manuscripts, paintings and other treasures scattered around the world have been brought together in probably the world’s largest computer database of its kind.”
Tag: 02.05.09
A “Modest” Proposal: Billions For The Arts
“Here is a modest proposal: The federal government — which means you and I — should pump $62 billion into the nation’s nonprofit cultural infrastructure.Yes, that’s billion-with-a-b, not million-with-an-m. Forget about the silly dickering over an anemic $50-million boost for the National Endowment for the Arts. About 100,000 nonprofit arts groups operate in the 50 states. Collectively they employ almost 6 million people. Crisis is a time for boldness, not timidity, and few recall an economic crisis quite like this one. So art museums, symphonies, theaters, dance companies and other cultural centers should get a huge infusion of funds.”
How Lip-Syncing Is Killing Live Performance
“No longer is a good or even a great performance good enough. Now we must have performances free from the “slightest glitch.” And since no one — not even a singer of Ms. Hudson’s manifest talent nor a violinist of Mr. Perlman’s virtuosity — can guarantee that a live performance will be 100% glitch-free, the solution has been to eliminate the live part. Once, synching to a recorded track was the refuge of the mediocre and inept; now it’s a practice taken up by even the best artists.”
John Adams Talks “Crossover” Music
“There are a lot of young composers in their 20s and 30s who are very anxious to appeal to the same audience that would listen to indie rock. But they are creating a level of musical discourse that’s just really bland. I don’t think it will have a very long shelf life. The bottom line is art really can’t be made easy and palatable without simply losing its meaning and importance.”
Contractor Blamed For South Miami-Dade PAC Delays
“County Inspector General Christopher Mazzella’s report faults [general contractor Tower-OHL Group] for failing to properly schedule work and causing inordinate delays on the center, which is made up of two buildings and includes a 966-seat theater.” The complex is intended to anchor redevelopment of an area that has never fully recovered from Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Hans Beck, 79, Inventor Of Playmobil Figures
“He developed the original simple plastic figures – a knight, a construction worker and a Native American – partly as a reaction to the early 1970s oil crisis. Since plastic is made from oil, it became too expensive to make the large plastic toys that his employer, the Brandstatter Group, was known for.”
A Messiah For Godless Secular Humanists?
Richard Einhorn – the composer of Voices of Light, the popular work inspired by Dreyer’s silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc – has written a new a multimedia oratorio titled The Origin, with texts selected from On the Origin of Species as well as Charles Darwin’s autobiography, letters and notebooks.
Evaluating The AP’s Obama Poster Copyright Grab
“The poster isn’t a direct copy of the image. The background of the photo and other details are different in the poster. The poster is quite different in its use and nature from the photo, and the market for the poster strikes me as significantly distinct from that of the photo. The AP seems to be attempting to be money-grubbing here with this rather petty copyright claim.”
More Complaints About Ticketmaster Practices
Tickets to Bruce Springsteen concerts supposedly available through Ticketmaster show up on another site at greatly inflated prices. TM owns both sites. Is this any way to run a ticket service?
The Rushdie Fatwa – Its Effects 20 Years Later
“On 14 February 1989Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie and his publishers over The Satanic Verses. Twenty years on, it has become commonplace to assume that the fatwa and the climate of offence that took hold in its wake has narrowed minds and tied tongues.” But has it?