“Iran cut ties with the British Museum on Sunday in protest at repeated delays in the loan to Tehran of an ancient Persian treasure.”
Tag: 02.07.10
An Ancient Language Goes Extinct
“A tribal language thought to have existed for 65,000 years has disappeared forever in India’s Andaman Islands, taken to the grave with its last speaker.”
Is There Any Such Thing As The Definitive Performance?
“Most experienced listeners know that thinking in terms of definitive performances is as meaningless for new music as it is for any other kind.”
Dancing Opera Singers? Hmnnn…
“The idea of opera singers moving choreographically is tantalizing. About the specific fantasy of a dancing Carmen, however, I would caution, be careful what you wish for. Many great opera singers are just not built for dancing.”
New Voting Procedure For Best Picture Is Complicated
“Whereas all other categories will use the same system used in the past — every voter gets to pick one of the five nominees, and the nominee with the most votes wins — the 10-nominee Best Picture category will function differently.”
Now Open For Business: E-Books
“A host of rivals to the market-dominating Kindle electronic reader has given newfound hope to publishers that they will finally be able to dictate their own terms after being at the mercy of Amazon.”
The Odd Dynamics Of Making A Great Book
“Among the strange fates of many great books, the bizarre afterlife of Moby-Dick stands out as a classic example. The first edition of the novel, originally called “The Whale” (1851), was a horrible combination of a flop and a botch.”
Writing A Book? How Depressing
“To begin to write a book these days seems more than the average folly. Publishing appears to have been hit by a storm similar to the one that tore through the music industry a few years ago and is now causing unprecedented pain in newspapers We are told that fewer people are reading, that book sales are down, that the supermarkets which sell one in five copies of all books care more about their cucumber sales.”
Internet – Friend Or Foe?
John “Chipman argues, plausibly, that we are now at an equivalent period to the early 1950s. Just as strategists had to devise whole new doctrines to cope with the nuclear age, so they will have to come up with new ideas to cope with the information age.”
UK Universities Change Entry Requirements
“Universities have introduced the changes partly because of surging numbers of applications — with a rise of nearly 12% expected in national figures to be released this week.”