A New York restaurant owner takes out an ad in the New York Times to blast food critic Frank Bruni. “In the interest of fairness, I am introducing my personal blog, which will be a compilation of my food-related experiences and musings and a special section entitled Following Frank and After Adam, in which I will make a follow-up visit to the restaurants they write about for the purpose of reviewing their reviews….My friends in the restaurant business have warned me that there will be further retaliation against me for speaking up. So be it.”
Tag: 02.21.07
Fraud In Them There Records?
Why of course, writes Norman Lebrecht. The fake recordings of Joyce Hatto were just the latest frauds. “What made classical records so easy to fake was the proliferation of same works by different artists – hundreds of Chopin waltzes, dozens of Rachmaninov concertos. With the exception of the occasional genius, few of these records betray much originality or can be told apart by the naked ear. That spells paradise for a potential hoaxer.”
Languages Without Professors?
In 2001, Drake University abandoned its language instruction programs, saying they didn’t work. “Six years later, Drake still doesn’t have language departments or language professors, but it does have a new approach to language instruction in place. And Drake — the institution language professors couldn’t say enough bad things about — is being hailed in some quarters as a model.”
L.A.’s Growing Opera Obsession
“Thanks to Placido Domingo, the superstar tenor who has been at the helm of L.A. Opera since 1999, opera has become a hot ticket in a sprawling metropolis where celebrity obsession is a way of life and movie mania reigns 365 days a year. Opera is still not a way of life here the way it is in New York, but L.A. is well on its way to being caught up in opera fever.”
Because College Students Have No Money. Duh.
Illegal music and video piracy may be down overall, but it continues to flourish on college campuses, where in-house networks designed to share information are a virtual clearinghouse for freely traded material. “Under federal law, universities that receive complaints about students illegally distributing copyrighted songs generally must act to stop repeat offenders or else the schools can be sued… Some schools aggressively warn students after they receive complaints. Others don’t.”
Settlement Gives Stranded Indie Publishers Hope
“After a shake-up involving the sudden bankruptcy of book distributor Publishers Group West — and worries that their own finances and stock would be tangled for months to come — independent publishers are guardedly optimistic about a new distribution arrangement worked out last week in a Delaware courtroom.”
The Ever-Evolving World Of Indie Film
As Hollywood gears up for the Oscars, a smaller but ever more visible segment of the film industry is preparing for the Spirit Awards, which will honor the best in independent film the night before the Academy hands out its statuettes. But in a business which seems increasingly to be blurring the lines between indie and studio films, does the phrase “independent film” mean anything anymore?
Reminder: Movies Actually Do Have Authors
“If a screenwriter turns out a brilliant screenplay and there’s no publicist to flog it, does it still make a sound at awards time? Of course, we’d like to think that artistic excellence always rises to the top but it certainly doesn’t hurt to have someone reminding people that, as the writer, you actually contributed something of note to the film.”
Alberta Leads Canada’s Cultural Spending
Alberta is frequently referred to as Canada’s answer to Texas – a conservative, cowboy-intensive enclave full of wide open spaces and unimaginable oil money. Now, an annual survey shows that, for the third year in a row, Albertans led the nation in per-capita spending on arts and culture. But there’s a catch: the lion’s share of the $3 billion Albertans spent on culture in 2005 went to pay for products (home entertainment systems, books, etc.) which can be enjoyed without ever leaving the couch.
DIY Degrees
So-called “interdisciplinary programs,” under which students at prestigious colleges and universities design their own majors and achieve a degree in something completely unique to their program of study, are becoming ever more common in the U.S. Moreover, designer degrees “can telegraph emerging fields of study and cultural interests. Gender studies and cognitive science departments got their starts as designer programs.”