Nancy Hatch Dupree, a former diplomat’s spouse turned guidebook writer, “is opening Afghanistan’s first centre dedicated to the study of its own history and society, picked over for decades by foreign academics but often hard for Afghan scholars to explore in their country.”
Tag: 03.26.13
Google Kills Frommer’s Print Travel Guides
“Following on the news of BBC Worldwide’s sale of Lonely Planet to NC2 Media at a sizable loss, comes the news that Google will cease production and publication of printed guidebooks carrying the Frommer’s brand name. Of course, … as we knew last year: Google only bought Frommer’s for the metadata.”
Why E-Books Are A Different Genre From Dead-Tree Books
“There are two aspects to the e-book that seem … profoundly to alter the relationship between the reader and the text. With the book, the reader’s relationship to the text is private, and the book is continuous over space, time and reader. Neither of these propositions is necessarily the case with the ebook.”
A Requiem For The World’s Oddest Orchestra: A Lighthouse, Three Brass Bands And 50 Ships
“Artists Lise Autogena and Joshua Portway have teamed up with composer Orlando Gough to create The Foghorn Requiem, … to mark the passing from use of the UK’s remaining land-based foghorns, which for the last 150 years have warned shipping about dangerous shorelines and other hazards.”
Censorship Dispute In Switzerland Gives Museums Pause
“A row over photography censorship has broken out in Switzerland which could, says the director of a major Swiss museum, lead to institutions backing down from mounting shows that focus on real-life situations.”
Balance Of Power – A Dance Between Executive And Artistic Directors
“Although times have changed significantly for the arts since Balanchine and Kirstein joined forces in the 1940s, the model those two men established for the administration of the American dance company remains: an artistic director reigning over the creative wing of the organization, an executive director administering the business side of things, and a board of directors to ensure fiscal responsibility.”
Hollywood As Propagandist?
“Whereas a generation ago, dissent and biting satire were allowed in the ‘mainstream’, today their counterfeits are acceptable and a fake moral zeitgeist rules.”
Hollywood Moves Closer To Digitized Actors
It’s proving elusive, but creating digital actors who are believable could change the way movies are made.
San Francisco Symphony Strike’s Great Mystery: Work Rules
Striking musicians are loudly complaining that management’s proposed work rule changes are intolerable – but won’t say what those changes are. Management claims to have no idea what changes the musicians are talking about – though administration spokespeople get slippery when questioned further.
A Fable Of The San Francisco Symphony Strike?
“A young, naive, well-meaning Bible salesman encounters a boy, perhaps 6 years old, playing outside his home. The man says hello to the kid, hoping to speak to the child’s parents. The boy kicks the man in the shin, starts screaming, and when his mother runs out from the house, the boy points at the man at yells: ‘He kicked me!'”