“A number of books now regularly included in middle and high school curricula have startling, if realistic, scenarios, experts say. The jury is still out on whether exposing children to these ideas gives them ideas or helps them think through things they or their friends are experiencing.Is reading about a girl cutting herself likely to prompt more girls into doing this to themselves or to get help for themselves or their friends?”
Tag: 03.30.07
Will HD Radio Take Off With New Radios?
“HD radio is a digital format that lets radio stations deliver better-sounding audio on both AM and FM bands. With HD, AM sound quality matches that of standard FM audio, while FM signals approach the quality of store-bought CDs. HD radio also lets stations squeeze more broadcasting streams into their current frequency.”
Autocracy As Architecture
Workers are building a new city in the jungles of Burma. It “is intended to project power and control, but the absurd new city in the malarial jungle speaks more of paranoia and megalomania. The new metropolis may even bring a little hope to the oppressed people of Burma, for in the long and tasteless history of totalitarian architecture the most extravagant building works are often the precursor to a regime’s collapse.”
Robbing The Arts To Pay For The Olympics
The UK’s Arts Council is having its funding slashed a whopping 35% in order to help pay for the 2012 Olympics, and Lyn Gardner says that it’s time for the arts groups who stand to be devastated by the cuts to begin screaming from the rooftops. “Those who warned when lottery funding of the arts began that the arts should not be dazzled by the apparent cash bonanza but realise that the history of lotteries in other countries suggested that sales do decline, have been proved right in their predictions.”
Greek PM Demands Return Of Parthenon Marbles
“The Greek prime minister, deploying the strongest language yet for the return of the Parthenon marbles, yesterday said that Britain had run out of ‘feeble excuses’ to retain the treasures. At a ceremony to mark the return to Athens of two art works Greece has long claimed from the Getty Museum – and the imminent completion of a £94m Acropolis museum – Costas Karamanlis said it was only a matter of time before the sculptures’ repatriation.”
Equality vs. History: What’s The Right Thing To Do?
Museums in London and New York have recently made headlines with serious attempts to increase the profile of female artists in their collections. “Two concerns, though, arise from attempts to increase the valuation of women in art. Does the imposition of modern equalities on museums that deal with periods with different sensibilities falsify the historical record? And is a balance best achieved by the creation of separatist institutions?”
UK Arts Need Money To Make Up Lottery Shortfall
The British government has diverted Lottery money to fund the Olympics. Now Arts Council England is warning that the loss of Lottery money means “the culture sector needs a real terms funding rise in the forthcoming spending round to avoid a return to the days of boom and bust.”
Guggenheim, Pinault Battle For Venice
The competition has heated up between the Guggenheim and French billionaire Francois Pinault to build a nw museum in Venice. Proposals from the two have been judged about equal, but then it depends on what you’re looking for in a museum…
Damien Hirst, Money Machine
“Damien Hirst, who is completing a $100 million sculpture for a June show, is filling the coffers of dealers Gagosian, White Cube and Paul Stolper as fast as his art factory can turn out masterpieces.”
Teachout: Didion’s Grist For The Literary Mill
Terry Teachout has problems with the Broadway theatre adaptation of Joan Didion’s “The Year of Magical Thinking.” “All the familiar features of her style, hardened into slick, self-regarding mannerism after years of constant use, were locked into place and running smoothly, and I felt as though I were watching a piece of performance art, or reading a cover story in People: Joan Didion on Grief. Is this unfair? Probably.”