“Three longtime media executives are building an automated system to allow newspapers and magazines to charge for online access, including an ‘all you can read’ subscription that would allow access to multiple publications, the executives said on Tuesday.” The company is called Journalism Online, and among its founders is one Steven Brill.
Tag: 04.15.09
Charles Teitel, 93, Who Brought Foreign Cinema To Chicago
“Charles Teitel’s World Playhouse Theater on Michigan Avenue was the first foreign art house in Chicago, screening such seminal films as The Bicycle Thief and Z as well as movies that city censors tried to ban for racy content.”
Linking Shakespeare And Hip-Hop
“[Rapper] Akala engages [a group of teens] in a series of exercises that explore the close relationship between the rhythms of modern hip-hop and the iambic pentameter of Shakespeare. He hands out cards printed with a couple of lines. We have to decide whether they’re the work of the playwright or a rapper. It’s harder than you’d think.”
Western Photographer Robert Adams Wins Hasselblad Prize
“Robert Adams, whose images of the American West have made him an internationally celebrated photographer, just got $61,000 richer. That’s the amount Adams received this week as part of the Hasselblad Prize, one of photography’s top honors.”
Pittsburgh Opera Gets $1M Capital Grant From Pa.
“No telling how well Gov. Edward Rendell sings, but the Pittsburgh Opera was all ears when he presented the company with a $1 million Capital Budget Redevelopment Assistance grant at the Allegheny County Courthouse yesterday.”
77-Year-Old Tenor To Be World’s Oldest Otello
Jon Andrew, once a regular at houses like Covent Garden, La Scala and Munich, is coming out of retirement to sing the punishing Verdi role in England this June. (He last sang Otello in 1979.) Whatever the state of his cords, he’s physically strong enough to do it: “Andrew looks at gym equipment as Pavarotti once looked at dinner.”
Georgia Votes To Buy An Art Museum (Which Isn’t For Sale)
“The recession forced state lawmakers to slash more than $3 billion from budgets this year, but legislators were able to scrape together $1.6 million to buy and renovate the Albany [Ga.] Museum of Art. Apparently the General Assembly didn’t see the ‘not for sale’ sign on the property before approving the money in the state budget. The allocation has left museum officials befuddled.”
Stacked Buildings Are All The Rage. Jenga, Anyone?
“Buildings once strove for solidity–not merely to be stable but also to look stable, hence the optical corrections in ancient Greek architecture such as entasis, a subtle tapering of columns that makes them appear more settled to the human eye.” That’s now a rule architects are eager to break.
Released Into The Wild, Tagged Books Disappear
“I’ve been experimenting this year with a new book-sharing network called BookCrossing. … The idea, conceived by Ron and Kaori Hornbaker in 2001, is seductive: You sign up for free on their (annoyingly busy) Web site and register as many books as you’d like. Each book is assigned a unique 10-digit ID. Then you leave your books around … and track their travels from reader to reader across the globe.” Unless, of course, no one reports their whereabouts.
In Japan, The Arts And Creativity Evolve On Mobile Phones
“There was a time when mobile phones were used simply to communicate. In high-speed Japan, where more than 100 million people own mobile phones, they are not only a platform for novelists, but for all forms of artistic expression. Manga – comic art – is a major part of the Japanese publishing industry” and a presence on mobiles, while “street artists also create designs specifically for mobiles.” There’s also the pocket film.