Jessica Duchen: “Some competitions have helped to launch fine careers, with relative impartiality … But under that tip it seems that there lies an iceberg of nepotism, sexual coercion, financial greed and downright megalomania that has gone unchecked for decades.”
Tag: 04.21.09
James Franco Plunges Into Experimental Art
“It’s not every day that a hot Hollywood star takes a detour off Sunset Boulevard and into avant-garde art territory. We expect that sort of thing from moody European actors, not from publicist-groomed studio chattel. […] Now it turns out Franco has also carved out a side career in experimental video art. Earlier this month at MoMA in New York, the artist known as Carter presented his latest work, a 63-minute piece titled Erased James Franco.“
New Guinea Tribesman Sues New Yorker
Last year the magazine published an “Annals of Anthropology” piece by Jared Diamond titled “Vengeance Is Ours,” in which “a blood-thirsty warrior [in the New Guinea highlands] bent on avenging his uncle’s death … touched off six years of warfare leading to the slaughter of 47 people and the theft of 300 pigs.” Said warrior is now seeking $10 million in damages for libel – and one researcher is backing the plaintiff up.
Philly’s Cézanne Show: For Rich People Only?
Tyler Green: “If I were a child, this show might get me hooked on art for life. And if I had children, I’d consider it a perfect way to show my kids how exciting art can be. Except I wouldn’t be able to afford to, and neither will many other families. The museum is charging as much as $88 for a family of four to see the show, effectively pricing out all but the relatively wealthy.”
The Ten Craziest Things About Susan-Boyle-Madness
“Boylemania has become about so much more than an underdog singing a good show tune. Rather, Ms Boyle has been turned into an SIE (Shared International Experience) whose angelic voice and against-the-odds international fame apparently reveal that feminism is alive and well, beauty is overrated, the recession ain’t that bad, cynicism is dying, and God still loves us. You think I’m exaggerating?”
Yes, It’s Son Of Dr. Horrible!
“The Internet musical Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, starring Neil Patrick Harris, was a Web sensation last fall. Fans crashed the official site, dr.horrible.com, while the downloadable version of the musical hit the top of the iTunes chart. Now some details for the sequel have emerged – and it looks like the creators want to stay true to the indie, low-budget aesthetic that made Dr. Horrible an instant cult item.”
National Children’s Museum Unveils ‘Green’ Design By Cesar Pelli
“The planned structure is a four-story building with a glass atrium on one corner, a towering wind turbine, a wall of living plants along one exterior side and an interior open courtyard. Other features will include a slip on one of the Potomac piers with science and boating activities, and a gathering place in a nearby woodland.”
Linda Gregg Nabs $50,000 Jackson Poetry Prize
“Poet Linda Gregg has won the third annual Jackson Poetry Prize, a $50,000 award given to an author who has written at least one book of ‘recognized literary merit,’ but has yet to receive wide attention.”
Where A Coal Mine Once Was, Dream Sculpture Rises
“A new 66ft (20m) high public artwork on the site of a former coal mine has been officially unveiled on Merseyside. The £1.8m Dream sculpture, in the form of a girl’s head with her eyes closed, is on the site of the former Sutton Manor Colliery in St Helens. A group of local ex-miners chose the design, which is made from 90 unique panels of pre-cast concrete.”
Do Novelists Have A Duty To Illuminate The Social Order?
“Is the point of writing fiction in 2009 to represent, as accurately as possible, the way the world really works? And is there a meaningful distinction to be made between works of fiction that are overtly about actual places during actual moments in history (like Joseph O’Neill’s post-9/11 New York novel Netherland), and novels whose emphasis is elsewhere (like Rivka Galchen’s Atmospheric Disturbances, in which setting is incidental)?”