“US dissatisfaction with intellectual property protection typically bears little relation to whether the country actually meets international standards. While the USTR report and its supporters seek to paint many countries as laggards on copyright, this rhetoric ignores the fact that many of those same countries are compliant with their international obligations.”
Tag: 04.25.07
The Choreographer And The Impressario
“Kirstein and Balanchine — the shy, Boston-bred impresario and the iron-willed Russian — were not an obvious pairing. Kirstein was the intellectually driven scion of a family that made its fortune from Filene’s department store. He was not a good student; it took him three attempts to get into Harvard. While he was still there he made his first venture as a cultural force with the founding of a literary journal, Hound and Horn (whose European editor was Ezra Pound).”
The Art School That Really Teaches How To Paint
There are about 30 full-time classical ateliers in America. “The atelier system–of extended apprenticeships in the studios of master artists–is an old European tradition, spanning back to the Renaissance and up through the Flemish painting guilds to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. But they faced extinction in America when art education became a province of universities in the first half of the 20th century.”
FCC: Government Could Reign In TV Violence
The FCC says that the US government could regulate violence on television. “The report indicates that Congress could develop a definition of excessively violent programming but that such language needs to be narrowly tailored in conformance with judicial precedent.”
London’s National Neglecting Classics For Cutting Edge
“Something strange is happening in London theatre: a form of theatrical cross-dressing on which no one has yet commented. If you want to see cutting-edge experimentalism, the National Theatre is currently the place to go. Meanwhile, if you want to explore the English classic tradition, you have to visit the fringe.”
What’s Lost When A Book Supplement Is No More
As American newspapers’ book sections disappear one by one, John Freeman makes a plea for their necessity. “Book reviews are one of the few places in a US newspaper one can stop to appreciate the beauty of language, the pleasures of knowledge. They are also footbridges to artistic tradition, however rickety. In a country as plagued by anti-intellectualism as America, where books are frequently banned for even hinting at sex, these are vital byways.”
One’s Library As A Window To One’s Soul — Or Not
“Here’s a great statistic: a third of British adults have lied about what they read in order to appear more intelligent. … Judging character from someone’s reading habits is a favourite game in the media” — and among prospective romantic partners. “But how much can we really deduce from a collection of books?”
Swedish Entrance Fees Deter Museumgoers In Droves
“Visitor numbers to Swedish museums have declined dramatically since the re-introduction of entrance fees in January this year. A survey by the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter compared visitor figures for 15 museums in January 2007 with the same month in 2006. This revealed a decrease of nearly 90,000 visitors to 183,000, from 272,300 the previous year–a substantial drop of 33%.”
Let’s Not Repeat Sweden’s Experiment, Shall We?
“From Sweden comes a cautionary tale of what can happen when free museum admission is scrapped. … The news will make uncomfortable reading for anyone who believes that re-introducing entrance fees could restore the financial health of the arts in the UK, which came in for another battering after it was announced this week that an extra £675m will be diverted from the National Lottery to help finance the 2012 Olympic Games.”
Without Buyers’ Help, Limiting Rap Lyrics Is Doomed
“Just as we as a people are free to engage in objectionable speech — and to turn away from it if we are offended — hip-hop’s critics are free to debate, coax, bully, even legislate that speech. … But the bottom line in any commercial enterprise is what the market will bear. And here, a weariness with the mind-numbingly repetitive, casually hateful emphasis on violence, misogyny, homophobia, and commercialism may be doing the necessary corrective work.”