“The New York City Opera is close to a deal to build a concert hall in the base of a new apartment building planned for the former American Red Cross site near Lincoln Center… In the new building, the opera company is to have a theater of about 1,800 seats with the expected cost about $350 million…”
Tag: 04.27.06
Latest From The True/Hecht Trial: The Sicilian Connection
Prosecutors in the art theft trial of former Getty Museum curator Marion True and art dealer Robert Hecht are weaving a complex tale of antiquities fraud, using dozens of documents to establish a pattern of misconduct. The latest testimony in the case has focused on a Sicilian antiquities dealer whom prosecutors allege had illegal dealings with collectors and museums around the world.
Everybody’s A Cryptographer…
Apparently, the pull of The DaVinci Code is so strong that not even members of the bench can resist it. The judge in the now-dismissed plagiarism case against author Dan Brown has admitted that he embedded a code of his own within the text of his 72-page ruling, and says he will confirm its contents once someone breaks the code.
Big Names Abound At Spring Auctions
“Some of the greatest hits in art history are coming to Sotheby’s and Christie’s in Manhattan this weekend: a van Gogh portrait of Madame Ginoux; a 1941 Picasso painting of his mistress Dora Maar with a black cat perched on her shoulder; and a haunting 1902 Blue Period Picasso of Germaine, one of his earliest muses…”
The Jesus & Commerce Chain
For mainstream rock fans, the very idea of Christian Rock can cause sneers and laughter. But the genre has exploded in the last two decades, and increasingly, Christian bands are nearly indistinguishable from their secular counterparts, save for two things: the lyrics are about God, and the Christian albums sell better.
Co-Authored By A Marketing Committee
The Kaavya Viswanathan plagiarism case has brought to light a profession many outside the publishing world have probably been completely unaware of: that of the “book packager.” Alongside Viswanathan’s name (and those of countless other authors) on the copyright page is the name “Alloy Entertainment,” which specializes in coming up with ideas, characters, and plotlines that test well with a certain demographic of readers, then hiring an author to flesh out the details.
My Subconscious Made Me Do It
Kaavya Viswanathan continues to insist that she never intentionally copied passages of her novel from two books by Megan McCafferty, and said in an appearance on NBC’s Today Show that her love for McCafferty’s works must have led her to unconsciously paraphrase the author’s words. Meanwhile, lawyers from Viswanathan and McCafferty’s respective publishers are discussing the potential implications of the plagiarism, even as Viswanathan’s publisher says that it has no intention of withdrawing the book.
Embracing The (Very, Very, Very) Small Screen
The idea of movies made specifically to be viewed on cell phones is still a hard sell to many in Hollywood. But there is no question that some of the shorts being produced for the tiny screen are of extremely high quality, and many are counting on mobile movies to be the next big content boom. “This week at the San Francisco International Film Festival, 20 movies made for mobile devices with 2-inch-by-3-inch screens will be shown as part of the festival’s Pocket Cinema program.”
Blogging Your Way To Better Writing Skills? Good Luck.
When blogging first started to become a major online phenomenon, many bloggers were fond of claiming that the medium would lead a resurrection of interest in quality writing. It hasn’t happened, of course, as anyone skimming any of the millions of poorly written, grammatically atrocious journals can attest. “Of the 27 million or so “daily diaries” floating like space junk in the blogosphere, there are a handful that aren’t bad. Some are well written and insightful. But understand that we’re talking about a precious few needles in a mighty big haystack.”
Toronto Opera House Gets A Sound Check
Opening night may yet be weeks away, but a packed house got a chance this week to hear the first full test of the acoustics of Toronto’s new Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. “It was immediately clear that music is truly front and centre in this space. The singing from the stage and playing from the orchestra pit sounded clean and mellow. The lyrics were clearly intelligible.”