New York’s Coliseum Books wasn’t pretty or comfortable. But it was a great place to find books (and isn’t that sometimes the point?). So Coliseum was lamented when it lost its lease last year and went out of business. Now it’s reopening on 42nd Street, across from the public library. How to compete with the Barnes & Noble stores on every street corner? Well, there’ll be books you probably won’t find at B&N. And a coffee shop (the investors insisted).
Tag: 05.13.03
The Sex And Sizzle In Chicago’s New Skyline
Chicago has long had a reputation for great architecture… home of the skyscraper, and all… Now a new generation of great Chicago architecture is going up, and boy, is it sexy…
Controversial Mural Moved
Protests over a mural hung in a Milwaukee courthouse have resulted in the art being moved to a much less prominent place. “When the mural – commissioned by Marquette University’s Haggerty Museum of Art as a pictorial history of the Watts area of Los Angeles from the 1965 riots to today – was first hung on the first floor of the courthouse Friday, the work triggered complaints from sheriff’s deputies and other officers, who objected to what they saw as the mural’s anti-law-enforcement images, including the Rodney King case. Court officials raised concerns that the work’s bold images could bias prospective jurors.”
Transport Strike Causing Cannes Concern
Movie stars, as a rule, do not like to wait around. So one can imagine that the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival are more than a little bit concerned about a country-wide transport strike in France which is threatening to make the logistics of the festival a bit tricky. Cannes opens on Wednesday, and while some luminaries of the film world have already arrived, many are finding themselves stranded in Paris, at least temporarily.
Questionable (Artificial) Intelligence
Scientists have been working for decades on trying to build artificial intelligence. But how much progress has actually been made, when “notions as ‘water is wet’ and ‘fire is hot’ have proved elusive quarry for AI researchers? Unfortunately, the strategies most popular among AI researchers in the 1980s have come to a dead end. So-called ‘expert systems,’ which emulated human expertise within tightly defined subject areas like law and medicine, could match users’ queries to relevant diagnoses, papers and abstracts, yet they could not learn concepts that most children know by the time they are 3 years old.”
Artists In Post-Hussein Iraq
Artists in Iraq under Hussein had mixed fortunes. Those in favor were treated well. Those who were suspected for anything were killed or imprisoned. Now artists wonder about the future. “Though they know their agenda is less urgent than restoring electricity or holding elections, the men agreed that Iraq’s cultural rebirth will be crucial if the country is to prosper. There will be a place for Western influence, the men concluded, but they hope it is a tempered one.”
Lucas Starts Animation Studio
Filmmaker George Lucas has started his own animation studio. “For nearly six years, Lucas has tried ? without success ? to break into the feature animation business, which has become increasingly competitive. Rivals such as Pixar Animation Studios and partner Walt Disney Studios, DreamWorks SKG’s Pacific Data Images and 20th Century Fox’s Blue Sky Studios have cashed in on such blockbusters as ‘Monsters, Inc.,’ ‘Shrek’ and ‘Ice Age,’ respectively. Last year, Sony Pictures joined the fray by forming its own computer animation outfit.”
London – Capital Of The Art World
London is the world’s new art capital. “New Yorkers see their town as the source of all creation, a one-stop shop for culture. But London has become the art capital of the world. London has hot artists and a new museum every other year. New York is between generations and cannot get new buildings off the ground. It lacks coherence and unity. Visiting Americans will soon be offered a combined ticket for the Tate, the Saatchi, the Aquarium and the Eye. “
Artist’s Sign Warns Of Low-Flying Planes In Lower Manhattan
An artists has painted a big sign on a building near the site of the former World Trade Center in New York. It says: CAUTION: Low Flying Planes. “The painting, which includes an image of a flickering flame, has angered neighbors and provoked complaints to the city Landmarks Preservation Commission.”
Children’s Theatre Wins Tony
Minneapolis/St. Paul’s Children’s Theatre Company has won this year’s regional Tony Award. “Children’s Theatre Company has always had a very good reputation. But I think there’s an evolution in children’s theater that more of us are being considered as regional theaters, and CTC clearly has that designation.”