So the National Endowment for the Arts is launching a big program to try to get people to read more books. But Sara Nelson wonders if the whole thing doesn’t sound too much like homework. “I can’t help wondering whether it’s the role of the NEA to be the substitute teacher, a stranger granted authority to give a reading assignment. It’s like homework. Will even the most well-meaning outreach, participation by individual communities and NEA-provided educational materials really inspire a heretofore reluctant reader to pick up the titles he shunned in high school?”
Tag: 05.15.06
Mourning Indie Bookstores – Just Nostalgia?
“Ever since the rise of the book superstore in the 1990s, we have been flooded with lamentations for the rapidly disappearing independent booksellers. The real change in the book market is not the big guy vs. the little guy, or chain vs. indie stores. Rather, it’s the reader’s greater impatience, a symptom of our amazing literary (and televisual) plenitude.”
The Boring Business Of Broadway
Everyone bitches about Broadway, and a glance at the history books will tell you that everyone always has. And while it is true that the quality of New York theatre probably isn’t as low as everyone says, it is also true that “there’s a technical problem with Broadway in the new tourist era: It’s mostly boring.” It also doesn’t seem to have anything to do with New York, being mainly a concoction to lure free-spending tourists; nor does it have much to do with quality, with everything from orchestras to stage crew being squeezed to keep the profit margin up. In fact, to find really interesting theatre with a New York flavor these days, you almost have to look Off-Broadway.
NAC To Reconsider Internal Gag Order
In response to vociferous objections from unions at the National Arts Centre, the confidentiality agreement the NAC had asked all employees to sign is under review. “The letter threatens workers with punishment or termination if they break the confidentiality agreement,” and opponents say that it would nullify a law passed in 2004 to protect whistleblowers.
The Killing Of The WTC Memorial
Michael Arad thought he had won big when his design for a memorial at the WTC site was chosen. But the memorial has been caught up in the mess that is the whole project. “The latest cost estimate issued this month—an impossible $972 million—has Mayor Michael Bloomberg demanding that the design be scaled back, while others suggest that it be scrapped altogether. The battle that is now breaking into full view has been raging behind the scenes since the moment Arad’s plan was picked. He has waged a personal war against the LMDC—to defend his design, he says, from the agency’s cronyism and shoddy management.”
Sony’s Christian Da Vinci Code Strategy
The Da Vinci Code is controversial with Christians. But is Sony (who owns the movie) trying to minimize the conflict? No. In fact…
Will The Internet Have A High-Def Problem?
As high-definition video clips become more popular on the internet, things are slowing down, say ISPs. “Most home internet use is in brief bursts — an e-mail here, a web page there. If people start watching streaming video like they watch TV — for hours at a time — that puts a strain on the internet that it wasn’t designed for, ISPs say, and beefing up the capacity to prevent that will be expensive. To offset that cost, ISPs want to start charging content providers to ensure delivery of large video files, for example. Internet activists and consumer groups are vehemently against those plans.”
The Clock, The Oil Boom, And The Russian Art Binge
“At a time when Russians flush with oil money are making headlines spending millions on art, the forthcoming sale of a 100-year- old Fabergé clock is causing a stir in the Scandinavian auction world… The reason for the excitement is not because the clock is an outstanding piece of jewelry; most experts agree that the Fabergé workshops produced many objects of greater refinement. Rather, anticipation is linked to the clock’s almost mystical provenance and how it fits into Russia’s current boom.”
How Did The Da Vinci Code Become A Breakout Hit?
“To hear some people tell it, author Dan Brown stumbled on the literary equivalent of turning lead into gold. They say his was a formula that mixed clumsy, forgettable sentences with breakneck pacing, lectures on art, history and religion, sinister conspiracies, evil villains, puzzles and cliffhanger chapter endings to produce literary gold. While some like novelist Salman Rushdie called the book “typewriting” and others, like critic Laura Miller, called it “cheesy,” book industry professionals refuse to sneer, saying this was far from a case of good things happening to a bad book.”
Study: Women Driving Sales Of Recordings
An awful lot of money has gone to marketing pop music to men. But new studies show that “more women now spend more time listening to music than their male counterparts, with record labels speculating that the rise in digital downloads means they now find it quicker and easier to explore new artists.”