“Oxford scholars are preparing to post the notes, diaries, drawings and photographs from the 1922 excavation of the tomb of King Tutankhamun on the internet in an attempt to study it completely.”
Tag: 05.15.06
Write A Screenplay, Win The Lottery – It’s all The Same, Isn’t It?
Want to strike it rich? Write something. At least that’s what an awful lot of people seem to be thinking about these days. They are writing the screenplay – or, since Harry Potter, the children’s book – that will overnight, pay off the mortgage, free them from the job, allow the kids to have a great education and pay for the rest of their lives to be lived in tasteful but significant luxury.” Trouble is – your chances of that ever happening are about the same as winning the lottery…
Do We Need To Remember To Fail?
“The unprecedented success of technology in the last 50 years may have also created an expectation that failure should be anticipated and eliminated in all aspects of life. This leaves less and less tolerance for its inevitable persistence; very little margin is left for error. That is understandable in deciding whether bolts or welds should be used in a skyscraper (as became an issue in the Citigroup Tower in New York); large forces hinge on such small decisions. But that absolutist approach also entails unexpected sacrifices in other aspects of life, particularly when avoidance of failure and accident becomes the guiding principle for future design and behavior.”
Getty: We’re Not Panicking
“Rather than impressing the governments of the Mediterranean lands to which it pays such elaborate tribute, the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, Calif., has roused their anger. Saying that the villa’s galleries are full of antiquities that were illegally removed from their historical settings, Italy and Greece are demanding the return of dozens of objects.” Getty Museum director Michael Brand plans a stead hand: “It is a matter of not panicking and thinking the Getty Museum has a crisis, but of approaching it calmly and rationally and trying to work toward a solution.”
Gelb’s Met: Artists May Love It, But Will Audiences Follow?
As Peter Gelb prepares to take the helm of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, he has served notice that he intends to make some major changes to the venerable company. “Gelb argues that this approach will attract, not threaten, the opera establishment: ‘By having more new productions in any given season – of standard repertoire as well as new operas – the Met will become an even more attractive place for the top singers. The greatest artists and conductors want to be stimulated.’ Ah – but do opera audiences? There’s the rub.”
Hawaii Orchestra Finally Gets Some Good News
The Honolulu Symphony has been battling serious fiscal problems for years, and this season was no exception. But as the orchestra wrapped up its year onstage, the Hawaii state legislature came through with a $4 million matching gift for the HSO’s endowment, as well as a $150,000 for educational programs. The orchestra will need to raise an additional $4 million in order to keep the state money, as part of a wider campaign to boost the HSO’s endowment.