The hapless Bellevue Arts Museum, outside Seattle, is the victim of embezzlement. “BAM, formerly the Bellevue Art Museum, closed its doors in October 2003. When it reopened in 2005 as the Bellevue Arts Museum, it was as a craft museum. Last year its annual budget was $2.6 million. This year it’s $3 million, said director Michael Monroe, who affirms that he won’t let the missing $200,000 turn into a big problem for the museum.”
Tag: 05.23.07
Wanted: Movie Girls Who Kick Ass
Where are the tough beautiful female roles in movies? “It’s so dumb the way females are portrayed. Women who can kick ass but still have a heart–we’re not represented at all in the cinema.”
Report: Book Sales Down Slightly
The Association of American Publishers said total sales by U.S. publishers last year were estimated at $24.197 billion, down from $24.263 billion in 2005. Sales of religious books were down 10 percent, while sales of audio books dropped 11 percent.
Blogging Your Way To A Book Contract
“Blooks – books based on blogs or websites – are beginning to reap returns for publishers… Whether blooks will really change the way in which publishers decide what we read is arguable – particularly since a narrow group of people has helped to put many bloggers into bookshops. But for all the noise made about blogging, the mark of success still seems to be a move into print.”
Bidding War Looking Likely For EMI
When a private equity firm offered £2.4bn to buy UK music giant EMI, the immediate question from most observers was whether previous EMI suitor Warner Music would submit its own offer, and if so, whether regulators on either side of the Atlantic would allow such a huge merger. Warner hasn’t officially decided whether to submit a bid, but a decidedly relaxed regulatory climate in Europe would seem to make such a move likely.
Collector Heinz Berggruen, 93
“Heinz Berggruen, who has died aged 93, was one of the most prominent German art collectors of the 20th century. A friend of Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Max Ernst and many other leading artists, he was also a journalist, author and art patron.”
Tate Embracing Teens In A Big Way (But Why?)
London’s Tate Modern is hosting a sleepover for 150 teenagers next week, “the start of a stupendous exercise in bringing together the behemoths of contemporary Britain, mass consultation and youth culture. It will be followed by simultaneous conferences this autumn, at the Tates Modern, Britain, Liverpool and St Ives, which they swear will be organised by the young ‘uns, with adults admitted only by invitation.”
The Inescapable Literary Lure Of The Carp
In America, it’s often said that baseball attracts more writers than it does athletes. In Britain, the same is apparently true of… um, fishing? “Fishing is about the closest you can get to physically experiencing poetry. It is a pursuit based on contemplation and solitude that involves an appreciation of the elements; it is a game of chance, hope, escapism; a step into the murky waters of the unknown.”
Licensing Law Hurting Those It Was Meant To Help
The UK’s freelance musicians say that the country’s heavily monitored licensing practices are making it difficult for them to earn a living. “Under the act, the maximum penalty for the unlicensed provision of even one musician is a £20,000 fine and a six month prison sentence. Critics claim fringe musicians such as jazz and folk artists, who were the main beneficiaries under the rule, are losing gigs because small venues are abandoning informal live music events to avoid the trouble and expense of getting a licence.”
The Myriad Horrors of the Amateur Manuscript
Take it from one whose job was to sift through unsolicited manuscripts: there’s a reason that many publishers don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts. “By the time I left my job in publishing a few weeks ago, my idealism was in tatters, destroyed by the piles of typescripts I received from people who told me that their fondest desire was to write full time while sitting in a villa overlooking the Mediteranian, despite the fact that they didn’t know how to spell it.”