Keeping kids out of R-rated movies has long been a task that movie theaters have performed grudgingly. After all, many action pictures aimed at the teen market are rated R, which technically excludes anyone under 17 from being admitted without a parent. But now, some theaters are trying out a new system, under which kids whose parents have been willing to grant them blanket permission to see R-rated films can bypass the system simply by flashing “the R-card”. The Motion Picture Association of America, which assigns the ratings, is not pleased.
Tag: 05.24.04
Microsoft’s Art Connection
When Michael Klein became the curator of Microsoft’s corporate art collection five years ago, the first thing he did was give the committee that had been picking art for the company the boot. “He’s not above rubbing it in. ‘I took their toy away’.” With a substantial budget and an eye for contemporary art, Klein has emerged as a player in the coporate art collecting world.
Veggie Orchestra Cuts A Novel Sound
“The sound of 90 pounds of finely tuned cucumbers, leeks, potatoes, radishes, peppers and other vegetables entertained a German audience at a weekend concert by the Viennese Vegetable Orchestra. The nine-piece orchestra plays a range of original compositions on instruments constructed from vegetables — including a flute made from a carrot, a saxophone carved out of a cucumber and a pumpkin converted into a double bass.”
Leak On Scottish Opera Puts Minister On Defensive
Last week a Scottish government official leaked word to the press about a funding deal for Scottish Opera. “The deal would see the cash-strapped company given a final £5m bailout on condition that it overhauls its working practices, making chorus members part-time and relinquishing the running of its base in Glasgow, the Theatre Royal. The leak angered Scottish Opera officials and the proposal dismayed the arts community. The first minister was accused of having a hand in the story.” And now the leak itself has turned into a story…
London On Top?
Is London the capital of the classical music world? That’s the claim by the city’s musicians who point to the city’s busy concert scenes and its five symphony orchetras.
Forging Gauguin (And Getting Away With It)
How did New York art dealer Ely Sakhai get away with forging and selling a Gauguin? “What was perhaps most interesting was how well this hustle exploited—and exposed—the frailties of the art marketplace. It is a world in which surprisingly few people are willing to stick their neck out and call a fake a fake, so that even as Sakhai’s scheme racked up victims, virtually no one was willing to call him on it. The forger knew this secret of the art world: It is tolerant of frauds, so long as the victims are in far-off places like Tokyo and too humiliated to raise a fuss. As if delivering a judo move, he used the particular quirks of art dealers against them.”
High Times Over For Irish Art Sales?
What’s happened to the market for Irish art? “This year, the 10th that Irish sales have been held in London, a niche market that once seemed confident and youthful looked tired and middle-aged. Beset by supply problems and Ireland’s economic slowdown, these specialist auctions have lost their bounce.”
(Washington) Mall Rat
Paul Goldberger says the new World War II Memorial on the Capitol Mall follows the tradition of uninspired Washington architecture. “The new National World War II Memorial on the Mall in Washington seems to want to be majestic, but it’s really an opulent, overbuilt civic plaza. The most important thing about it isn’t the design, which is a vaguely classical set of colonnades by the architect Friedrich St. Florian, but the real estate it occupies.”
The Enduring Stride And Swing
“Few pop idols survive changing fashions unscathed, but Glen Miller and Fats Waller seem to have done just that. One might have expected the renown of Glenn Miller, a hard-nosed martinet who devised the big-band sound most associated with reveries of the nineteen-forties, to fade with memories of the war in which he lost his life. Instead, critics who once denigrated him as a humorless purveyor of diluted swing, banal novelties, and saccharine vocals are reassessing a sound that clings relentlessly to the collective memory. The ongoing preëminence of Thomas (Fats) Waller is perhaps less of a surprise, given the dazzle of his pianism, the thumping pleasures of his small band, and the frequent hilarity of his satire.”
Cleaning Of David Finished
“The eight-month cleaning of Michelangelo’s statue of David is complete, the museum which houses the Italian Renaissance masterpiece said, almost four months ahead of its 500th anniversary celebrations.”