War, economic development and global climate change pose threats to extraordinary buildings and cities, according the World Monuments Fund’s 2008 Watch List of the 100 most endangered sites.
Tag: 06.07.07
Tony Blair’s Arts Legacy – What’s The Beef?
“Whether or not it has been the golden age our erstwhile leader claims, it is indisputable that New Labour has increased arts funding and does deserve to take some credit for the results this period of comparative stability has achieved. Once again our world-class arts organisations are producing internationally acclaimed work. The National Theatre and our regional theatres are flourishing. Orchestras are reporting record attendances and our film industry is a good deal healthier than it was when John Major said hello to the removal men.”
Google Expands Its Library Digitizing Project
“The 12 universities that make up the Committee on Institutional Cooperation have agreed to let Google digitize up to 10 million of their collective volumes — generally those from the most distinctive parts of their collections. The announcement brings to 25 the number of universities involved in the Google project, which is being hailed by some scholars for the way it will assure online access to volumes that have been largely available only in a few locations and that are in danger of decomposition.”
Rabbits Will Be Extinct In Two Years
“The V-shaped rabbit ears, which have stood sentry in some living rooms and dens since the early 1950s, risk going the way of the eight-track tape player or Betamax in 20 months because that is when local television stations will cease sending their signals over the analog airwaves, and instead begin transmitting their programming exclusively over the more modern digital spectrum.”
A Theatre Promotion That Went Awry
a Los Angeles production of Charles Busch’s WWII spoof “The Lady in Question” has sparked outrage because of a promotion meant to lure patrons. Postcards were mailed out reading: “Come see The Lady in Question dressed as a Nazi and get $10 off.”
Nigeria’s New Literay Voice
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won this year’s Orange Prize. “After the publication of her first book Purple Hibiscus, one critic described Ms Adichie as ‘Chinua Achebe’s 21st Century daughter’. With a mathematics professor father and her mother a university administrator, Ms Adichie was not expected to become a writer.”
Navel-Gazing With A Wary Eye Towards The Future
Theatre professionals from across the country are gathering this weekend at Minneapolis’s Guthrie Theater to ponder the future of their craft, and how best to adjust to a rapidly changing world of entertainment choices. “Will theater have to extend its definition to include 3-D creations? Online-only productions? Virtual communities? What is the role of theater in an America where the public is increasingly infatuated with celebrity?”
Remind Me Why We Came Here?
BookExpo Canada, the huge publishing industry exhibition held at Toronto’s Harbourfront, is basically a big schmoozefest for booksellers, publishing houses, and authors. And that kind of close annual contact can only be a good thing for the industry, right? Um… right?
Old-Timers Take Griffin Poetry Prizes
“Veteran poets triumphed Wednesday night at the 7th annual Griffin Poetry Prize ceremony in Toronto’s Distillery District. B.C.’s Don McKay, 65, nominated for the Griffin Canadian Award on two previous occasions, hit the mark with his third nomination, taking the $50,000 honour from a field of three… McKay’s success was matched by U.S. poet Charles Wright, 71, whose most recent volume, Scar Tissue, bested three other contestants to take the Griffin for best International Poetry, also worth $50,000.”
Testing The Limits Of Internet Ranting
For the last seven years, crime novelist Patricia Cornwell has been stalked, online and off, by a man who claims that she stole his ideas, hates Jews, follows Hitler, and is conspiring to have him killed. Cornwell has moved three times in order to escape his presence, and now, she is suing him for libel in a case that could have wider implications for online discourse.