“Proverbial sayings such as ‘we’re all human’ reduce feelings of regret and hypocrisy after men get into trouble. But new research finds they don’t have the same soothing effect on women.”
Tag: 06.30.10
The Dark And Stormy Nights Of 2010: Bulwer-Lytton Prizes For Worst Opening Sentence
Here’s just one Dishonorable Mention: “Living next door to the Lesters for nearly twelve years now, Mrs. Nestor, fully aware of her husband’s fondness for pulchritudinous posteriors, was unable to deter Chester Nestor’s constant quest for Mr. Lester’s sister Hester’s monster keister.”
Bait: Amazon’s 70 Percent E-Book Royalty
Amazon’s hefty rate is in part “a play for established authors who have not yet published electronic versions of their books. Many of those authors are haggling with their publishers over the royalty terms for digital books. … Amazon is throwing down the gauntlet by promising to give authors 70% of the sale.”
Toledo Museum Of Art Names Brian P. Kennedy Director
“Kennedy, who has led [Dartmouth College’s Hood Museum of Art] since 2005, will succeed former Toledo director Don Bacigalupi, who left the museum a year ago…. Kennedy served as director of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra from 1997 to 2004 and was assistant director of the National Gallery of Ireland from 1989 to 1997.”
The Enormous Cultural Value Of Free Museum Admission
“No other country rivals the British tradition of free entry to museums. … At all the other great galleries of Europe you need to buy a ticket. This is a sitting duck, isn’t it? If I were deciding how to save money on museums, I would want to look at the idea of charging for admission. But it would be a terrible mistake.”
Artists And Others On BP And Corporate Arts Sponsorship
Artist Richard Wentworth: “I don’t think it’s particularly interesting to point the finger at BP. All money is filthy. Put your hands in your pockets and take out a tenner: while you’re holding it, it’s clean, but something it did yesterday, or what it will do tomorrow – it’s all vile.”
A Trend That Should Stop: Arts Funding Via Online Voting
“Your swamped e-mail box is a consequence of a new trend in corporate philanthropy — giving money to the non-profit organization that racks up the most ‘votes.'” The contests are “yet a further example of the rampant cult of the amateur, masquerading as grass-roots movements.”
If Banknotes Are The Measure, Arts Are Slipping In UK
As of July 1, there are no artists on current UK banknotes. But “there was a time in the early 1990s when the arts were represented on three of the four notes: Dickens on the £10, Shakespeare on the £20 and Wren on the £50. They were spared the ignominy of the fiver.”
A NY Concert Series For Music That’s Censored At Home
“These concerts are unusual in that the artists are not physically there — they join the show via an internet video call, and a band or musician they have collaborated with beforehand gives their music a proper performance. … If your government won’t let you play your music, a sympathetic band in the U.S. will step in.”
In New Playwrights Festival, Cultivating New Black Voices
Katori “Hall, the author of that Broadway-bound play, ‘The Mountaintop,’ called this a time of renaissance for black playwrights, with more [of] their plays produced and acclaimed. ‘Still, there are new voices that need to be cultivated and supported,’ she said[.] ‘These mainstream theaters tend to latch on to one of us.'”