Tag: 07.07.07

Taking A Match To The Mad Artist

“At the start of the 20th century, there were a mere dozen or so classifications of mental disorder. By the end of the century, the official Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders had defined around 380. One objection to the idea of the insane artist is its glamorisation of what, for most psychiatric patients, is simply excruciating illness. Another is that no single entity called ‘madness’ exists at all.”

The Man Who Saved French Architecture

Prosper Mérimée saved French architecture from 19th Century developers. “This surge of enthusiasm came from several sources. First, a panicky realisation that parts of France were just being demolished, carted away, broken up. The principled (or vindictive) hostility of revolutionaries to the property of aristocracy and church had given way to pragmatic recycling by builders treating ancient monuments as quarries, and antiquarians rounding up loot to sell abroad.”

The Last Newspaper Critics?

“Several major newspapers, including the Chicago Sun-Times and Minneapolis Star-Tribune, no longer have full-time classical music critics. And regional movie critics, like stand-alone newspaper book sections, are fast becoming an endangered species. What’s going on? The answer is painfully simple. Newspaper circulation is declining, driven downward by the rise of the new Web-based media, and many papers are trimming their staffs to make ends meet. Whenever times get tough at an American newspaper, fine-arts coverage gets thrown off the back of the sled first — and that’s what’s happening now.”

Recipe: Take A Bad Movie, A New Musical And New Producers…

“Xanadu, the story of a muse come to earth to help open a roller disco, is on Broadway. And while the notoriously misguided film might seem a peculiar choice for resurrection, there is something almost as unusual about those behind it: all six of the musical’s above-the-title producers are Broadway neophytes. With an average age of 34 1/2, the producing team behind ‘Xanadu’ is decades younger than many producers on Broadway.”

Fan Films Run With An Audience

Fan films are movies based on real TV shows or movies. They’re written and produced by hardcore fans and it’s a thriving subculture. “Once you reach a certain point and you have an episode out there, it is like crack. You just want to do more and get more response and keep telling new and interesting stories. It is really addictive, but not dangerously addictive. I’m not driving myself into the financial ruin column yet.”

Why The Harry Potter Phenomenon

“Whether escaping their problems or working through them, young readers are exploring a world through Harry Potter that is, for all its flying broomsticks and mythical monsters, a pretty conventional one. As outraged fans, parents and even Rowling herself have explained to Harry’s Christian critics, the books are traditionally moral.”

A “Virtual” Organ Replaces NY Trinity’s Pipes

“To organ purists who have had epochal debates about whether organs with electronic keyboards can equal the more time-honored pneumatic action, and to organ agnostics who simply have a soft spot for traditional instruments in historic settings, the notion of replacing Trinity’s Aeolian-Skinner with a ‘virtual’ instrument was a horrifying sign of the times. But the digital organ, built by Marshall & Ogletree, has had a thorough workout since it was installed in 2003, and its performance has persuaded the church’s music office, as well as a good number of visiting organists, that it is worthy of its setting.”