The former heads of the Colombian drug cartel are in US prison, where a the government won’t let them pay for their defense with drug money. What to do? Write a book. “Such a book could contain explosive revelations about past connections between the political establishment and the drug trade in Colombia. Former Colombian president Ernesto Samper’s time in office was tainted by claims that the Cali cartel contributed six million dollars to his 1994 electoral campaign, though the congress eventually cleared him of the charges. During its heyday in the 1980s, the Cali cartel controlled 80 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the United States, according to US authorities.”
Tag: 07.20.05
Gehry And Piano In A New York Makeover
“Frank Gehry and his one-time competitor Renzo Piano are not the house architects of New York City. That distinction belongs to Skidmore Owings and Merrill, the lofty developer to Manhattan’s biggest guns in business and real estate. But the new New York that is taking shape—with its ambitious towers, its cities within a city like the far West Side, Ground Zero and the Atlantic Yards—belongs to these two. So far, the two émigrés seem to be splitting the pie like a couple of New York old-timers.”
New York Museums Puzzled Over City’s Security Funding Plan
Many of New York City’s cultural institutions are asking why the City funded increased security out of a $2 million pot at only three museums. “Insurance costs are off the chart. Since 9/11, it’s the fastest-growing cost of doing business in the world of exhibitions. New York museum officials became particularly worried after the looting of the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad, speculating that they would face some kind of retribution.”
The Brain’s Central Command
How is it that the human brain is able to multi-task, processing many pieces of information at the same time? New research suggests that the brain has a central “command center” that controls multiple inputs…
Toronto Arts Groups Unite For The Big Ask
Five major Toronto arts organizations have joined forces to ask their provincial government for more cash to help complete major expansion projects currently in construction. “The united front is occurring at a crucial time in Toronto’s cultural renaissance, as organizations strive to find the final 10 or 15 per cent needed to complete their projects.”
John Irving, Mr. Rewrite
Author John Irving is working on his 11th and morst complicated novel. “If he weren’t a novelist, the guy could run seminars on the art of discipline. His work ethic has always been prodigious. “How many times can I rewrite this book that is three times longer and five times more complicated than most people’s novels? More times than anybody else. If I value one thing in myself as a writer, it’s that I could work and could learn to be proud of how many times I could revisit the same sentence, the same character.”
Alsop And Baltimore – Many Questions
“Exactly what those objections are or why Baltimore’s management was willing to hurt relations with the players to rush this appointment [of Marin Alsop] through are unclear. Is it, for the players, personal? Do they dislike her as a conductor? Are they unhappy with her predilection for American music? And what about management? Is it interested in Alsop’s vision? Or is it out for the publicity of hiring a woman? The Baltimore Symphony is not in particularly good shape these days. It’s deficit has been variously reported as $10 million and $12 million. And the orchestra has hardly demonstrated strong artistic vision of late.”
Alsop And Baltimore – A Difficult Future?
Marin Alsop hasn’t yet accepted the music director job of the Baltimore Symphony, which was offered to her Tuesday over the objections of the orchestra’s musicians. “The course of events in Baltimore leaves Alsop in an awkward spot. The job may be hers, but musical success hinges on that ineffable thing called chemistry. Liking, respecting, and trying hard for the conductor on the podium count for much in how well a performance goes. Such relationships are even harder to develop after the atmosphere has been poisoned with complaints such as the ones cataloged by Baltimore musicians and magnified in yesterday’s Washington Post.”
Product Placement Gone Wild
“In 2004, the value of television product placements (a product or brand name inserted for marketing purposes into entertainment fare) increased by 46.4 per cent over the year before, to $1.88 billion, according to the research firm PQ Media. For the networks and producers raking it in, that’s quite a haul. Meanwhile, the audience is at the receiving end of a sales drive neatly tucked into the story line, whether it’s for the Buick touted by sexy Gabrielle on ABC’s Desperate Housewives or the Campbell’s Soup served up on NBC’s American Dreams.”
Shorts Hit The (Medium) Big Time
Big media ompanies are on the hunt for young filmmakers who have been working in short-form internet video. “There’s very little quality short-form video available. Outside of the music industry, movie studios and cable channels aren’t in the habit of producing short videos, so there isn’t much inventory. What’s more, creating short formats popular on the internet isn’t a talent many professional TV and film producers have developed, since it’s enormously difficult to tell a story in three minutes.” So studios are turning to “a new breed of internet video producers creating low-budget, short-form films and animations for websites and web video channels.”