The 1930s “were the golden age of the New Criticism, the intellectually rigorous, closely analytical style of reading that grew up alongside modernism in poetry. Today, when baffling masterpieces such as “The Waste Land” and “The Cantos” are ensconced at the very center of the canon, it is hard to recapture just how embattled the New Critics must have felt.”
Tag: 08.12.08
NBC: Olympics TV Ratings Are Olympic-Sized
“The network estimated 157 million people, or more than half the U.S. population, caught some Olympic action on at least one of its outlets, including USA, MSNBC and Oxygen, during the first four days of the games. That’s an 11 percent viewership increase over the first four days of the 2004 Athens Games, NBC said.”
Italian Culture Minister: “I Don’t Get Modern Art”
“I struggle to find evidence of beauty in contemporary art. If I go to an exhibition I pretend to understand, like many others. But, honestly, I don’t understand.” The comments follow a number of attacks on modern architecture by ministers including Bondi and the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, that has left the arts world aghast.
US Magazine Newsstand Sales Tumble
“Newsstand sales of U.S. magazines fell 6.3 percent in the first half of 2008, an industry group said Monday, as rising gas and food costs led consumers to cut back on nonessential spending.”
Celeb Reality Orchestra Conducting Show Mesmerizes
The British show puts celebrities in front of an orchestra to compete against one another. “All the contestants are convinced that Maestro can help to de-mystify classical music and remove some of the elitist aura that surrounds it.”
Canadian Magazine Sales Tank
“Of 62 English- and French-language magazines sold on Canadian newsstands and audited for sales between Jan. 1 and July 30 this year, 27 – almost 44 per cent of the total – experienced double-digit declines. Only 18 magazines reported increased newsstand action.”
Kindle Catches On – Is It The Next iPod?
“Amazon will sell up to 380,000 Kindles in 2008, up from a previous forecast of 190,000, noting that adoption rate would be similar to the first year of sales for Apple’s media-playing iPod.”
Blockbuster Fatigue
“In theory, at least, this year the assortment of big summer movies hasn’t been that different from other summers in recent memory. So why has the summer of 2008 seemed exhausting in a way previous summers haven’t?”
A Life On Pointe
“Maina Gielgud danced in her first pair of pointe shoes at the age of six. That is at least five years before the bones are fully formed but, remarkably, the glued and stiffened shoes did no harm to Gielgud’s slender feet. Half a century later she was still teaching ballet class in pointe shoes. She reluctantly discarded them three or four years ago. It was, she says, “a huge, major decision.”
Museum-Goers Flee Escaped Giant Turd
“A giant inflatable dog turd created by the American artist Paul McCarthy was blown from its moorings at a Swiss museum, bringing down a power line and breaking a window before landing in the grounds of a children’s home.”