“Not so long ago, celebrity gossip was a moribund art form, domesticated by punch-pulling softies like Liz Smith, neutered by the red-carpet suck-bots of Entertainment Tonight. Once urbane, sophisticated even, a fizzy cocktail of venom and cynical wit, celebrity gossip had flattened into tepid stuff, a supermarket staple aimed at housewives. But then the Web came along to resurrect it. Visual, voyeuristic, convivial to rumour and speculation, the Internet is to gossip what sheep dung is to azaleas.”
Tag: 08.19.06
Walesa Accuses Grass
Lech Walesa has accused Gunther Grass of confessing his Nazi past to sell more books. “I can understand a confession from a Christian point of view. We should understand people and help them. But if someone wants to create publicity for himself, I don’t want to be a part of that.” Walesa also has called upon Grass to renounce his honorary Gdansk citizenship.
The Revolution Is Being Televised
“YouTube (slogan: ‘Broadcast Yourself’) isn’t the Internet’s only video-sharing service. But it’s the reigning brand, the talked-about phenomenon, and a mighty good example of the multiple roles now greeting yesterday’s couch potato. These are get-up-and-do-something roles as artist, journalist, pundit, self-promoter, exhibitionist, prankster, weirdo and wag. Now you, too, can be a TV producer and a TV programmer.”
An Edinburgh Benefactor’s Complications
“Lean Scully amazed her many friends at the Edinburgh International Festival when it was revealed that almost her entire fortune had been left in trust to them as a thank you for decades of enjoyment.
But delight has turned to disappointment after Scully’s relatives emerged to claim the Irish art lover had ‘ignored’ and ‘turned her back on’ her own family.”
The Biology Of Narrowing Thinking
“The link between ageing and intransigence is commonly put down to a combination of world-weariness, experience and impatience.” But “researchers at Harvard Medical School believe that they have found the biological mechanism that makes people become set in their ways as they get older. They have identified a protein that stops new neural connections forming in adult brains.”
A Political Debate Occupies Israeli/Palestinian Orchestra
A decision to attach a political statement about the Israeli/Lebanese war to programs by Daniel Barenboim’s West Eastern Divan Orchestra made up or Palestinians and Israelies provokes a debate among the musicians.
Broadway’s Busted Road Game
“By almost any definition, Broadway has been enjoying a very good run for the last few years, if not for the last couple of decades. Attendance has been rising despite ever increasing prices, so that overall ticket revenue — even after being adjusted for inflation — has more than doubled in the last 15 years. But the road, which by some measures brings in as much revenue as Broadway, is far more of a boom-and-bust business.” Right now, it’s a big bust, with huge declines in box office.
Peeling Away The Layers Of Shostakovich
While little if nothing has been gleaned from the Mozart birthday celebrations this year, Shostakovich’s 100th birthday celebrations have been an opportunity for deep reflection…