“Margery Booth was one of many beautiful and talented opera singers chosen to perform before Adolf Hitler as part of the dictator’s efforts to demonstrate the cultural superiority of the German nation.”
Tag: 09.10.10
So South Africans Don’t Read?
So South Africa, where illiteracy runs high, stands accused of a deeply unliterary culture. Stephen Johnson, managing director of publisher Random House Struik, told the Mail & Guardian: “Books and reading are simply not on the national agenda at all. It’s shameful.”
Do Ancient Mummies Have Right To Privacy?
“Anatomist Frank Rühli and ethicist Ina Kaufmann of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, argue that this is disturbing because research on mummies is invasive and reveals intimate information such as family history and medical conditions. And, of course, the subjects cannot provide consent.”
Will 3D TV Catch On? Not Judging By Early Surveys
“Aside from the cost of buying 3D sets at a time the technology is just becoming available, the glasses required to watch them are a major hindrance. Fifty-seven per cent of people surveyed cited the glasses as a reason they were not likely to buy a set. Nearly nine in 10 people worry that it will constrain them from multitasking while the TV is on, the survey said.”
Vatican Says High Tourist Volume Is Damaging Sistine Chapel
“Signs of danger for the frescoes, which include Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgement” behind the altar and the nine scenes from the Book of Genesis he painted on the ceiling of the chapel, were detected this summer during a routine dusting.”
LACMA-Watts Towers Deal Stalls Over Liability
“The city’s bid to enlist the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as a key player in conserving the Watts Towers has hit a snag as LACMA seeks a guarantee that it won’t be held financially liable for any damage to the folk-art masterpiece that might result if its work on the towers were to go awry.”
The Ansel Adams Real-or-Fake Showdown
“Works from the three leading players in this summer’s big art-photography controversy will be hung in a Los Angeles gallery on Saturday for a brief exhibition aimed at giving folks a chance to see what the hubbub is all about, and decide for themselves.”
Ingmar Bergman’s Truth and Lies
The filmmaker claimed that he never kept any of his papers or effects; in fact, he carefully collected them at his Baltic island retreat. “There’s always a germ of truth in everything he says,” says a curator. “People tend to interpret his movies as straight autobiographies when, in fact, he took a tremendous amount of creative license.”