10.19.17 – Page 3 – ArtsJournal Wayback

Kirkus Changes A Book Review And A Storm Of Questions Erupts

Would Kirkus’s reviewer have changed her mind independently, even if the review hadn’t been pulled for evaluation? Or did she feel pressured to alter what had proven to be a deeply unpopular opinion when asked if she wanted to, even without explicit instructions to do so? What is clear, though, is that the choice to un-star American Heart reflects something noteworthy about Kirkus’sframework for critique — one in which a book’s value is determined not just by the quality of its storytelling, but also by its politics.

LeVar Burton Wins The Right To Use “Reading Rainbow” Tagline

You may remember the news in early August of a strongly worded lawsuitfiled by WNED, the PBS affiliate in Buffalo, New York, that owns the Reading Rainbow brand, against Burton and his digital reading company RRKidz (recently renamed LeVar Burton Kids), for “theft and extortion” regarding a series of alleged trademark violations — including promoting his podcast as “a Reading Rainbow for adults” and his repeated use of a catchphrase he used on-air for over 20 years but didn’t technically own.

The Loneliness Of Elizabeth Bishop

“In 1974, Elizabeth Bishop seemed to have all the things a poet could want: a teaching position at Harvard, a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, and a first-look contract with The New Yorker, which almost always decided to publish her work. And yet she was inconsolably unhappy. ‘When you write my epitaph,’ Bishop said to the poet Robert Lowell, ‘you must say I was the loneliest person who ever lived.'”

Brown University’s New Orchestra Director ‘Relieved Of Duties’ Just Before His First Concert

“‘Brandon Keith Brown is no longer serving in the role he took on this summer when he joined the university as visiting assistant professor of music and orchestra conductor,’ said Brown spokesman Brian Clark. ‘As for the reason, I am not at liberty to disclose details related to personnel, which we do not consider public.'” (That doesn’t mean the students won’t talk, though.)

Inside The Weinstein Company When The Stories About Harvey Broke

“As they gathered, someone mentioned that The New Yorker story was up. The assembled employees read in silence. They listened to the tape. They knew that voice too well. Some began to shake, and many of them wept as they contemplated the roles they might have played as accomplices, unwitting or not.” Dana Goodyear talks to current and former employees, many of whom insist that they knew Harvey Weinstein was “a bully, a screamer, a yeller, a thrower, a pig – not that he was a rapist.”

As ISIS Loses Territory, It Steps Up Looting Of Antiquities

“Members of IS are definitely involved in sales,” says one scholar, “particularly now that the so-called state is rapidly unravelling.” However, there’s little independently verifiable evidence of the scale of the ISIS trade in stolen antiquities – not to mention the fact that there are plenty of fakes mixed in with the genuine artifacts.

This Mosaic From Caligula’s Pleasure Boat Spent 45 Years As A Manhattan Coffee Table

The 2000-year-old piece was once part of an elaborate mosaic floor in one of the Roman emperor’s floating palaces on Lake Nemi south of Rome. Somehow it ended up in the Park Avenue apartment of an antiques dealer. “Last month, prosecutors seized the mosaic, saying they had evidence it had been taken from an Italian museum before World War II.”

Amazon Moves Into Australia, Which May Not Be Prime Territory

“When Borders opened in 2002 across the street from Readings, Melbourne’s best-known independent bookseller, retail experts predicted catastrophe for the musty old shop competing with the shiny new chain store. Instead, Australians rejected Borders right into bankruptcy.” As Amazon launches its book business there, Damien Cave reports, there’s a chance it may not catch on much better than Borders did, thanks to some unique features of the Australian market.

Upright Citizens Brigade, Famed Improv Troupe, Is Leaving Its Home

The company, founded by Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh and Matt Besser and the training ground for many comedians, sketch actors and Saturday Night Live cast members, is moving from its longtime base in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood to the group of Off-Broadway theaters on the far west end of 42nd Street.

Tag: 10.19.17