Bookstores in the US are mixed about whether they will stock OJ Simpson’s confession book. “The book, due to be published on November 30 by ReganBooks, an imprint of HarperCollins, has drawn a firestorm of criticism from members of the publishing community, media commentators, and relatives of the victims.”
Tag: 11.17.06
Borders On OJ: We’ll Sell, But Donate Profits
Borders says it will sell O.J. Simpson’s new book. A spokesman says the company expects the widely condemned new book to have “strong sales,” but will donate profits to charity.
Looking For That Connection Between Life And The Art
“Whatever’s happened, Robert Rauschenberg’s famous ‘gap between art and life’ has turned into a new vividly dissonant gap between inner and outer life. Despite what’s happening in the outside world, in our studios or in front of artworks we experience moments of genuine stillness, intensity, and meaningfulness—places on the edge of language that the world can’t strip away.”
Iran Bans Dozens Of Classics
“Dozens of literary masterpieces and international bestsellers have been banned in Iran in a dramatic rise in censorship that has plunged the country’s publishing industry into crisis.”
Live And On Stage: Virtual Shakespeare
“In ‘La Tempête,’ the much buzzed about French-language production of ‘The Tempest’ from the Montreal’s 4D Art, are 10 actors. Four of them (those playing the roles of Prospero, Miranda, Ferdinand, and an Ariel/Caliban hybrid) appear live. The six others are virtual characters, their video images (with sound) projected onto the back wall; at times, projected off curved mirrored surfaces, they look three dimensional. The high-tech wizardry is as cool as it sounds.”
Non-Profits Taking Advantage Of Hot Real Estate To Cash In (Or Out)
“Investors and developers, even those who were historically not sellers, have taken advantage of the market to sell their assets rather than refinance or allow cash flow to accumulate. Nonprofits have followed suit, many feeling that the value of some longstanding locations are replaceable by other locations combined with consolidation of services and residences is a positive arbitrage that results in a stronger balance sheet.”
Foot Soldiers In The Technology Wars
Why all the non-compatible formats and versions of your favorite electronics? “The relentless drive to upgrade, overtake, or replace the competition has led to a dizzying number of choices in everything from digital cameras to MP3 players to personal computers. If it’s not new features, it’s hipper fads that keep most of us on a treadmill of constantly replacing our personal electronics.”
More Political Art In LA
Politically tinged social/relational art shows” are on the rise in Los Angeles. “Characterized by a kind of shaggy-dog rhetoric, a hands-on DIY workshop aesthetic, and a post-Seattle sense of political theater married to a post-9/11 sense of urgency, these groups have taken on the unthinkable task of forging a crazy-quilt sense of community from the disparate and physically isolated pockets of disenfranchised creative types that riddle L.A.’s cultural infrastructure.”
LA Arts Funding Not Growing With Activity
A new study reports that funding for the arts in Los Angeles has stayed flat in recent years, even though arts activity has grown by 20 percent. “The levels of funding from some public and private sources for 2004 were close to or even below 1998 levels, when the nonprofit arts sector was significantly smaller, according to the groups.”
We Must Protect The Children From Gay Penguins!
Parents at a school in Illinois want the school to move “a picture book about two male penguins raising a baby penguin” to a restricted section of the library. Why? “Complaining about the book’s homosexual undertones, some parents of Shiloh Elementary School students believe the book — available to be checked out of the school’s library in this 11,000-resident town 20 miles east of St. Louis — tackles topics their children aren’t ready to handle.”