“Not only are philosophers unaccustomed to gathering data; many have also come to define themselves by their disinclination to do so.” Now “a restive contingent of our tribe is convinced that it can shed light on traditional philosophical problems by going out and gathering information about what people actually think and say about our thought experiments.”
Tag: 12.10.07
Arab Initiative To Translate Western Classics
“According to a 2003 United Nations report into human development in the Arab world, more books are translated into Spanish each year – 10,000 – than have been translated into Arabic in the previous 10 centuries. Now this situation is being rectified by the sheikhdom of Abu Dhabi, one of the seven Muslim United Arab Emirates, which last month officially revealed its plans to translate 100 epochal foreign-language texts into Arabic by the end of next year.”
European Arts Orgaizations Lobby For Easy Visas For African Performers
European cultural institutions “have launched a major initiative to lobby European governments to ease visa and work permits for musicians from developing countries. They cite the visa restrictions and cynicism at European consulates as factors that are causing promoters huge losses and undue frustration to all concerned.”
Best Art Show Of 2007
Jerry Saltz says it was Matthew Barney. What made all this so great, in addition to Barney’s relentless attempt to plumb his own inner cathedral, was how homemade and speculative the whole thing was. There were more art-student types there than art-world A-listers.
Broadway (Mostly) Shuns Product Placement
“Because of the limited exposure of theater and its short-lived nature compared to film and television — whose product stay alive on DVD — advertisers are not particularly interested in product integration. Nor are Broadway producers, who appear to be somewhat less willing to commercialize their productions than Hollywood filmmakers, studios and networks.”
Study: DVR Owners Skip TV Commercials
Four out of five TiVo and DVR owners use the technology to systematically skip all ads, research released Monday revealed.
NY Critics Circle Says “No Country for Old Men” Is Best Of 07
This awards season has been viewed as wide open, but “No Country for Old Men” already has been honored for best picture by the National Board of Review, the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Washington, D.C., Area Film Critics Association.
The Art Of Life
“Bioartists create by engineering living tissue and even living beings, sometimes with controversial outcomes. At the forefront of this movement is SymbioticA, a bioart laboratory funded by the University of Western Australia.”
Kid Repellant Proves Popular In UK
The device emits a frequencies that repels young people. “Almost 3300 security systems were bought within 18 months of their launch. Around 70% of those were installed in the UK, mostly in England and spread around almost every region in the country.”
Hollywood Studios Dig In Against Writers
“Why have the studios walked away from the negotiating table? Although it seemed hard to believe at first, the evidence is overwhelming that they never had any serious intention of making a fair deal, at least the kind of deal that, as Lew Wasserman might have put it, would’ve allowed both sides to come away declaring victory.”