The Metropolitan Opera is broadcasting six historic opera performances every day on satellite radio. “Rebroadcasting an old radio program involves no complex legal agreements since money never actually changes hands, and if the Met hasn’t yet found a way to make a financial profit on its archives, it is at least garnering much publicity and good will by sending them back out over the air waves.”
Tag: 12.28.06
Think Like A Woman/Think Like A Man
Some researchers say that men can have ‘women’s brains’ and that women can think more like men. A test you can take online suggests where your brain stacks up on the male/female continuum.
Technology – The Liar’s Friend
A new study reports that people find it easier to lie using technology. “The research by UK pollsters 72 Point found that ‘techno-treachery’ was widespread with nearly 75 percent of people saying gadgets like Blackberrys made it easier to fib. Just over half of respondents said using gadgets made them feel less guilty when telling a lie than doing it face to face.”
Art In A Scientific Image
“The Science Photo Library was founded 25 years ago by Michael Marten after he and three colleagues published Worlds Within Worlds, the first popular book to show the new range of scientific imagery developed since the 1950s. The images were originally conceived purely as contributions to scientific knowledge, but over the years their use has extended into the worlds of art and culture.”
Savion Glover’s Raw Deal
So Savion Glover was central to the success of the animated “Happy Feet.” But John Rockwell wonders why he doesn’t get higher credit in the film. “I wasn’t at the ‘Happy Feet’ negotiating table, so I can hardly impugn the tactics or skill of Mr. Glover and his negotiators in these matters. Maybe they gave way on credit placement in exchange for more money. But for an admirer of him and of tap and of dance, he seems to have gotten a ludicrously raw deal.”
Devil Wears Prada Conditions
Publishing has something in common with the fashion business. They both perpetuate sweat shops. “In both industries — fashion and publishing — the focus of gossip has always been on who was the original model for the book’s despotic boss. But anyone who has dealt extensively with either industry can tell you that, as nice as an individual boss may be, the system itself is designed as (and perpetuates itself as) a kind of ruthless (mostly) ‘female boot camp’.”
Orchestra Sues Missouri For Promised Money
Ten years ago the Missouri legislature “enacted a law calling for half of the income taxes paid by out-of-state athletes and entertainers who worked in Missouri to be put in the Missouri Arts Council Trust Fund (also known as the Missouri Cultural Trust). But that hasn’t happened, and now th Kansas City Symphony is suing the state, charging it has shortchanged the fund by $83 million in principal and interest since 1987.
Remembering Mavor Moore
Mavor Moore was “a true renaissance man — a gifted writer and performer, inspired cultural visionary and genuine friend to artists everywhere. He had an important sense of history, having been active in the arts in the difficult days before the creation of the Canada Council when the establishment of professional theatre, dance and music organizations posed a huge challenge and the principle of public funding of the arts was no more than a dream of the Massey Royal Commission. And he remained conscious through his working life of the infinite possibilities of Canadian cultural expression, provided it could be unleashed.”
The Bill O’Reilly Opera (Anyone Could Write It)
An opera about Bill O’Reilly and the producer who sued him for harrasmentdebuts in Seattle next week. “I came up with the idea of making Bill O’Reilly sing on Halloween morning, 2004. The weather was dull and chilly. I sat at the edge of the bed, drowsy and somber while this thought coursed through my mind. Whether it was the previous night’s combination of cheap wine and homemade beer coming back to exact its revenge on me or pure, old-fashioned inspiration, I’ll never know. All I was really aware of was that if I didn’t write this piece, nobody would.”
The Restored Yale Art Gallery
“While Yale has so far only redone the 1953 extension, designed by Louis I. Kahn, the university also plans to renovate wings that date from 1928 and 1867. It’s all part of a 10-year, $500-million plan to overhaul the entire arts campus. Work is also planned for the departments of art and art history, architecture and drama.”