Month: March 2000

THOROUGHLY THOREAU

In the years following the publication of his proto-ecological gospel “Walden,” Henry David Thoreau began a series of essays that looked much more like a biologist’s field notebooks – filled with taxonomical lists and seasonal charts on flowerings and seed dispersal – than a philosophical treatise. New scholarship shows Thoreau’s genius is ever-present in the notebooks, which reflect the “great American prose stylist’s tart wit, flinty clarity, and aphoristic bite.” – The Atlantic

THE FUTURE OF THE PAST

Exhibitions of ancient art are sexy – a few beautiful objects organized around a theme and artfully displayed. “It is one thing to make the perfectly accurate point that all we have are a few remarkable artifacts coming out of what is largely a historical void. It is another to begin to fill in that void with a story which sounds so familiar, and hence so beguiling, to modern ears. There is no challenge to the imagination here, just a confirmation of things which we feel we must already know.” – Al-Ahram Weekly (Egypt)

LORD OF THE RIP-OFF

“Somehow in the post-World War era of popular literature, Generic Fantasy became the be-all and end-all escape device. It was so easy to write. No bothering with grounding your book in reality, with all its annoying demands. Just assume that everything in your book takes place in a “Secondary World”, and you can write anything you want. – *spark-online

ARTLISTING

Publication of a list of 350 artworks in Britain with questionable provenance during Nazi years, had British museum organization on the defensive Tuesday. “in Britain some museum directors after the war had not been ‘fastidious’ about checking whether paintings they bought or were given might have had a Nazi connection. But the organization believes many of the gaps in history are innocent but cannot yet be explained because papers have been lost, owners have died or dealers and auction houses are unwilling to release documents.” – The Telegraph (UK)

ME TOO

Three weeks after rival Christie’s lowers its sales commissions, Sotheby’s follows suit. Did you talk to each other about the new fees, guys?  Nah…. “We did this in light of the competitive environment we’re in,” said William F. Ruprecht, Sotheby’s new president and chief executive. – New York Times

BAD DHARMA

Critics have accused Indian writers who write in English of peppering their works with Sanskrit to “exoticize the Indian landscape to signal their Indianness to the West.” But does inclusion of these exoticizing elements disqualify their Indian authenticness? “Believe in your mashooq and you will be Indian, a good artist or an adequate one, local and global, soft as a rose petal, and as hard as thunder, not this, not that, and everything you need to be. You will be free.” – Boston Review

GIANT STEPS

Clear Channel Communications, the broadcasting heavyweight, buys SFX Entertainment, the giant live-performance presenter. SFX owns or operates 120 theaters nationwide. San Antonio-based Clear Channel will soon operate 867 U.S. radio and 19 television stations, as well as 550,000 billboards. – Boston Herald 03/01/00

  • Radio and concert synergy makes some nervous. – Boston Herald 03/01/00

  • The company’s theater plans? – Boston Herald 03/01/00

ROUGH “SURVIVOR

BBC’s new show puts 36 people on a desolate island to live, and films the results. The critics are skeptical: “You cannot flirt with nature on this particular Atlantic frontier and not expect to get comprehensively ravaged by her. These poor sods with their suburban escapist fantasies are being shamelessly exploited, and despite the assurances, I simply do not believe they know what they’re letting themselves in for.” – Los Angeles Times 03/01/00