Evelyn Waugh would have been 100 this year. “His boisterously playful satires of London life between the wars remain unmatched for their technical accomplishment and wicked skewerings of the smart set. Perhaps most famous for his 1945 novel, the sadly over-rated Brideshead Revisited, Waugh had one of the longest and most prolific literary careers of any English writer of the last century, penning some 12 novels, half-a-dozen travel books, several biographies, and scores of essays and reviews.”
Month: August 2003
Building A Worse Chicago
Is Chicago architecture going to the dogs? “Chicago long has enjoyed a reputation as a city that superbly balances the demands of business and the art of architecture, but the present building boom – the nation’s largest surge of high-rise residential construction – is throwing that balance grotesquely out of whack. Wherever you glance these days – on either side of North Michigan Avenue, just west of South Lake Shore Drive, or along the Chicago River – you are apt to see a towering construction crane, to hear the whir of a cement mixer and to exclaim, ‘What went wrong’?”
Bard – A Building That Swoops Down On You
Robert Campbell notes that Frank Gehry’s new much-praised performing arts center at Bard College marks a new turn in the architect’s evolution. “What strikes you right away about the Fisher is how casual, how thrown-together it looks. It’s basically a building of three or four cubes made of glass, concrete, and stucco, with a shiny blanket of stainless steel thrown over them as if to protect them from the rain. The blanket falls over the cubes in a billow of curves, as loose and free as if it had landed accidentally. The only place where it takes a definite shape is at the main entrance, where it swoops down like a monk’s hood to shade and protect visitors as they enter, or as they stand outside for an intermission.”
Better In Boston
While other American orchestras struggle mightily to survive, the Boston Symphony sails along. “The BSO audience is larger than those of other orchestras, and its subscriber base loyal. On top of that, the BSO’s endowment portfolio is outperforming others in its field, whose dwindling returns have forced orchestras to downsize. Meanwhile, BSO Inc. has balanced its budget, even running a few six-figure surpluses over the past five years.”
Seeing Trumps Listening?
Has our ability to see and interpret images surpassed our ability to hear and translate sound? “Perhaps there simply are more pictures available for our brains to interpret than there are sounds, or perhaps we are wired to process visual data especially quickly and efficiently. Scientists do know that the part of our brains that deciphers optic signals is larger and more developed than any other part of the cerebral cortex. Some think that when our brains translate aural input into sounds, they do so in a temporal fashion. It’s as if each sound were a soldier marching in formation past a reviewing stand.”
Scotland Outside Itself
Is a play set is Scotland a Scottish play? And if it is a Scottish play, does that mean it doesn’t travel well outside the region? “Scottish theatre, unlike Irish, is seen as regional. The London establishment think that we should have our own plays, but they don’t think that they should have to listen to them. They think they won’t be relevant to them.”
So Caligula Really Was Mad…
“British and American archaeologists digging in the Roman Forum said yesterday they had uncovered evidence to suggest that the emperor Caligula really was a self-deifying megalomaniac, and not the misunderstood, if eccentric, ruler that modern scholars have striven to create.”
Music Technology – Problem Or Solution?
Recording companies blame file-sharing for much of their current woes, and they’re getting increasingly aggressive about going after file traders. “Yet no matter what the label lawyers say, technology itself isn’t the problem. The problem is how the technology is used, and how copyrights are protected with those new uses. Along with that comes the challenge of rebuilding relationships with consumers who are increasingly treated like criminals. Sooner or later, companies will have to shift their emphasis from policing and throwing up roadblocks to their exclusive material and move toward inspiring listeners, engaging them, bringing them into more active modes of listening and interacting with music.”
Is Edinburgh The Next Literature Capital?
“Edinburgh is making an audacious – and as some see it, a bare-faced grab – to become the world’s first official City of Literature.
The town in which Miss Jean Brodie admonished her “gerls” on how “one’s prime is elusive”, and where the heroin addict Renton shoplifted to feed his habit in Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting, is plotting to steal the honour from under the noses of London, New York, Paris, Dublin and Prague.”
Disney Hall – Hopes Of A City
Los Angelinos are counting on their new Disney concert hall for a lot more than just a home for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. “When the $274 million, Frank Gehry-designed building opens in October, government and business leaders are counting on it to be the signature of the downtown skyline and an impetus for revitalizing the area.”