Even well-established writers with great reviews are having difficulty getting their books sold these days. “If you speak to publishers about the sales of literary fiction – I mean we’re in real trouble in this country. Sales are shocking these days, even compared to 10 years ago. And publishers are seriously cutting back.”
Month: April 2005
Ex-La Scala Chief Speaks Out: Unions Out To Get Me
Mauro Melli speaks out about his difficult tenure and departure as general manager of La Scala. “From the day I became general manager, the Scala unions quit speaking to me. They pushed against everything: against me, against Maestro Muti, against the world. I am very sad in this moment, because I came to La Scala with great passion and enthusiasm.”
A Jazz Concert Recording That Adds History
A long-forgotten concert recording of a jazz concert provides some interesting historical insight. “The tapes come from a concert at Carnegie Hall on Nov. 29, 1957, a benefit for a community center. The concert was recorded by the Voice of America, the international broadcasting service, and the tapes also include sets by the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra, Ray Charles with a backing sextet, the Zoot Sims Quartet with Chet Baker, and the Sonny Rollins Trio. But it is Monk with Coltrane that constitutes the real find. That band existed for only six months in 1957.”
The Rise Of Asian Cinema
The Asian film industry is coming into its own. “World culture is a growth industry, and national cinemas in Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong have become a significant part of the equation. The films of the region are part of an aesthetic continuum, although it is sometimes hard to tell the voice from the echo. Individually, they are rooted in national trends, myths and cultural interests that collectively form a pan-Asian consensus.”
Books Get Wired (As A Plot Device)
“A recent spate of old-fashioned low-tech printed books have all abandoned traditional narrative for Internet terminology, using e-mails, chat-room dialogues and instant messaging instead of regular prose, chapters and verses. Authors say the use of e-mails is not simply a gimmick, but a way of reflecting the world they see.”
Challenging Chabon On His Story
Did Michael Chabon invent a personal Holocasut history to “fashion his previously banal suburban persona into a more complex Jewish identity?” After stories on a book website and in the The New York Times, the charges get nasty…
Italy Returns Ancient Stele To Ethiopia
“The funeral stone, or stele, is one of a group of six obelisks erected at Axum when Ethiopia adopted Christianity in the 4th century A.D. It was stolen by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937 and turned into a symbol of fascist power during his short-lived efforts to revive the grandeur of imperial Rome.”
Rip van Winkel Wakes Up, Watches A Week Of TV
Mary Jacobs stopped watching TV 15 years ago. As Turn-Off-Your-TV Week began she spent a solid week watching again. “My conclusion? Bad TV is much worse. It’s uglier, meaner and more inane. But good TV has actually gotten better. Characters have real depth; there’s more ambiguity and nuance; plots take unpredictable and interesting turns. Maybe, when the baby boomers’ hair turned gray, television became more adept at dealing with gray areas. So, will I keep on watching? Probably not.”
Is Our Entertainment Becoming More Exhibitionist?
So now we have “movieoke” where people can go up and lip sync to their favorite movie scenes. “What’s interesting about movieoke from a cultural perspective is that it seems to be another example of how entertainment — and, by extension, our culture — is becoming more and more about exhibitionism and voyeurism.”
Queues For Quixote
Venezuelans are lining up in the country’s capital to get free copies of Don Quixote. The Venezuelan government is handing out a million copies to mark the 400th anniversary of its publication.