“On Monday, Miami Herald Classical Music Critic Lawrence Johnson received an “involuntary buyout” from his newspaper. Just to be clear, the word “buyout” when preceded by ‘involuntary’ means laid off, in this case with eight weeks severance pay. Such is Johnson’s paper parachute.”
Month: June 2008
Another Jackson Pollock Dispute
Claims a painting is Pollock. “Four experts who have examined a fingerprint on the back of the stretcher disagree about it, one asserting that it is Pollock’s and another charging that the print is forged.”
The Wonders Of IMDb
“The site boasts more than one million titles and at least 2.6 million names. Most every movie and TV show is listed with the complete cast and crew. It’s a reservoir of information including box office numbers, reviews, trivia, trailers, quotes, soundtrack listings, mistakes, and much more.”
UK’s Conservative Party Rebrands As “Party Of The Arts”
“Conservative shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has for the first time outlined what his party’s artistic policies will be if it wins the next general election, in a speech claiming the Tories are now the ‘natural party of the arts’.”
What Nuclear Explosions Have To Say About Art
“Can nuclear explosions advance art history? A former curator from the State Russian Museum in St Petersburg believes they can. She has developed a new method for dating paintings in collaboration with Russian scientists which, she says, provides “indisputable” evidence of whether a painting was made before or after 1945.”
A Look Inside The Louvre’s Abu Dhabi Deal
“It reveals that a relatively small number of works will be lent, with a “reasonable number” coming from the Louvre’s collections. At the launch of the new museum in 2012, it will be 300 works; four years later, 250 works, seven years later, 200. After ten years, the loans will cease. All works loaned to the museum will be indemnified from seizure within the UAE.”
Why Are We Fascinated By Celeb Gossip? Academics Posit…
European and American academics are meeting here this week to examine society’s fascination with “train wreck” female celebrities. Why do the public and media seem to get such a kick out of Britney’s latest meltdown, Lindsay’s booze and drug arrests, and Amy Winehouse’s rehab struggles?
How YouTube Is Changing Classical Music
“I discovered you can waste an awful lot of time on YouTube and become an expert in useless information. In the process, however, you are participating in a 21st century form of musical assimilation, a creative pursuit that is rooted both in Freud’s method of free association and in the random sampling that John Cage, Witold Lutoslawski and Steve Reich foretold as the basis for a new musical civilisation.”
Buildings That Move And Reconfigure – For Real?
“Will the Dynamic Tower ever happen? Is David Fisher’s animated design all spin and no substance? With enough money, there’s no reason why it can’t work. Whether it will make residents and people looking up at it dizzy is another matter, as is the question of who will look after this mechanical wonder when it falls from fashion and no one can be bothered to keep it turning.”
Government Report On Changes At CBC Radio: What, We Help?
“The standing committee on Canadian heritage heard, over the past month, from representatives of all interested parties: from the CBC managers who have decided to eliminate classical music from the most popular listening periods in the day and evening; they heard from classical singers and composers who object to that decision; and they heard from commercial music producers who are thrilled by it. The committee has just released its report, and a rather pusillanimous document it is.”