“The first time I performed live, I did a terrible show in Paris. It was a nightmare and I thought I’d never do it again. No, even my agent told me how dreadful it was. … I’m not a professional actress like Meryl Streep: she knows where she’s going. I never know where I’m going! If I’m good in a scene, it’s a miracle.”
Month: February 2012
More Large Book Retailers Join Ban On Amazon
“The money-losing U.S. chain stunned and cheered the publishing industry by announcing its Amazon ban earlier this week, citing the online company’s policy of reserving exclusive rights to sell e-books produced by its new publishing arm. By week’s end, both Indigo and Books-A-Million, the second largest chain with more than 200 stores, had joined the ban.”
Mounting Internet Protests Against International Anti-Piracy Deal
“European activists who participated in American Internet protests last month learned that there was political power to be harnessed on the Web. Now they are putting that knowledge to use in an effort to defeat new global rules for intellectual property.”
Berlin’s Deutsche Guggenheim To Close
“Over the years the Guggenheim has held 57 exhibitions and attracted 1.8 million visitors. It also commissioned 17 artists — among them John Baldessari, Anish Kapoor, Gerhard Richter and James Rosenquist — to create new works that were first shown at Deutsche Guggenheim.”
Reinventing Classical Music: Pub Crawl
“The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment – where I’m joint leader – are mid-way through something a little unusual. We’re out on the road on tour, but rather than concert halls, our venues are London pubs. Our aim is to put the social back into music.”
Report: UK Arts Sector Suffers From Under-Investment In Workers
“Many of these barriers are a consequence of the distinctive structure of the creative labour market – the sector is characterised by a prevalence of SMEs [small and medium enterprises], micro-businesses, start-ups, freelancers and project-based work. This structural feature is responsible for an overall market failure in which there is under-investment in human capital, fewer training opportunities, insufficiently structured career progression and unfair access to jobs and opportunities.”
Imaging The Entire World – A Way Of Visualizing Culture
“I’m interested intellectually and culturally about how the imaged world is being knit together by technologies such as Photosynth. More or less public images on Flickr, they’re all being knit together in this giant quilt. Any place you look has been photographed. Anything you want to see, from the street, from the air, by satellite photo.”
With Departure Of NY City Opera, Lincoln Center Theatre Fills Void With Dance
“The new effort, already under way, presents an opportunity for more dance companies, both local and international, to perform at the prestigious New York address–on a historic stage designed by George Balanchine.”
Will Amazon Open Its Own Physical Bookstores?
“For years, there has been speculation that Amazon will open its own outlets, presumably to sell Amazon-label products. The idea seems farfetched, but before 2001 so was the idea of Apple operating its own stores.”
Do We Still Need Publishers?
“Writers are essential. Readers are essential. Publishers are not.” And if you are no longer essential to the process, your job just got a lot harder.