Two English teachers have been caught at Istanbul’s airport trying to smuggle 925 ancient Byzantine and Roman artifacts out of Turkey. – Turkish Daily News
Author: Douglas McLennan
HOW TO SING
There’s a gap growing wider between the kinds of music being played on Broadway. Last week’s Tonys illustrate the gulf. – Dallas Morning News
PRINCES OF ART, PART I
Britain’s Prince Charles and Saudi Prince Khalid Al-Faisal have joined up for a joint exhibition of their recent paintings in London. Thirty recent watercolours by Charles and 26 oil paintings by the Saudi Prince are going on show. – London Evening Standard
PRINCE OF ART, PART II
Britain’s Prince William will study art history in Edinburgh after taking a year off. – London Evening Standard
LOSING FAITH
Jane Alexander began her term as head of the National Endowment for the Arts with optimism. Her new book shows that by the time she left the NEA, her “health, idealism and forbearance all suffered. She gripes about flying coach. She complains that the government won’t pay to move her back to New York. ‘The system is so corrupt that it may never be fixed,’ she concludes, sweepingly.” – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
A COMPLICATED LIFE
Author Martin Amis at age 50 has gotten around to explaining his life in a new memoir. ” ‘Experience’ is an astonishing memoir, and destined to be imitated by self-chroniclers looking to escape the confines of chronology.” – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
SEGAL DIES
KING OF THE WEB
Stephen King is encouraged by the internet success of the novella he released on the web this spring. So he plans to serialize a story on the web. “King proposes fans pay $1 per installment and suggests everyone be on the honor system. He said he’ll cease publication if too many people steal the story. ‘But I just don’t believe that will happen. I mean, we’re talking a buck a pop here, right?’ ” – Wired
HOW NOT TO READ
- Harold Bloom takes an e-book for a spin, and… well, the results are rather predictable. “For me the Internet is like the Congo. I know it exists, but I will never go there.” On e-text: “Intimacy with a [computer] screen is, I suppose, possible, but if there are descriptions of it available, I would rather not see them.” – Feed
A COMPLICATED LIFE
Author Martin Amis at age 50 has gotten around to explaining his life in a new memoir. ” ‘Experience’ is an astonishing memoir, and destined to be imitated by self-chroniclers looking to escape the confines of chronology.” – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)