“In case you’re wondering why the arrest of a 76-year-old man for a sex crime committed 32 years ago has provoked a world-historical display of stupidity and sanctimony on all sides, the answers, such as they are, can be found in ‘Chinatown.'”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
On Opening Night, Predicting A Movie’s Box-Office Future
“CinemaScore polls paying customers right after they’ve seen a movie, and its letter grade offers a surprisingly accurate assessment of a film’s eventual theatrical box-office performance. … Studio executives have learned to ignore Cinema- Score’s grades at their peril.”
The Tate Modern’s New Black Void
“The structure,” a sculpture by Miroslaw Balka, “is enormous … and once inside it, visitors will walk into complete blackness hoping – presumably – that they don’t then bump or knock into fellow art-lovers. Tate Modern said health and safety had been on its mind and the space will be regularly patrolled by attendants with torches.”
Our Crowded Skylines Were An Omen Of The Recession
According to “something called the ‘Skyscraper index’, … the construction of super-tall buildings is often a sign that an economic downturn is on the way. The best example is the late 1920s, which saw an unprecedented skyscraper boom prior to the Great Depression.”
Are Billboards And Neon Signs Really A Blight?
“If the past 50 years have taught us anything, it’s that eyesores are in the eye of the beholder. Buildings erected and resented in the 1950s now are eligible for landmark status. … [I]f a structure being renovated today includes the faded paint of a long-gone advertiser, you can count on planners wanting it restored as a historic element.”
Edinburgh Book Festival Names New Director
Nick Barley, former chief executive of Glasgow’s Lighthouse architecture and design center, “said he wanted to take ‘a more strongly editorial approach’ to the book festival, creating themed strands in the programme that reflect the way that the world is seen by writers.”
Computer: The Bard Had An Accomplice — Er, Collaborator
A Shakespeare authority at the University of London “used software called Pl@giarism, developed by the University of Maastricht to detect cheating students, to compare language used in Edward III — published anonymously in 1596, when Shakespeare was 32 — with other plays of the period.”
Claim: Fingerprint, Palm Print ID Portrait As A Leonardo
A portrait in chalk, pen and ink, which was designated “‘German, early 19th century’ and sold for $19,000 at Christie’s New York in the late 1990s,” is now said to be a Leonardo, based on multispectral images that literally show “the hand – and fingerprint – of the artist in the work.”
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Signs Music Director
“After four years without an official music director, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre has a three-year contract with Charles Barker, giving him the dual titles of music director and conductor.”
An Indie Bookstore Is Saved; Customers Worry Anyway
Fear of change “followed news that Vroman’s bookstore in Pasadena has signed an agreement to purchase Book Soup,” a West Hollywood institution, whose founder died in January. “Customers’ worries were exacerbated by the continuing struggle [facing] independents….”