Ben Brantley on Michael Jacobs’ Broadway play “Impressionism,” starring Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen: “[E]ven if I were to back up all the way to the Hudson River, with half-open eyes fixed on the stage where Mr. Irons and Ms. Allen labor so valiantly, ‘Impressionism’ still wouldn’t look credible. I mean this both in terms of its plot and as a proposition that would entice some very talented people and a vast army of producers.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Eye On DC, MPAA Shuns News Of Healthy Box Office
“Usually around this time the Motion Picture Assn. of America formally issues, with much fanfare, its annual entertainment industry report on the prior year.” So why no report yet on 2008, which was a record-breaking year? “Turns out that’s the problem –insiders say MPAA topper Dan Glickman doesn’t want to publicly tout the health of the box office during the economic crisis. Nor does he want to give Washington politicos ammunition.”
Arts Advocates Regard Obama With Cautious Optimisim
“Washington continues to be consumed by economic turmoil, but cultural professionals say they are cautiously optimistic about the future of the arts under President Obama. Among the positive signs: The $50 million in stimulus money going to the National Endowment for the Arts, the additional $10 million for the Endowment in the recent omnibus spending bill and the decision to give a White House official responsibility for arts and culture, though this has yet to be announced.”
Can A Human Being Have Perfect Memory?
“Ordinary human memory is a mess. Most of us can recall the major events in our lives, but the memory of Homo sapiens pales when compared with your average laptop. … Worse, our memories are vulnerable to contamination and distortion. Lawyers can readily fool us with suggestive questions; false memories can easily be implanted.” So a California woman said to have a perfect memory is an evolutionary aberration — or is she something else?
For 30 Years, Publisher Has Sought To Capture A Culture
“This is a year for celebrations, from the centennials of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin to the 30th anniversary of The Library of America. While those black-jacketed books with their simple, elegant type didn’t appear until 1982, the nonprofit publisher with the lofty goal of republishing the literature of a nation began in 1979 with seed money from the Ford Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.”
Paintings For Heroin: Addict Stole Art From Yale, Cops Say
According to police, a 53-year-old heroin addict “ripped off 39 paintings from New Haven venues, including $40,000 in art from Yale’s Slifka Center and the New Haven Free Public Library. The paintings were recovered during a weekend bust on a Hill area home, where a second man, age 47, had been allegedly accepting the art in exchange for bags of heroin.” A detective said: “These were not hardened criminals. They have drug habits.”
Experience Music Project Plucks New Director From Florida
“Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum has named Christina Orr-Cahall its new CEO and director. Currently CEO and director of the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Fla., she will take the helm at EMP/SFM on or before July 1. Orr-Cahall will be taking over from interim CEO Josi Callan at a time when the museum is clarifying its focus….”
Alternative Reality: In Bust, A Boom For Fiction Workshops
“‘When reality stinks,’ the crusty old novelist quipped, taking a quick drag on his cigarette, ‘write fiction.’ … [A]s stock markets tank, newspapers go bankrupt, and city services vanish, the humble, bracingly personal act of trying to write fiction – preferably with the support of a writers’ workshop – appears more popular than ever.”
Much Uncertainty For Dance Tours Amid Funding Delays
“A backlog of funding applications on the desk of Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore has left dance groups across the country looking at cancelling programming and scrambling to make provisional plans. A number of members of the CanDance Network, an association of 31 specialized dance presenters, still have no answers to applications they submitted last April for funding for 2009-2010 projects. The wait is making it nearly impossible for them to arrange tours and performances….”
Going Up — To An Operatic Soundtrack
“If you’ve used an elevator in the Civic Opera Building in recent weeks, you may have noticed something different. The difference is operatic music. … The Financial District landmark, which opened in 1929, could in fact be the only building in the nation that pipes condensed versions of grand opera into its elevators, although I doubt anyone has made a systematic study of the matter.”