“The concert hall of the 21st century has arrived. And the building that encases it would be remarkable if it had only that. The 1,200-seat hall in the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute here (Empac, to its friends), which opened over the weekend, seemed a notable acoustical success on brief early exposures.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Writers Guild Bars Members From New Osbourne Show
“The Writers Guild of America has instructed its members not to work on a new television variety show featuring Ozzy Osbourne and his family that is being prepared by the producers of ‘American Idol’ for the Fox television network.” The move came after talks between the guild and producers fell apart.
Ballet Hispanico’s Tina Ramirez Looks Back Over 40 Years
“Tina Ramirez, the artistic director of Ballet Hispanico, is stepping down from her position after almost 40 years, but she doesn’t want to call it retirement: ‘I’ve been in the theater my whole life, how can you retire?'” Nonetheless, this is the beginning of her last season at the company’s helm.
Banksy (And Animatronic Friends) In The Great Indoors
“The rumors are true: Banksy is — or was, or has been — in town, and he’s doing more than just painting, or hiding.” The graffiti artist’s handiwork has been spotted downtown recently, “and on Wednesday a Banksy piece was unveiled at 89 Seventh Avenue South (near Bleecker Street) in Greenwich Village. This one is not a mural but an installation: a mock pet supply shop, filled with animatronic creatures….”
IRS Auctions Marshall Frady’s Papers For Back Taxes
“In the end the fate of the life’s work of Marshall Frady, an early proponent of ‘new journalism’ and a biographer of Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama, the Rev. Billy Graham and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, came down to 15 minutes in a windowless room in Midtown on Wednesday. There, 123 boxes of Mr. Frady’s papers … were auctioned off to Emory University for $10,100.”
France’s Le Clézio Wins Nobel Prize For Literature
“Amid debate over purported bias against American writers, the Swedish Academy on Thursday awarded it’s the 2008 Nobel Prize for literature to Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, a French novelist, children’s author and essayist regarded by some French readers as one of the country’s greatest living writers.”
At Jacques Brel Auction, What Economic Meltdown?
“Fans of Jacques Brel battled to buy the singer’s possessions, including guitars, photos and manuscripts, at a Sotheby’s auction last night in Paris. Admirers of the Belgian-born star of French chanson spent a combined 1.03 million euros ($1.4 million), beating a presale estimate of as much as 470,000 euros. Only one lot was unsold….”
Gallery Alleges Extortion Attempt By Former Enron Exec
“Enron Corp.’s former chief operating officer of global markets, Jeff Shankman, was sued by a New York art gallery for allegedly trying to extort more than $150,000 by claiming a painting he bought was a forgery.”
Why Discerning Readers Need Local Critics
“Tom Bernard, the veteran co-head of Sony Pictures Classics, has a theory about critics. He believes when critics in key communities are fired by their penny-pinching newspapers, it’s the movies that suffer – especially art movies. He feels he can statistically demonstrate that filmgoers learn to trust certain local critics and that, when they leave, box office sags.”
Does Text-Messaging Make Subtitles More Appealing?
“People read a lot of on-screen text. You’re doing it now. I read thousands of words a day to bring these posts to you. We all read messages on tiny telephone screens. So our brains are trained for it. But does this translate to subtitles?”