Striking writers have had to get creative to keep their plight in the public eye during the months-long work stoppage. “Yesterday, you had writers from ‘The Daily Show coming to [Capitol Hill] to face off against scribes from ‘The Colbert Report’ in a kind of meta-debate about the two-month-long strike.”
Author: sbergman
Beecroft’s Way
“A global art phenomenon, [Vanessa] Beecroft is best known as the bard of bulimia (she has serious food issues) and for her infamous performance pieces in which she assembles dozens of naked women, accessorized in wigs or chains or Gucci, and displays them before an audience of elites, who sip champagne and stare.” Her latest project has taken her to Sudan, where she’s stirred up new controversies.
Hadid Design Favored For Broad Museum
Architect Zaha Hadid has been tapped to design the new Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University. “Ms. Hadid, known for bold, unconventional forms, was selected last week in a competition that began in June, when the Broads gave $26 million toward the $40 million museum, which will house modern and contemporary art.”
Best To Keep Your Pranks Non-Nuclear These Days
Six members of a Czech art collective are facing years of jail time for an incident in which the group broadcast what appeared to be a nuclear explosion in the Czech countryside on a major TV channel. But the public doesn’t seem terribly upset by the prank. “The incident instead has highlighted an old Czech tradition of tomfoolery that is a particular matter of national cultural pride.”
Fingering The Musicians
Could the relative length of two of your fingers determine whether you’d be a good musician or not? Scientists say it’s possible, and the same finger length ratio could be linked to athletic skill, hormone exposure, and osteoarthritis risk.
New World Gets $5m For High-Tech Projects
“The New World Symphony, which broke ground in Miami Beach Wednesday on a new $200 million hall designed by architect Frank Gehry, is getting more than a new home. The orchestra also received a $5 million grant, from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, to advance its use of digital technology and transform the way audiences experience classical music.”
Any Chance Of An Inter-Orchestra Rumble?
The Royal Philharmonic is on a 21-city tour of North America, and the San Diego stop is promising to be a memorable one. There, the Philharmonic will share the stage with the San Diego Symphony, first in a sort of “battle of the bands” first half, then as a combined mega-orchestra after intermission.
How Did The Best Foreign Film Of 2007 Get Missed?
Kenneth Turan says that the Academy made a huge mistake “when it passed over what has been universally considered the best foreign film of the year” in its nominations. “Something identical happened more than a dozen years ago when the documentary committee declined to nominate Hoop Dreams.” That time, the blunder led to changes in the nominating process.
A Life Spent In High-Profile Musical Denial
Florence Foster Jenkins was one of the great enigmas of the 20th century music world, an energetic socialite convinced that she was a brilliant singer when anyone with an ear and a brain could hear that she was a vocal train wreck. Her “career,” such as it was, has inspired books, documentaries, and even a play.
Stars Will Follow Writers’ Lead On Oscar Night
In case anyone was wondering whether the writers’ strike could really shut down an event as big as the Academy Awards, several major Hollywood stars and Oscar nominees confirmed yesterday that they will not cross writers’ picket lines to attend the ceremony.