The longlist of authors for the Man Booker prize is packed with first-time novelists this year, and very few household names. Claire Armitstead says that’s probably as it should be, while John Sutherland says that the list shows the judges are too focused on diversity and not enough on quality.
Author: sbergman
Melbourne Art Fair At 20
“The Melbourne Art Fair turns 20 this year, and it’s come a long way. In 1988… 23 galleries were involved and they exhibited at the Royal Exhibition Building, upstairs from a tractor show. This year, MAF involves more than 80 galleries from the Asia-Pacific region as well as Switzerland, Germany and Ireland, and will use the entire building as well as the Melbourne Museum forecourt.”
Rushdie Anointed Booker Favorite Yet Again
“Author Sir Salman Rushdie has emerged as the frontrunner to win the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, adding to his three existing Booker awards… He faces competition from 13 other writers including Aravind Adiga, Joseph O’Neill, Linda Grant and Tom Rob Smith.”
Hearing Damage Increasing Among Musicians
“Recent studies in the U.S. and in Britain, for instance, suggest that among the general population, as many as one in six people has some form of tinnitus, a disease of the microscopic nerve endings in the inner ear that causes sufferers to hear ringing, buzzing, humming, roaring or chirping sounds in their head… But among musicians, the overall number is as high as 40 per cent.”
A Banner Year For KC Symphony
“The Kansas City Symphony had record revenue and attendance for the 2007-08 season… The Classic Series saw subscriber and single-ticket revenue grow by 10 percent each to $1.2 million, completing the third-consecutive year of growth.”
Dayton Phil Corrects Columbus Report
Contrary to a published statement from its director of marketing, Ohio’s Dayton Philharmonic says that it has no intention of performing in Columbus during the 2008-09 season, even if the Columbus Symphony’s entire season is canceled. “”We feel that any performances by the DPO in Columbus would completely send the wrong message.”
Compressed Sound: Does It Matter?
“Many people within the music industry are claiming that we’re losing our ability to appreciate sound properly. All kinds of factors are responsible, they say: cheap listening devices; listening on the move; and compressed audio file formats… that allow huge amounts of music to fit on to portable devices.” But the emotional response we feel to music seems to be the same regardless. Is it possible that sound quality isn’t that important?
Major Minnesota Foundation To Shift Its Giving
“The Archibald Bush Foundation announced it will not accept new grant proposals for the rest of the year while it refocuses on three broad areas: community problem-solving, supporting the self-determination of American Indians and increasing educational achievement… The foundation said it plans to continue funding in the arts through at least the middle of the next decade.”
How Fight Scenes Got So Unwatchable
“The fight scene as it usually turns up in today’s action spectacles–smeared, destabilized, fixated on chaos at the expense of clarity and precision–reflects the changing syntax, the all-around acceleration, of movies in general and Hollywood blockbusters in particular. The current vogue for chopped-up fights also raises the question: Are these hyperedited brawls any more successful than their more straightforward predecessors?”
Seeking Clarity On A Landmark Chicago Theatre
Chicago’s historic Uptown Theatre, shuttered for decades, is up for sale, and preservationists and historians will be following its fate closely. “Regardless of the buyer, it should remove a stumbling block in the theater’s restoration. It will clarify who owns the joint.”