“Not since the palmy days of late-Victorian publishing has so much care and attention been lavished on the hardback. Go into any bookshop now and you will find piles of brand-new hardbacks sporting coloured endpapers, scarlet silk bookmarks, heavy, deckle-edged paper and elaborate laminated boards.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
Empires! OK, We Don’t Want Them Back, But Can We Learn From Them?
“Examining the trajectories of empires — their creations, conflicts, rivalries, successes and failures — reminds us of something we have forgotten: that sovereignty in the past, and in many areas today, is complex, divided, layered and configured on a variety of founding principles and practices.”
Lockout May Spell Doom For New York City Opera
Is it all over for New York City Opera? Talks between the unions and management have led to rehearsal lockouts – and that will harm at least the first planned production, if not the entire season, for the struggling company.
With New Rule, Academy Thwacks Documentaries’ Hopes To Favor Popular Choices
Thanks to Michael Moore and others on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences board of governors, documentaries must be reviewed by the New York Times or Los Angeles Times to be considered for awards. That’s right; they’ll depend on the newspapers to cull the documentaries for them.
From Flinty Media Gal To Successful Author, With Chickens
Jeannette Wells, author of The Glass Castle: “Secrets are like vampires — once they’re out of the darkness they can’t hurt you anymore.”
No, Not Everyone Is A Curator. Here’s Why
“The problem that actual art curators have with everyone going around saying that they’re curating their spice racks is that it gives the impression … that curating is solely about arranging objects in some sort of grouping. This is simply not the case.”
Akira ‘Harry’ Mimura, Recording The Aftermath Of Nuclear War
Akira “Harry” Mimura became the cameraman for Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the rest of post-war Japan in 1946, but that’s because he already had a long career in Hollywood – one that encompassed an early talkie, a Howard Hughes film and “Around the World in Eighty Days.”
A New CEO, A Freaked-Out Board – That’s Entertainment! (Or At Least The Academy)
The new CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences promised to make changes – and so she has. But not everyone is applauding.
Authors, Tweeting: Why?
“Many authors have little use for the pretension of hermetic distance and never accepted a historically specific idea of what it means to be a writer. With the digital age come new conceptions of authorship. And for both authors and readers, these changes may be unexpectedly salutary.” Just don’t expect Jeffrey Eugenides to agree.
New Music May Get Better Audiences By Bursting Out In Unexpected Places
“What better way to turn unsuspecting listeners on to new music? While most people probably wouldn’t purchase a ticket to a concert for music they know very little or nothing about, might they stop on a street corner or subway platform to listen to something unfamiliar? What if the answer is yes?”