“Efforts to update the book are hampered because, culturally, we give extreme reverence to the form for the form’s sake. We hold books holy: children are taught there is no better use of time than reading a book. Academics perish if they do not publish. We tolerate censors regulating and snipping television but would never allow them to black out books. We even ignore the undeniable truth that too many books, and far too many bestsellers, are pap or crap. All this might seem to be the medium’s greatest advantage: respect. But that is what is holding books back from the progress that could save and spread the gospel of the written word.”
Blog
Vegas The New Broadway? Naaw! (Didn’t Work)
Hairspray becomes the second high-profile musical to close prematurely in Vegas. “We make this decision with regret and disappointment, but with the reality that the show did not find the audience it needed for us to continue.”
Tony Hall’s Covent Garden Turn-around
“When he took over five years ago, leaving his post as director of BBC News to do so, Hall was described in the press as having taken on the ‘dirtiest job in the arts’. The opera house was emerging from a particularly dark period; indeed, the television fly-on-the-wall documentary series The House had shown it as chaotically organised and financially in tatters.” Now “the ROH has now balanced its books for the seventh consecutive year and Hall, once the arts world outsider, has just renewed his five-year contract.”
Photographer Arnold Newman, 88
Arnold Newman, the portrait photographer whose pictures of some of the world’s most eminent people set a standard for artistic interpretation and stylistic integrity in the postwar age of picture magazines, died yesterday in Manhattan.
Revisting The Da Vinci Code Plagiarism Case
Did Dan Brown plagiarize large sections of The Da Vinci Code? “One of the things that was interesting about it was that you can have a strong case in the this-doesn’t-smell-right sense and that has no bearing on the legal definition of copyright infringement.”
British Boy’s Bolshoi Adventure
Henry Perkins is only the second British boy in the Bolshoi Ballet’s 230-year history to have been accepted into the prestigious school…
Hacker Sends Hoax Message About Director Quitting Theatre
Paul Higgins has left the London fringe venue Theatre 503. But a hacker sent emails purportedly from Higgins saying he had left after a vote of no confidence. “The theatre is currently examining how someone could have gained access to the director’s account and says it is unaware of who might have held a grudge against him.”
Smithsonian Inspector Quits
The Smithsonian Institution’s inspector general has resigned. “In the last 10 years, the number of positions in this office went down 30 percent while the federal appropriation has grown 70 percent,”
A Little TV With Your Tank
Not getting enough TV? One company wants to help, offering TV programming at the gas pump. “Pumping gas is boring and mundane. We live in a very can’t-sit-still, multi-stimulus environment. We are convinced that people will be very favourable to this experience at the gas station.”
Remaking Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera is trying to revive itself after a series of financial setbacks. “I don’t see it as a need to ‘rebuild’ audiences, more a need to ‘reconnect’ with them. The issue is not that we haven’t connected with Scotland, we just haven’t been noticed.”