Playing the stock market is risky business, and let’s face it, it’s damn boring, besides. If only we could buy stock in, oh, say, the cast of Desperate Housewives, and watch it soar as the dork in the cubicle next to us chokes on his overzealous 200-share purchase of Geena Davis. That would be truly excellent. Hmm? We can do that? Oh. Very good, then.
Blog
Sweden Gears Up For Another File-Swapping Smackdown
The headquarters of The Pirate Bay, a web site that enables users to find and download pirated music and movies, was raided by Swedish police this week, setting up a legal confrontation over the issue of whether such sites can be held responsible for the actions of their users. Courts in several other countries, including the U.S., have held that sites clearly intended to facilitate illegal activity are not protected by law. The fight is likely to be more complicated in Sweden, however – the country is notorious for tolerating file-sharing, and has no specific law prohibiting it.
It Was A Very Good Year
“Broadway has had a record-breaking year for attendance and box office earnings, thanks to the success of plays such as Julia Roberts’ Three Days of Rain. Theatregoers on Broadway topped the 12 million mark for the first time, with a strong attendance by tourists. Ticket sales increased 12 per cent to $861.6m during the 2005-2006 season, according to the League of American Theatres and Producers.” Strangely, though, there was no increase in the percentage of Broadway shows that turn a profit.
Twin Cities Closer To Having A True Home For Dance
A long-derelict theater in Minneapolis is a big step closer to a long-planned reopening, following government approval of a bonding bill that will provide $11 million towards the project. “When it’s finished, the Shubert will immediately become home base for a host of dance groups, including James Sewell Ballet and Minnesota Dance Theater.”
Chihuly Fights For Originality
Glass artist Dale Chihuly is “in the midst of a hard-edged legal fight in federal court here over the distinctiveness of his creations and, more fundamentally, who owns artistic expression in the glass art world.”
Music’s Chinese Connection
“While British music educationalists agonise over the merits (or otherwise) of ‘leading’ our children to orchestral music via urban grime projects in Hackney, the Chinese – as in so many Far Eastern countries – have stolen a march on us simply by introducing their children to classical music as a matter of course with no patronising sweeteners attached. As a result, there’s a buzz around the genre which is wholly absent in the West.”
Sydney, Supersized
It’s Sydney Biennale time again, and if there’s one word to describe this year’s edition, it’s “big.” From “an installation of 180,000 hand-sized clay figurines” to “a cunning combination of twisted modernist aesthetics and surveillance technology” that fills a room, Sydney is awash in outsized art.
V&A Bars Sinn Fein Leader
London’s Victoria & Albert Museum has removed Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams from the guest list for a major exhibition of “revolutionary” art, saying that his presence would be inappropriate. The exhibit’s curator, a personal friend of Adams’, is reportedly furious, but the V&A is so far standing firm. Adams led the political wing of the Irish Republican Army when the IRA was regularly mounting terrorist attacks on London, and many Britons hold him responsible, despite the IRA’s recent decision to lay down arms.
Now That’s Investigative Journalism
A reporter for the BBC has returned a 16th-century portrait by Florentine painter Alessandro Allori to a Berlin museum after discovering that the work was an original looted during World War II, and not a copy, as he had previously thought. Charles Wheeler was given the painting by a German farmer in 1952, but only thought to look into its origins last year.
And A Soprano Shall Lead Them
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra has named soprano Dawn Upshaw to an important part-time leadership position. The SPCO abandoned traditional music directorships in 2004, and named a collection of high-profile “artistic partners” who lead the orchestra in multiple programs over a period of years. Other current SPCO “partners” include conductor Douglas Boyd and violinist Joshua Bell. Of course, it’s one thing for a violinist to lead a conductor-less orchestra, and quite another for a soprano to do it…