There is an ongoing targeted strike in the UK by lecturers at the country’s universities, and as the school year draws to a close, the continued refusal of lecturers to mark papers, assign grades, and give tests puts thousands of British students at risk of having their graduation delayed. “Many universities [expect] the greatest disruption to take place in subjects such as history, sociology and education, where academic staff tend to be the most unionised.”
Blog
NAC To Reconsider Internal Gag Order
In response to vociferous objections from unions at the National Arts Centre, the confidentiality agreement the NAC had asked all employees to sign is under review. “The letter threatens workers with punishment or termination if they break the confidentiality agreement,” and opponents say that it would nullify a law passed in 2004 to protect whistleblowers.
Ottawa Orchestra Demands Silence (From Its Employees)
Ottawa’s National Arts Centre has ordered its employees, including the members of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, to sign “a document promising to reveal no supposedly confidential information about the [NAC] for as long as they live.” The push for silence comes in the wake of months of controversy over NACO music director Pinchas Zukerman’s relationship with his musicians. As one might expect, the union representing the NACO players is not pleased with the proposal…
The Killing Of The WTC Memorial
Michael Arad thought he had won big when his design for a memorial at the WTC site was chosen. But the memorial has been caught up in the mess that is the whole project. “The latest cost estimate issued this month—an impossible $972 million—has Mayor Michael Bloomberg demanding that the design be scaled back, while others suggest that it be scrapped altogether. The battle that is now breaking into full view has been raging behind the scenes since the moment Arad’s plan was picked. He has waged a personal war against the LMDC—to defend his design, he says, from the agency’s cronyism and shoddy management.”
Has DaVinci’s Lost Masterpiece Been Located?
“Step by patient step, one man is drawing ever closer to the real Da Vinci mystery: tracking down the master’s greatest painting, lost for four and a half centuries… For art historians, finding Leonardo’s lost Battle of Anghiari is in the same league as finding the Titanic or the still lost tomb of the Ancient Egyptian architect Imhotep — as big as you can get… And it is hidden, [Maurizio Seracini] believes, in a room at the heart of political power since the Middle Ages in Florence.”
Sony’s Christian Da Vinci Code Strategy
The Da Vinci Code is controversial with Christians. But is Sony (who owns the movie) trying to minimize the conflict? No. In fact…
Tate Modern’s Director Throws Down The Gantlet
“Tate Modern is Britain’s answer to the Museum of Modern Art in New York and to the Pompidou Centre in Paris. But while MoMA’s assets are being boosted by the gifts of wealthy Americans, carefully encouraged by US tax incentives, and the Pompidou enjoys buckets of state funding, Tate Modern is being left to wither and die.” So says Tate director Vicente Todoli, who claims that the UK government is content to let the his museum twist in the wind as institutions in other cities pass them by.
Will The Internet Have A High-Def Problem?
As high-definition video clips become more popular on the internet, things are slowing down, say ISPs. “Most home internet use is in brief bursts — an e-mail here, a web page there. If people start watching streaming video like they watch TV — for hours at a time — that puts a strain on the internet that it wasn’t designed for, ISPs say, and beefing up the capacity to prevent that will be expensive. To offset that cost, ISPs want to start charging content providers to ensure delivery of large video files, for example. Internet activists and consumer groups are vehemently against those plans.”
The Clock, The Oil Boom, And The Russian Art Binge
“At a time when Russians flush with oil money are making headlines spending millions on art, the forthcoming sale of a 100-year- old Fabergé clock is causing a stir in the Scandinavian auction world… The reason for the excitement is not because the clock is an outstanding piece of jewelry; most experts agree that the Fabergé workshops produced many objects of greater refinement. Rather, anticipation is linked to the clock’s almost mystical provenance and how it fits into Russia’s current boom.”
How Did The Da Vinci Code Become A Breakout Hit?
“To hear some people tell it, author Dan Brown stumbled on the literary equivalent of turning lead into gold. They say his was a formula that mixed clumsy, forgettable sentences with breakneck pacing, lectures on art, history and religion, sinister conspiracies, evil villains, puzzles and cliffhanger chapter endings to produce literary gold. While some like novelist Salman Rushdie called the book “typewriting” and others, like critic Laura Miller, called it “cheesy,” book industry professionals refuse to sneer, saying this was far from a case of good things happening to a bad book.”