Blog

Actors Testify To Protect Their Likenesses

Actors Paul Newman, Christopher Plummer and Charles Grodin say they’re worried that “technology has made it possible to access their films, images and voices, and to use that material to produce another product they know nothing about. ‘We are suddenly cloned into something we’re not. We are robbed of our individuality, and our life’s work is tarnished’.”

Kirov – Ringing With Confidence

The Kirov Opera is touring – wait for it – Wagner’s “Ring.” “The Kirov is playing for very high stakes. Touring any opera is a complex and challenging business. The Ring, with its vast scale, huge technical demands and immense musical difficulties, represents a company going for broke. Still more remarkably, the Kirov, following its traditions, is casting entirely from its own ranks. This is an opera company with great confidence.”

The Castrato – A Very Bad Idea

“For every superstar castrato who graced Europe’s opera houses between about 1600 and 1828 (when Giovanni Battista Velluti became the last eunuch to appear on stage, in a crusader epic by Meyerbeer), there were hundreds whose ordinariness or unpleasantness of voice condemned them to a life in B-grade church choirs, or on the streets as beggars or prostitutes. And those were the ones who survived the operation…”

The Downfall Of The “Painter Of Light”

“Art critics have long dismissed his work as a kitsch crime against aesthetics. But now the world has grown even more “unsympathetic and complex” for the artist, who describes himself as a devout Christian and has trademarked his ‘Painter of Light’ soubriquet. In court documents and other testimony, he has been accused of sexual harassment, fraudulent business practices and bizarre incidents of drunkenness including a habit of “ritual territory marking” that involves urinating in public places.”

Melbourne Erases Culture For Commonwealth Games

“Melbourne is the proud capital of street painting with stencils. Its large, colonial-era walls and labyrinth of back alleys drip with graffiti that is more diverse and original than any other city in the world. Well, that was until a few weeks ago, when preparations for the Commonwealth games brought a tidal wave of grey paint, obliterating years of unique and vibrant culture overnight.”

Man Behind The Curtain – Steve Jobs

“Whether he’s inspiring his staff or negotiating with captains of industry, Jobs has outsize abilities to persuade, motivate, inflame the imagination and enrage. How did he get this way? Like the Wizard of Oz, Jobs tries his best to hide behind a curtain, keeping a tight rein on media access and dealing harshly with friends who say too much to biographers.”

Condo Developer Markets The Art

A Toronto condo developer is “in the process of buying $700,000 worth of art from local galleries. Condo buyers will be invited to select their piece from the collection when the as-yet-undeveloped units hit the market in April. The idea was to offer an incentive that reflected the spirit of the art-rich neighbourhood. The question is, will this investment help ease the pang of gentrification for long-time residents?”