“Self-publishing enables anyone to upload a book in digital form to a website, which then formats it complete with a cover. It costs anything from £4.50 (single proof of one book) to more than £500 for full personalised involvement of the publishing house at all stages, from starting up to getting a link to Amazon.”
Blog
Denver Site Chosen For Clyfford Still Museum
A new museum built to show 90 percent of the output of painter Clyfford Still will be built next to the Denver Art Museum. “This particular four-block area, which is called the Civic Center Cultural Complex, is really Denver’s cultural mecca, so the fact that the Clyfford Still Museum can join those existing august institutions establishes us also as a leading cultural amenity,”
Shakespeare Died Of Cancer?
“William Shakespeare died in pain of a rare form of cancer that deformed his left eye, according to a German academic who claims to have discovered the disease in four genuine portraits of the world’s most famous playwright.”
Writers Simplify For The Mass Market
Best-selling writers in the UK have signed on to write simplified mass-market books. “The books are aimed at people who struggle with reading or have lost the habit of carrying around a good book. But the plots and subject matter have been pitched to appeal to a wider audience. Each book has fewer than 128 pages and language is simple, with short sentences and a limited number of words of three syllables or more.”
Peru To Sue Yale
Peru says it will sue Yale University for the return of artifacts from Machu Picchu. “Yale, which has displayed the antiquities at its Peabody Museum in New Haven, Connecticut, offered to set up parallel collections at Yale and at a new museum to be built in Peru, which the government rejected.”
Italy And China Join Forces On Artifacts
Italy and China are teaming up to fight the illicit artifacts trade. “The agreement sets out a programme of co-operation that will see a task force of Chinese agents travel to Italy to receive specialist training from the unit of Carabinieri, Italy’s military police, devoted to the preservation of cultural heritage.”
Scottish Theatre Faces Closure
Scottish theatres fear they will have to close under a new public arts funding scheme. “For 7:84, which has in the past received around £250,000 a year from the arts council, “core” funding will run out in August. It will be able to apply for funding for individual projects that run from March 2007 onwards, but with no guarantee of getting anything.”
UK To Reconsider Artist Visa Changes
The UK government has agreed to reconsider new visa requirements for foreign artists performing in Britain. “Campaigners had been fearful that organisations such as orchestras or touring theatre companies would no longer be able to apply as a group to enter the UK but rather each individual would have to attend in person at a British consulate in their own country. As well as the significant extra cost and bureaucracy this would create, it was also feared that if one person was refused a visa an entire tour might be scrapped.”
Muti After La Scala
It’s been a year since Riccardo Muti left La Scala. “The fevered reports that appeared in some European newspapers during the time of troubles, to the effect that Mr. Muti, tyrant that he evidently was, would never find gainful employ again, were always laughable. ‘Immediately, everybody jumped on me, so I have worked more at saying no than saying yes. Actually, when I left La Scala, I received a great demonstration of friendship and admiration throughout the world’.”
The Brokeback Mashups
Online parodies of “Brokeback Mountain” are proliferating. “If they’re well made, the parodies can presumably serve as a calling card for those who sign their work; some of them are viewed hundreds of thousands of times. Generally, though, the “Brokeback” spoofs are nothing but labors of love, or gay panic, or both.”