“Chinese musicians and musical institutions appear ready to enter a newer and more integrated relationship with the international musical community. And the San Francisco Symphony — looking toward the Pacific Rim as any institution must that is situated on the American West Coast — must surely be thinking about its role in that integration. This was an underlying theme of the recent tour, giving it a slightly different tone from the orchestra’s visits to the major cities of Europe or the United States.”
Blog
A New Era For The Photography Market?
“When Sotheby’s announced this week that ‘The Pond — Moonlight,’ a platinum print by Edward Steichen owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, had sold for almost $3 million to an anonymous buyer, it was as if continents had shifted in the photography world.”
So Demanding – The Video-When-You-Want-It World
“The phenomenon of appointment TV, where viewers in vast numbers mold their personal schedules to a network’s, is pretty rare these days. It’s mostly a relic of an era before home VCRs gave the audience a measure of scheduling control. An explosion of newly liberating innovations (streaming video and mobisodes; podcasts, vlogs and TiVo) gives you ever more power over what you see and hear — and better access to it, as it spreads everywhere. It’s a gold rush, all right, across the digital universe, with bazillions of dollars riding on which gadgetry and content strike the public’s fancy.”
The Museum Muhammads – What To Do?
Many museums have depictions of Muhammad in their collections. So what to do now that the cartoon controversy has escalated?
Edwards To Leave Dance Theatre Workshop
Cathy Edwards, artistic director of Dance Theater Workshop since 2003 and a central figure in the New York modern-dance community, is to step down on June 30…
The Cartoons: Anatomy Of A Crisis
“Protests have erupted in an arc stretching from Europe through Africa to East Asia and, at times, the United States. About a dozen people have died in Afghanistan; five have been killed this week in Pakistan. Muslim journalists were arrested for publishing the cartoons in Jordan, Algeria and Yemen. European countries have evacuated the staffs of embassies and nongovernmental organizations, Muslim countries have withdrawn ambassadors, and Danish exports that average more than $1 billion a year have dried up in a span of weeks.”
A Multi-Tiered Internet? Bad Idea!
Should the internet be reconfigured to allow internet companies to provide premium access for some content? It’s a very bad idea. “After all, once we get away from the idea that the pipes just move bits around without really caring what data is being transmitted, it’s a small step to discriminating against some forms of content and then targeting specific sites, services or users. Instead of an “end-to-end” network, we would end up with something more like the phone network, along with a complicated array of charging schemes for “0800”, “0845” and “0871” sites.”
Want To Make Better Decisions? Don’t Think So Much
Tests show thinking about difficult decisions too much causes bad choices. “The problem with thinking about things consciously is that you can only focus on a few things at once. In the face of a complex decision this can lead to giving certain factors undue importance. Thinking about something several times is also likely to produce slightly different evaluations, highlighting inconsistencies. Participants who chose their favourite poster among a set of five after thorough contemplation showed less post-choice satisfaction than participants who only looked at them briefly.”
HBO Wants To Ban Viewers From Recording Its Shows
“HBO has joined a recent FCC filing in which it argues that its video-on-demand programming-and all ‘Subscription Video On Demand’ services-should fall into the category of ‘Copy Never.’ In a broadcast-flagged world, that translate into consumers not being able to record on-demand broadcasts by HBO. No TiVo, no VCR, no video capturing on your PC, no nada.”
Counting Up The Time Shifters
Nielsen is now breaking down its rating information by how many viewers watch shows live and how many times shift with digital recorders. Why does it matter? Many of the time shifters zip through the commercials, making them less valuable to advertisers.