The New York Times Magazine surveys the intellectual landscape for its annual list: “Once we have thrown back all the innovations that don’t meet our exacting standards, we find ourselves with the following alphabetical catch: 78 notions, big and small, grand and petty, serious and silly, ingenious and. . . well, whatever you call it when you tattoo an advertisement on your forehead for money.”
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Italians To Help Rebuild Iran Museum
A group of Italian experts has undertaken to refurbish Iran National Museum as part of Italy’s program to develop cultural and economic cooperation.
In Charlotte – Library And Children’s Theatre Combine
The city of Charlotte’s Public Libray and its Children’s Theatre decided to collaborate on a new home. “Occupying a city block in ‘Uptown Charlotte’—the growing cultural hub of the city—this freestanding, 102,000-square-foot, two-month-old building is radical for a number of reasons. For one thing, when library and theater leaders agreed to create a joint-use facility, instead of just building a structure that would house both institutions side by side, they took a far riskier step—creating a daringly original space with its own identity and, eventually, its own life.”
Dumping On The Turner Prize (No Matter What)
“Over the years since its low-key beginnings the Turner has provided the media with many healthy inches of outrage. Now this year they complain that the show was not shocking enough. The Daily Mail says of Starling’s Shedboatshed: ‘To the casual observer it is just a shack.’ Maybe ‘casual observers’ should stay out of art galleries.”
Earliest-Known Mayan Painting Discovered
A major find of an ancient Mayan painting changes what we know about the history of Mayan culture. “The find, a 30-by-3-foot mural in vivid colors depicting the ancient culture’s mythology of creation and kingship, is the centerpiece of a larger mural, parts of which were first discovered and exposed in Guatemala four years ago. New radiocarbon tests revealed the painting to be 200 years older than originally estimated, dating to about 100 B.C.”
Can Apple Conquer Video?
“While the iPod has given Apple a foothold in cars and offices, it has yet to make the move into living rooms. The cable companies have a clear advantage here, as does Microsoft with its Media Center PCs and the enormously popular Xbox. Apple will become a force here on the day when the iPod is expressly designed to plug into your television—not to mention your car stereo and broadband network. If Steve Jobs can make the iPod an entertainment hub, Apple will be the company to beat, a feat it could never accomplish with personal computers.”
The New Art: Everything And The Kitchen Sink
“Whether you call it the New Cacophony or the Old Cacophony, Agglomerationism, Disorientationism, the Anti Dia, or just a raging bile duct, the practice of mounting sprawling, often infinitely organized, jam-packed carnivalesque installations is making more and more galleries and museums feel like department stores, junkyards, and disaster films. It is an architecture of no architecture, a gesamtkunstwerk or “total artwork,” whose roots are in opera, Dada, the Merzbau, and the madhouse.”
Brokeback Leads Golden Globe Nominations
Cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain gets seven Golden Globe nominations, including best dramatic picture and honors for actor Heath Ledger. Other Best Picture nominees include: “The Constant Gardener,” the Edward R. Murrow tale “Good Night, and Good Luck,” the mobster story “A History of Violence” and “Match Point,” a drama about infidelity.
Rome Series Too Raunchy For Italian TV
“Italian TV is cutting several scenes from the controversial BBC series Rome because they are too sexy and violent.”
A Scottish Music Renaissance?
The British Composer Awards have a healthy representation of Scottish composers this year. “In classical music, new works have never had mainstream appeal, but are audiences missing out on a Scottish renaissance?”