“It remains at the center of one of World War II’s most enduring mysteries: Hitler’s intended National Socialist museum of art in the Austrian city of Linz was a dream that was never fully realized by the Führer although many thousands of art works were obtained for the project. Speculation has always surrounded the origins of the dictator’s collection but since the war ended, this has only intensified as experts attempt to discover where many of the works disappeared to.”
Blog
Some Blockbuster Stores Resume Late Fees
Some Blockbuster Video stores are getting out of the chain’s “no late fees” policy and charging again for overdue rentals. “The promise of that new freedom — basically the ability to keep rentals several more days without extra fees — meant copies of new releases were not available when the next customer wandered in. ‘What we’re trying to do is get the product back on the shelves’.”
August Wilson Dying
The playwright is 60, and has liver cancer. “Doctors at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle discovered his condition in June and recommended immediate chemoembolization — cancer-fighting drugs injected directly into the tumor — followed by a liver transplant. But the disease proved too far advanced for treatment. Wilson said his physicians told him then that he had a life expectancy of three to five months.”
CBC Labor Woes Showcase Alternatives
“The ‘labour disruption’ at the CBC has spilled onto the Web, and it’s leaving a mess. It would be nice if the story was about how the new media empowered locked-out journalists to keep practising their trade. But expatriate CBC shows have been appearing on community radio stations across the country, all before any picketer-run news website arrives on the scene. (One is reported to be preparing for a launch next week.) Instead of saving us with science, the Internet has just given us an intimate view of our public broadcaster disemboweling itself.”
Brecker Waits For Transplant
Jazz saxophone great Michael Brecker waits to find a donor for a bone marrow transplant to fight his cancer. “Brecker’s illness forced him to cancel a much-anticipated appearance at this month’s Newport Jazz Festival, where he would have showcased the stylistic versatility that won him 11 Grammys, including two last year for his large ensemble album “Wide Angles.” Brecker had been scheduled to perform with Saxophone Summit — whose adventurous and spiritual music reflects the influence of tenor saxophone legend John Coltrane — and Steps Ahead 2005, the latest edition of the all-star jazz-rock fusion band formed by Brecker and vibraphonist Mike Mainieri in the late ’70s.”
Comics Publisher Rebounds With The Classics
Fantagraphics Comics was almost broke two years ago, but a project to publish the complete Peanuts cartoons was a big hit and turned the company around. Now it’s made a deal to publish the complete Dennis the Menace in 25 columes ove 11 years…
Wal-Mart Locks Up Exclusive Disney Rights
Earlier this month Wal-Mart signe exclusive deal with Garth Brooks to sell his music. Now “the Walt Disney Co. is giving Wal-Mart exclusive sales rights through the end of the year to the animated holiday feature film “The 3 Wise Men,” which debuts on DVD November 1. As the market for DVDs becomes increasingly competitive, big retailers are aggressively vying for exclusives — and, in more and more cases, getting them. Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer with close to 40% of the home video market, is in the catbird seat, studio sources say.”
BBC To Put TV Programs On The Internet
The BBC is planning to simulcast programs on the internet. “A simulcast of BBC One or BBC Two, letting UK viewers see programmes on the web at the same time as they go out on TV, is being planned. Proposals to make clips available on mobile phones are also being speeded up.”
Off-Road Schooling…
“That learning makes up a small part of college life today is widely acknowledged. The question remains: What is going on the rest of the time?’
Sophistication Without Reading
Students are reading less? Does it matter? “The college students who now show up in my classroom come with an informational sophistication unimaginable in my generation. They find what they want, they use what they find, and they discard immense amounts of information made available to them. Are they naïve about authority, methodology, logic and accuracy in these endless streams of information? Sure, they are. Who should teach them how to sort this stuff? We academics, sophisticated readers ourselves who all too frequently escape into trendy obscurantism rather than engage the real world information flow that constitutes the actual cultural context of our time. We, the literate part of the American population, need to reconnect with the actual cultural context, rather than fight micro-academic battles of almost no interest to people outside the elite tiers of the academy.”