“Researchers are learning that the heads — or to be more accurate, the brains — of pathological gamblers are biologically different from those of most of the estimated 73 million Americans who are able to play bingo, pull the arm of a slot machine or flip some aces and then simply stop. Not only does the research shed light on how this addiction is both similar and distinct from other addictive disorders, it also could contribute to new treatments.”
Blog
Demolish This (Not Hardly)
Is the UK’s Channel 4 show “Demolition” one of the dumber shows ever aired? The show has viewers vote on their most-hated building, and the show promises to buy the building and tear it down. “How can you seriously argue that, when heading the list of ‘vile’ buildings scheduled for consideration by the demolition jury, is the new Scottish parliament? The same parliament, designed by the late Enric Miralles, that is currently hot favourite to win this year’s Stirling Prize as the best building in Britain. Whose life is going to be made better if the Scottish parliament is demolished? And how do Channel 4 think that they are going to demolish it anyway, should it win?”
Killing Buildings Isn’t Sport
“The case against Channel 4’s Demolition is clear. This programme is a crude way of bringing what is supposed to be an informed debate on the state of contemporary architecture to a mass audience. Yet all it really does is pander to the shamefully destructive spirit that lurks somewhere in all of us.”
Is Greenwich Village Dead?
Greewich Village has lost its artistic edge. “The Village has been remorselessly gentrified since the 1980s. Neighbourhood coffee shops have become Starbucks, local diners have become chic restaurants booked up weeks in advance or have been turned into a McDonald’s. Now the Voice’s strident tone and a documentary called The Ballad of Greenwich Village have shown how the final nails have been driven into the coffin of a neighbourhood whose artistic contribution to American cultural life is unmatched.”
Can Music Remember?
“Sixty years after the end of World War II, across German-speaking Europe, classical music has been invoked as a medium of public memory, an accompaniment to the fitful process of reckoning with the past. In these countries, as firsthand memories of the war dwindle, music is serving as a kind of proxy allowing postwar generations to approach a difficult history. But why, other than the convenience of an anniversary, is this music being called to speak now? And what exactly can it remember?”
Rise Of The Women
“Books written by women have doubled their share of sales in the past 20 years and could overtake those written by men in the next 20. British trade magazine, The Bookseller, reports the same trend, with almost half the titles in its top 20 by female authors. And a couple of names in the top sellers are enough to make highbrow literary types tear out their hair – Danielle Steele and Maeve Binchy.”
Hip-Hopping Mozart
“The home of Britain’s classiest opera parties is about to strike out in a new direction by staging ‘hiphopera’, complete with f-words and rap music, in the country house setting of Glyndebourne. The transformed version of Mozart’s masterpiece is part of an increasingly successful attempt to draw new, and particularly young, audiences to the venue, which has a largely unfair but deep-rooted image of exclusivity and expense.”
Artists, Collectors Sue Storage Company Over London Fire
More than “50 artists, galleries and collectors are suing the art storage and shipping company Momart, following the disastrous fire in their East London warehouse on 24 May 2004. Total claims are expected to amount to around £20 million.”
Where Are The New Indian Stars?
Arundhati Roy’s huge success in 1997 sparked a frenzy of anticipation for more Indian writers. “The truth is, however, that since 1997 there has been no new galaxy of stars emerging to match the stature of those of the 1980s and 90s. Many of the Indian novelists who were signed up with such excitement 10 years ago failed to repay even a fraction of their advances. The only Indian-themed book to win the Booker – The Life of Pi – was written by Yann Martel, a white Canadian. In India itself, there is no new internationally acclaimed masterpiece, no new Roy.”
How Tourism Is Killing Art
The crush of tourists is ruining the world’s great cultural monuments. “We are just now beginning to get beyond the phase of shock-horror reports about the destruction caused by tourism. There are possible solutions, some already in place, especially in the field of eco-tourism. Because this started more recently than cultural travel and is usually run by people with a greater sensitivity to issues of exploitation, it has often developed in a constructive and thoughtful way.”