Blog

How Disney Changed Where You Live

“Before Disneyland, with some notable exceptions, a place was what it was — the product of its own history, geography, climate, economic base, social arrangements and technological development. After Disneyland, American places increasingly came to be idealized fictional narratives about place — not real places, but metaplaces.”

Online Films Are Finally Finding An Audience

“While movie studios panic over declining theater attendance, Web sites such as Ifilm and Bay Area-based AtomFilms are growing an audience in search of an alternative to Hollywood. TV networks and film production companies in the United States and abroad scan the sites. Film festivals, such as Cinequest of San Jose, now use similar technology to screen movies online. Analysts say the growing Internet film industry is far from changing how mainstream America views movies — but the business is starting to pay off for filmmakers.”

Classical Music – CD’s Still Rule

Music downloading is still not the preferred way classical music fans get their music. CD’s are more convenient and their sound quality is better. “The 1.3 million downloads of Beethoven at the BBC created a stir among classical music labels and artist managers, who immediately raised a stink about giving professional performances away for free. But this reaction assumes that all the people who downloaded the music would have gone out to buy Beethoven anyway. The downloads have made classical music more accessible to fans of other genres — a trend that emerges as one peruses the growing web of classical music fan blogs. The iPod may not be tolling the eventual death of the disc, it may be ensuring its continued livelihood.”

What Becomes A (Canadian) Classic?

Penguin is embarking on a new series of classics featuring Canadian writers. Choosing great Canadian literature is problematic. Who gets in? What is a classic? “The irony is that while Penguin Classics attempts to show that some of our authors, torn and bleeding, have indeed climbed up the rocks where excellence dwells, academic critics have been in a lather over the very notion of “classics.” How is it, they ask for one thing, that almost all the writers who, up to this time, have climbed up on the rocks have been Dead White European Males?”

Smiley: Left, Right And Center? Public Broadcasting Debate Misses The Point

The current debate about the political balance of public broadcasting is the wrong debate to be having, writes Tavis Smiley. “Why isn’t the debate over how public broadcasting can become more inclusive of folk of different ages and national origins, of various ethnic groups, faiths and cultures — over how it can be used to introduce Americans to new ideas, and to each other? I know that’s an incendiary question these days. But if the core of our discussion on the future of public broadcasting is about shifting content in one direction or the other on the political spectrum, the medium is doomed to fiscal and intellectual bankruptcy.”

World’s Largest Chamber Music Fest Expands To World Music

The annual Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival is the largest in the world. This year the festival has decided to expand its definition of chamber music to include world music. “While the festival is well-attended by music fans – about 60,000 yearly – organizers have decided to broaden the definition of chamber music to attract new audiences. This year, the two-week celebration will include music from India, Persia and Indonesia.”

UK Considers Law To make Returning Nazi-Looted Art Easier

The British parliament is considering a bill that would make the return of Nazi-looted art easier. “The country’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport has begun consultations on the proposed bill, which would be limited to items taken between 1933 and 1945. The legislation was inspired by a situation at the British Museum, which had wanted to return four Old Master drawings to the family of Czech lawyer Arthur Feldman. The museum is stopped from doing so by the British Museum Act, which prevents it from dispersing anything in its collection.”

Forging A New Frick

New York’s “Frick Collection has had difficulty breaking even in recent years – for the coming fiscal year, it projects a deficit of $400,000 – and Anne Poulet has been given the task of shaking up the place. Since her arrival in 2003, the museum has adopted the status of public charity; commissioned a major architectural study for an expansion and refurbishment; acquired three new board members; and reorganized its approach to fund-raising. She wants to make more acquisitions in sculpture and the decorative arts, areas in which she believes the museum has unheralded strengths and the market still offers good value. And she would like to set up a major study center for the history of private collecting in the United States at the Frick Art Reference Library. The library, also in the mansion, is considered one of the best, and most underexploited, resources of its kind.”