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The New Barnes – Different, Maybe Better?

Perhaps the Barnes art will benefit from a new setting, writes Roberta Smith. “Of course, it is great to see paintings in an intimate setting that glows with the patina of time and bears the imprint of a collector’s personal vision. But it is also correct to ask whether a collector’s wishes, especially when they are restrictive, must be observed in perpetuity. The Barnes collection is not the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Barnes didn’t make the art; he bought it, one movable object at a time. Very few things remain the same forever, and they change largely because of human need.”

California Seeks A Poet

California is looking for a new state poet laureate. The post has been empty for two years after nominated poet Quincy Troupe withdrew from consideration for the job after a resume problem. “In addition to transforming the ordinary, applicants will be asked to traverse the Golden State for little or no compensation. A Schwarzenegger spokeswoman suggested that candidates who choose to forgo pay could earn a leg up in the selection process. ‘As you know, this is a very tight fiscal year. Quite possibly, a poet laureate may step up to the plate and volunteer their time. Wouldn’t that be wonderful’?”

Is Regina The New Tinseltown?

Film production is dying in Ontario. So where is the new Hollywood North? Saskatchewan. The province offers generous tax credits and has seen production soar 2,400 percent in the past few years. “The co-operative movement is rooted here, so people know if you don’t work together you ain’t getting nowhere. If we don’t have experience in the province we can deem someone from another province or country a Saskatchewan resident. And unlike other tax programs, we can pay it out above the line, that is, on producers, key cast and directors.”

The Barnes Is Dead

You can move the art of the Barnes Collection, writes Edward Sozanski. But its soul will not be transported. “The uniquely idiosyncratic art school and gallery that had been one of the wonders of the American cultural landscape since the mid-1920s has been ruled officially dead. Whatever replaces it somewhere along Benjamin Franklin Parkway will be something different, perhaps better, but most likely not. Like the London Bridge that an American developer moved to the Arizona desert, the new Barnes will be a simulacrum at best, ripped from its historical context and set down where it will become just another “attraction” on Philadelphia’s developing cultural midway.”

No More Love Notes At Juliet’s House (Use Email)

Visitors to Juliet’s house in Verona are going to have to stop leaving notes on her door. “Written on post-it slips, the love notes are often attached to the medieval walls with chewing gum, creating damage and producing a rather disgusting view, according to Verona’s tourist council. After the cleaning early next year, Juliet will be given her own telephone number and email address. Lovers from all over the world will have to express their innermost feelings via text messages, which will be displayed on a giant screen inside the house.”

Lord Of The (Copyright) Jungle

“Edgar Rice Burroughs Incorporated, the estate of Tarzan’s creator, has demanded that Victoria University Press stop selling copies of the humorous novel Tarzan Presley. Written by New Zealander Nigel Cox, it tells the story of Presley ‘raised by gorillas in the wild jungles of New Zealand, scarred in battles with vicious giant wetas, seduced by a beautiful young scientist’ who gets a record deal with Elvis Presley’s producer and has 30 No 1 hits.”