“Last week, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission decreed that Canadian cable and satellite operators could carry Al-Jazeera, along with eight other ‘non-Canadian third-language services’ as digital channels. However, concerns that Al-Jazeera would incite anti-Semitism, and air offensive and objectionable material, prompted the CRTC to insist that distributors of the news service monitor it for ‘abusive comment’ 24 hours a day.” What kind of message does censoring the channel send when we proclaim our free press?
Blog
Libeskind’s Shrinking Cool
Daniel Libeskind is suing the developer of the World Trade Center site. “Libeskind, with his spritely face and quirky glasses, had been the epitome of compact cool when his design won. Now he was girding to descend into the murk and mire of a court battle. His suit claims that Silverstein merely paid lip-service to the master plan because his ‘actions, then and up to the present time, bespeak a clear intent to derail the project wherever he perceives a conflict with his personal financial interests’. All the high-minded rhetoric and outward symbolism (1776, the tower’s height in feet, is the year the Declaration of Independence was signed) had apparently been erased by the dirty business of litigation.”
The New Russian Censorship
In Russia “a group of artists is being charged with ‘inciting religious hatred’ for lampooning religious ideology in a controversial exhibit. For the defendants, who face up to five years in prison if convicted, official reaction to the ‘Caution: Religion’ show, held at Moscow’s Andrei Sakharov Museum last year, suggests the return of Soviet-style control – where dissent is quashed and policemen stand in for art critics. In place of the former Communist Party, they say, the Russian Orthodox Church is fast becoming the Kremlin’s chief guardian of ideological purity.”
Marvel’s Spidey Senses Are Tingling
The legendary Marvel Comics, “which owns the rights to the Spider-Man character, has seen its fortunes soar from the “Spider-Man” movies. Over the last four years, thanks in large part to a steady stream of Spidey-related revenue, Marvel has gone from losing tens of millions of dollars a year to turning a profit of $152 million on revenue of $348 million in 2003.”
New High-Tech Kick For Arthouse Movie Theatres
The new owners of Landmark Theatres art movie houses “plan to bring big-media ideas of vertical integration to the art house world. The new owners are importing digital technology to Landmark’s 204 screens by equipping each of the 57 theaters in 21 markets with high-definition digital projection by year’s end.”
A Change In Emphasis For NY Historical Society (Is That OK?)
Is the New York Historical Society changing its focus because a donor has dangled a prized collection in front of it? Critics suggest that the collectors chose the society “because its history of financial weakness has left it malleable.”
Duncan: Broadway Is Broken
Sandy Duncan despairs over the state of the Broadway theatre business. “Once an industry run by producers with vision and heart, she says, Broadway has devolved into a business now run by ‘money men who don’t have an eye for the product. It used to be that producers would make a profit, with the idea that they would put that money into a new show. Now, they want to make a killing, and so they’re flogging these shows into 10-, 12-, 14-year runs. It hurts the whole creative community’.”
Poll: Agatha Christie Is Tops At Detective Fiction
A British poll places Agatha Christie as the country’s most popular detective story writer. “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, came second in the poll of 1,500 people, followed by the United States writer Patricia Cornwell, who was voted into third place for her novels about the forensic psychologist Kay Scarpetta.”
‘Lolita In Teheran’ Is Not Current History
Azar Nafisi’s memoir ‘Reading Lolita in Tehran’ of life and book groups after the Iranian revolution may be a huge bestseller in the United States, but it has yet to be translated into Persian. As a result, almost no Iranians have even heard of the book. Fewer still have read it. Among those who have, however, reactions might fairly be described as mixed.”
New Course For National Museum Of Australia
The new National Museum of Australia director Craddock Morton has a big job in front of him. “His mission? To deliver much-needed stability to the NMA after the so-called history wars brought its exhibits – especially those relating to indigenous history – under fire and provoked a federal Government review.”