One of Melbourne’s biggest bookstores is closing, and it’s hard not to feel nostalgic. “Do I protest too much? Metropolis was just another place of consumption, much like a cafe or a bar or a chemist. Let’s not get sanctimonious about a bookstore. Maybe my mother is right; maybe I am a literary snob. Maybe I should watch more TV, drink more Coke, get in touch with the mainstream. Who am I to say Acland Street, post-Metropolis, has gone to the dogs?”
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Adventures In Self-Publishing
Andy Kessler was wary. “I had been warned against self-publishing. You can’t get reviews, you can’t get shelf space, and you can’t get respect. One hundred thousand books are published every year, so you need an imprint to stand out from the noise. Being naive, and used to being treated like Rodney Dangerfield, I decided to publish my book anyway…”
Doing Art Since The Beginning Of Time
“For years, scholars regarded the appearance of figurative art as the initiation of an evolutionary process, that art became progressively more sophisticated as humans experimented with styles and techniques and passed this knowledge to the next generation. But a growing body of evidence suggests that modern humans, virtually from the moment they appeared in Ice Age Europe, were able to produce startlingly sophisticated art. Artistic ability thus did not ”evolve,” many scholars said, but has instead existed in modern humans (the talented ones, anyway) throughout their existence.”
O’Neill Center Reinstates Open Submissions
Four months ago, the Conn.-based Eugene O’Neill Theater Center announced it would no longer accept open submissions for its annual Playwrights Conference. The change in policy was made as a cost-saving measure. But after much protest, the O’Neill has decided to reinstate its open submissions policy.
Fox Exec: Traditional TV Sked Dead
The traditional network TV season is dead, says a Fox entertainment exec. Instead, seasons will begin and end when they do. “The economic model that created this business has lasted too long. We’ve seen cable companies make inroads while we hid our heads in the sand. We need to change our business. We need to respond to our consumers and viewers.”
Lining Up Candidates For Denver Theatre Job
Who will replace Donovan Marley as head of the Denver Center Theatre? “One of the many testaments to the resident company Marley has developed since 1984 is that there are at least three viable candidates with DCTC ties who should be given foremost consideration: Israel Hicks, Anthony Powell and Bruce K. Sevy.”
Chicago Lion King – King Of The Jungle
The Lion King leaves Chicago after “a highly successful 39-week Chicago engagement that reported a total net gross in excess of $40 million and attracted more than 710,000 theater-goers to Chicago’s Loop.” The show, some observers say, could have run for three years here.
Guettel – The Future Of Broadway Musicals?
“To many aficionados, Adam Guettel – grandson of Richard Rodgers, the composer who set so much of Broadway’s agenda for so much of the previous century – represents the most accomplished exemplar of the musical theatre form, even without an actual Broadway show on his resume.”
Israeli Ambassador Vandalizes Swedish Art
Israel’s ambassador to Sweden vandalized an art work at Stockholm’s Museum of National Antiquities Friday. Over the weekend, the Israeli cabinet supported its ambassador. The ambassador was “thrown out of for vandalising an art work showing the photo of the suicide bomber who killed 21 Israelis at a restaurant in northern Israel in October. Israel has demanded that Sweden dismantle the installation, but its request has been refused.”
For A Pete Rose Solution – Try Looking At Museums
Baseball is trying to decide if Pete Rose Ought to be in the Hall of Fame. For guidnace, baseball ought to look to the museum world. “Museums make no moral judgment about their artists. Just imagine the personal lives of the artists who are represented at museums. We know Jackson Pollock was a drunk. We know Picasso had no regard for women artists, and he said women were either “goddesses or doormats.” Heck, if you believe Patricia Cornwell’s recent book, museum-worthy artist Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper. But museums know they shouldn’t be presenting the artists as good people, only their work as beautiful or important.”