Artists have always used materials at hand for their work. Now, “a few bold souls are trying to fashion art from electronic found objects. Their battle cry: From spam, poetry. Taking phrases from the deluge of junk mail as their raw material, they assemble the verbal detritus into poems.”
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Famous Music School In Peril
Scotland’s Castle Toward, an outdoor centre used by tens of thousands of gifted children since the second world war is being sold, and the school has no place to go. About 6000 children from across Scotland take the trip to Toward, 10km south of Dunoon, each year.
Search Is On For New Australian Museum Director
“A top public servant, rather than a scientist or curator, is tipped to replace Mike Archer as the director of the Australian Museum. Professor Archer finished his controversial four-year reign at the Australian museum on Friday. This followed an ICAC investigation into the loss of thousands of valuable items in its collection.”
Details, Details, Details…
“There is a species of movie buff so invested in the cinematic illusion that they actually care when a clock in one shot that reads 3:15 is preceded by a shot in which the same clock reads 3:20. A subset of this subculture is made up of another time-obsessed group, anachronism spotters. “Far from Heaven,” they are quick to point out, may take place in 1958, but the Tupperware Julianne Moore uses in it wasn’t made until four years later…”
Those Cursed Stars
Most publications top off movie reviews with a star rating. “Every reviewer I know hates the fiendish things, for the same reasons readers, editors, and publicists like them. Star ratings boil down critical analysis – the careful weighing of pro and con, the appreciation for the nuances of camerawork and performance, the baited hook of scorn – into a snap judgment that can be instantly grokked by a harried parent or slapped across a two-page ad spread. Gripe though critics may, unless we’re one of the dainty pashas at The New York Times or The New Yorker, the stars – or some system of dingbats like them – are a fact of the workplace, like spam or carpal tunnel.”
The Fan Fiction Phenom
Fiction written by fans of already-existing literary characters is now a major phenomenon. “Despite a threat of legal notices and continued aloofness by the more upright literary community, this work is flourishing. Harry Potter-inspired fiction has even given rise to its own stars, some of whom rival Rowlings’s own talent for rococo prose and colossal word count. These exuberant HP writers are the latest heirs to a literary tradition known as fan fiction, or fanfic. The genre is staffed by fans of a specific book, television show or movie. Using established characters and surroundings, writers arm themselves with a healthy sense of creative entitlement and let it rip.”
The 24-Hour Movie
In October, 24 teams competed in a contest to “write, cast, shoot, score, and edit an entire movie” in a day. The prize? $10,000…
Next Wave Back On Track
The Brooklyn Academy’s Next Wave Festival has “served to celebrate innovative work begun in Europe or in Manhattan lofts and museum spaces.” But its 20th anniversary festival last year was something of a disappointment for an enterprise that traditionally sought out the new and risky. This year’s installment, however, re-establishes Next Wave’s aesthetic direction, writes John Rockwell. And despite some financial hardships, the Brooklyn Academy takes the lead once again.
Critics At The Movies (In Their Dreams!)
Ever wonder how the movie critics see movies? In luxury and comfort, right? “A tuxedo-clad greeter checks your coat, offers a hot towel, and escorts you to your enormous, plush red seat. Beautiful women in flowing gowns roam the aisles, offering Belgian-chocolate covered popcorn, warm spiced apple cider with top-shelf rum, foie gras hot dogs, and an assortment of light meals flown in from L.A.’s The Ivy–all for free. There is a cigar bar in the back, just under the projector, where single malt scotch flows like the ocean in ‘Waterworld.’ A direct line to Harvey Weinstein is always open and celebrities wander in and out, happy to answer any questions reviewers may have.” Not!
Where Are The New Rock Critics?
“When you think of the kind of writing there was in Rolling Stone 30 years ago and look at magazines now, it doesn’t even need to be pointed out. Most writers are writing in the shadows of Bangs or writing bland stuff. No one’s been able to get over that and create a post-new-journalism template.”