When the recording industry began going after individuals for the practice of illegal online ‘song-swapping,’ many predicted that the pirates would not be cowed. At least one target of the industry’s lawsuits is indeed fighting back: a US woman known as “nycfashiongirl” has filed suit against her pursuers, claiming that the industry’s tracking of her internet usage violates her right to privacy.
Blog
The Age Of Aesthetics
We are living in a world increasingly focused on aesthetics. “We are demanding and creating an enticing, stimulating, diverse, and beautiful world. We want our vacuum cleaners and mobile phones to sparkle, our bathroom faucets and desk accessories to express our personalities. We expect every strip mall and city block to offer designer coffee, several different cuisines, a copy shop with do-it-yourself graphics workstations and a nail salon for manicures on demand. We demand trees in our parking lots, peaked roofs and decorative facades on our supermarkets, auto dealerships as swoopy and stylish as the cars they sell.”
Telling The Story Of Dance
A thick new book illuminates the history of dance. “No Fixed Points takes its title from Albert Einstein and, in its trove of new and recycled information and sophisticated analysis, brings together generations of thinking and commentary by critics, historians, artists, and impresarios. Decades in the making, it’s the work of two scholars who have both performed.”
The Allure Of Reality Theatre
“What are we actually getting when performers stand up and talk about themselves? Where does offstage end and onstage begin in first-person theater? The answers are complex – bedeviling to performers and directors and endlessly alluring to audiences. We’re instinctively drawn to stories that arrive in the envelope of truth.”
TiVo Trials
Customers love Tivo. But it’s not catching on with consumers – they’re not buying it. “I can’t think of any product that has had the satisfaction levels it has had but has been as sluggish in terms of the growth of the market. It’s certainly unusual for a product to have this kind of enthusiasm from the community that’s using it without being able to tip over and really become a mass-market phenomenon.”
Cabaret’s Special Place On Broadway
Broadway’s revival production of “Cabaret” will have run for 5 1/2 years when it closes in November. “Beyond the show itself, this Roundabout production and its historically significant run — it is the third-longest-running revival ever on Broadway, after “Chicago” and “Oh! Calcutta!” — has quietly enriched the world of the stage (and to some degree the screen) in ways that not many shows can claim.”
London – The Olympic Factor
If London wins an Olympic bid it will transform the city. “If the Olympics were to come to east London it would never be the same again. At the moment, it is a very difficult area to grasp and get any sense of. The scale of the land holdings and their industrial use mean it is difficult to penetrate. The Olympics could bring great structures, miles of waterways and new open spaces to the east. Seen from new railways and fast roads, they will give an amazing new image to east London. This kind of scale of development is what it needs to define its own topography.”
English Theatre – New Leadership, New Artistry?
English regional theatres have a roster of new leadership. “In the past year, fresh teams have taken over at Chichester, Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool, while new money – £25m – is being pumped into the system. Now comes news of a rising in the Midlands. Lichfield has acquired a new theatre while Coventry, under Hamish Glen, is set to restore an old one. The big question is whether this signals an exciting era of artistic innovation or whether regional theatre is still dogged by the culture of backs- to-the-wall survival.”
The Art Of Writing About Writing
It’s “such an interesting time to be writing about writing—or writing about writing for publication, anyway. Thus several recent entries in the books-on-books genre approach, with varying degrees of insight, similar prickly questions about the present state of lit, such as: Is there anything important left to write, or anyone perceptive enough to write it? And does anyone really care anymore, least of all the gluttonous media cartels increasingly footing the bills?”
Jazz Star Disorder
A researcher reports that jazz greats are “eight times more likely to have suffered from drug dependency. Dr Geoffrey Wills also found that mood disorders appeared to be four times more likely among this group of jazz greats. The psychologist said that he was not trying to imply that all jazz musicians had such problems, but that they shared the same vulnerability to mental health problems as other creative types such as writers and artists.”