“We are still left with a bad song that was not as bad as some other songs, but nevertheless everyone liked the least. We are still left wondering why, with our thriving industry of schlock pop and so much prime-time telly given over to the creation of more of it, we can’t compete with Bosnia Herzogovina. I think the answer lies in the very timbre of our outrage. We know we can make good pop. Everyone else knows we can make good pop. But when it’s just for Europe, we don’t see why we should bother. We aim low, and we never field our biggest hitters.”
Blog
Art Students To Implant Human DNA In Trees?
A pair of art students in London plan to implant human DNA in trees and grow them. “If an apple tree was used, it would provide an edible as well as a visible reminder. Like the rest of the tree, the fruit would contain human DNA. ‘Implanting your grandmother’s DNA into an apple tree brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘Granny Smith’. But would you eat an apple from your grandma’s tree’?”
Australia’s Writer’s Favorite Books
The Australian Society of Authors conducts a poll of its members to decide on a list of 40 favorite Australian books. “While it includes some of the big names in our national canon – Christina Stead, Henry Handel Richardson and Patrick White all make the top 10 – there are no books by Henry Lawson and none by Banjo Paterson. Nor are there any by Les Murray, Thomas Keneally or Robert Drewe. There are some surprise inclusions…”
Artists In Schools
“With public education struggling to stave off steep budget cuts and forced to cope with the extra emphasis on standardized testing, it has become difficult if not impossible for schools to add their own art, music, drama and dance teachers. Partnerships [with arts organizations] are sometimes hailed as an alternative to these arts classes. Adding to the desirability of partnerships is that the arts organizations pick up most of the tab for the program; they, in turn, have diverse sources to go to for funding, which has provided a significant impetus in the growth of such programs. But what do partnerships deliver? Are their promises fulfilled? Who really benefits? Until recently, it was hard to answer these questions.”
What Mr. Wilson Learned
Playwright August Wilson takes to the stage himself for the first time in his new play in Seattle. “The 100-minute play, ‘How I Learned What I Learned,’ is brightened by sudden flashes of poetry and unfolds like a meeting between Dylan Thomas and Malcolm X. The dramatic high point comes when Mr. Wilson leaps into the character of a man in one of his stories who fatally knifes an acquaintance in a bar. He jumps around the stage, curses wildly, slashes the air and brutally kicks his imagined victim.”
Van Sant Wins Cannes
Gus Van Sant’s “Elephant” wins the grand prize at Cannes. “It was certainly exceptional for an American film, the first ever submitted for the festival competition by HBO, to be acknowledged in such a way. ‘Elephant’ is a documentary-like examination of an ordinary day in a mostly white, middle-class high school in which the calm is splashed with a corrosive burst of violence: two boys arm themselves and begin shooting.”
The Five Best Regional Theatres In America?
Time magazine has ranked what it considers the five best regional theatres in America. Chicago’s Goodman Theatre topped the list, followed by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland; the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass.; the Guthrie in Minneapolis, and the South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, Calif.
Critics? What Use Are They?
“The relationship between artist and critic is an age-old battle between process and product, actor and observer, status quo and innovation. To an artist, a critic can feel like a thorn in the side, an impartial evaluator, a necessary evil to be rationalized accordingly — or one of the malicious, impotent little men and women with nothing better to do than play God with their destinies.”
Cannes Or Bust
Was this year’s Cannes a bust, as many critics have been suggesting? “This year’s Cannes is only ‘wretched’ (in the words of one major American critic) if you compare it to the best recent Cannes fests and ignore all the movies shown out of competition – like the restored versions of 20 Federico Fellini films, Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Modern Times’ and a number of rediscovered classics – as well as the best of the new films.”
Study: Downloaders Actually Buy More Music Than Others
People who download music over the internet are said to be the reason that CD sales have declined in the past few years. “But a study released this month shows that people who download music are more than twice as likely to buy CDs as people who don’t download. That makes sense. People who spend hours – and it takes a lot of time – scanning the Internet for music to download are likely to be eager music fans, looking for a new kick, a bit of rare trivia or even a cut they heard on the radio and wanted to hear again.”