Blog

DEATH OR TRANSFIGURATION?

Sven Birkerts says computers are eroding our ability to read deeply. Internet speed discourages reflective reading of literature and we skip across oceans of information without diving deep. “We’ve reached a critical juncture in the transition from print culture to screen culture,” he says, and “We’re metamorphosing from individual and private people to fungible, Web-linked brain connectors in a bright, buzzy, gregarious info-hive.” He couldn’t be more wrong, declares one critic. – Salon

ADVENTURES IN DANCE

London’s 13-year-old modern dance troupe Adventures in Motion Picture (AMP) announces it will move into the Old Vic Theatre as company-in-residence beginning in 2002. Under choreographer Matthew Bourne, AMP’s “outrageously entertaining shows drew on traditions of showbiz, classical ballet, and film, and rapidly attracted a public far wider than hard-core dance fans.” Once the company takes up its new residence, it will become the only major British dance company, other than the two Royal Ballet companies, with its own home-base theater. – The Guardian

FASCINATED BY CANOES

The first-ever Bill Mason art exhibit and sale opened Friday in a tiny gallery outside Ottawa, but don’t bring your checkbook – all 50 paintings were sold within 22 minutes of the show’s opening. Phone purchases were scheduled to begin half an hour after the doors opened – but that was already eight minutes after the last ‘sold’ sticker went up. “It’s almost as if Mason created these tiny glimpses of art just for people who appreciate the charms made accessible by a canoe” – All About Canoes News

SCHOPENHAUER IN PRIME TIME

Who says TV is all fluff? About to bow on British TV 4 – on Saturday evenings no less – is a series on serious philosophy, billed (no doubt for the ratings) as “a guide to happiness.” Series producer Alain de Botton says Seneca speaks to road rage and Schopenhauer to a contented love life. – The Economist 03/29/00  

CREDIBILITY ROADSHOW

Public TV’s “Antiques Roadshow” is a major hit with viewers and a cult phenomenon. But now the show has a credibility problem.  It “heavily uses two antiques appraisers whose company was found liable in federal court of defrauding the owner of Civil War heirlooms. The two appraisers have also staged at least one phony appraisal on the program, according to sources and court records.” The show has vigorously stuck by the duo. – Boston Herald 03/29/00 

REALLY AT RISK

Conventional wisdom has it that publishers are the ones most at risk in the e-book revolution. After all, why does a successful writer need an expensive publisher taking a cut, when the writer can take it to the net herself? But the Endangered Species List is longer than you think. – Salon

FIRST LOVE

British director Sam Mendes accepted his Oscar for “American Beauty” Sunday and immediately pledged to use his success to draw attention and financial backing to his first love, British theater. Mendes is the artistic director of London’s Donmar Warehouse, where he said his award “will provide power and funds.” – The Age (Melbourne)