Why did this year’s Golden Globes seem so lacklustre? “Despite the hard evidence to the contrary, TV shows and movies still maintain the symbol of the shared experience; it’s partly what award shows are for, to honor what we talk about. Except that that equation doesn’t so much exist anymore.”
Tag: 01.17.06
American Says Klimt Paintings Should Remain In Austria
The American woman who won ownership in an Austrian court of five Gustav Klimt paintings that had been looted by Nazis from her family, says she’d like the paintings to remain in Austria. But the Austrian culture minister says that “Austria could not afford to buy back the paintings, citing media reports that Adele Bloch-Bauer I, also called the ‘Golden Adele’, alone was worth between 70 million and 100 million euros. 70 million euros amounts to the whole budget for all museums in Austria — all public museums’.”
So Goes The Music Video…
Music videos, so much the hot thing in the 1980s era of MTV, have lost much of their influence. “While music videos have declined in value as promotional tools, they have fuelled the profiles of a new school of short-form auteurs, to the point where their works can now be savoured in a more rarefied context than in the frenetic flow on music channels.”
Canada’s Culture Debate (Where Is It?)
Why aren’t Canadian politicians talking about culture in the current federal election? “Compared to other countries, Canada has failed miserably at supporting its artists. “England’s national arts council funds in the amount of $24.36 per capita. Ireland is at $17.91 and Norway is at $10.97. Currently, the Canada Council receives $4.73 per Canadian.”
Frey Flap – Truth In Advertising
The uproar over James Frey’s misrepresentations in his best-selling memoir is not “just a case about truth-in-labeling or the misrepresentations of one author: after all, there have been plenty of charges about phony or inflated memoirs in the past, most notably about Lillian Hellman’s 1973 book ‘Pentimento.’ It is a case about how much value contemporary culture places on the very idea of truth.”
Duffy Wins Eliot Poetry Prize
Carol Ann Duffy wins this year’s TS Eliot Prize for poetry. The Poetry Book Society, which awards the prize, said: “This year’s TS Eliot prize highlights a (some would say) rare moment of agreement between the critics and the booksellers as to what constitutes great poetry.”