“To work in an independent bookstore is to always be aware of shoplifters. It can devour you; you can spend all your time watching people, wondering if they’re watching you. Every shoplifter caught is a major victory against the forces of darkness; every one who escapes is another 10 minutes kept awake at night with gnashing teeth.”
Tag: 02.28.08
The Key To Better Traffic Management: Ballet?
Police chiefs in Romania “have sent their officers to ballet classes in the hope of helping them to manage the traffic with more grace and ease, and to encourage a reduction in road rage.”
Hugh Wolf Becomes Director Of New England Conservatory Orchestras
Wolff, 53, is a former music director of the New Jersey Symphony and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and former principal conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. He is among the six candidates in the running to succeed Kent Nagano as music director of the Berkeley Symphony.
Paralyzed By Art
“Art paralysis: It is a widespread and often crippling malady, striking everyone from the new college grad in his or her first apartment to the super-rich banker, lasting anywhere from a few months to a lifetime. How many are affected is not known, perhaps because the victims are often too embarrassed to come forth.”
Artists Condemn Canadian Government Plan As Censorship
The proposed law would allow a panel to pull funding from projects it deemed “offensive.” “You have a panel of people working behind closed doors who are not monitored and they form their own layer of censorship.”
iTunes Now Second-Largest Music Seller
Apple iTunes is now the No. 2 music retailer in the United States, behind only Wal-Mart, based on the latest data from researcher NPD Group — passing Best Buy Co. and Target Corp.
Report: Teens Abandoning CDs
“Nearly half of all teenagers bought no compact discs, a dramatic increase from 2006, when 38 percent of teens shunned such purchases, according to a report released Tuesday. Two years ago, teenagers accounted for 15 percent of CD sales. In 2007, the figure was 10 percent.”
Much-Studied Shroud Of Turin Gets New Digital Scrutiny
“A huge 12.8 billion-pixel image was made of the linen, on which the smudged outline of the body of a man is indelibly impressed. The image was made following a Vatican request to obtain the most detailed reproduction of the yellowing ancient cloth. The technology allows a level of scrutiny of the linen as never achieved before.”
Writers In Peril On The Digital Divide
“Book publishers, well aware that there’s a brave new world of digital content just around the corner and keen to exploit their backlists, as well as any future titles, across as many platforms and devices as possible, are in the midst of the rather overdue process of securing digital rights from their authors.”
The Krens Conundrum
Guggenheim director Thomas Krens has big shoes. “At times this inconsistent, even wacky, programming was a lot of fun. For one thing, it showed that Krens was not shy about taking chances. After all, you don’t see many museums attempt to cram 5,000 years worth of Chinese art into one small building, as Krens did in 1998, then turn around the same year and put on a display of Harley-Davidsons.”