The giant UK book chain Waterstone’s has been granted approval to acquire Ottakar’s, the specialist books company. “Small retailers warned that the deal would be another step towards ‘clone- town Britain’, further eroding the diversity of the high street, restricting consumer choice and, ultimately, leading to higher prices.”
Tag: 03.31.06
John McGahern, 71
McGahern was “arguably the most important Irish novelist since Samuel Beckett.”
Peru Wants Machu Picchu Artifacts Returned
Peru is seeking to get artifacts from Machu Picchu housed at Yale, returned. “When Yale launched a major touring exhibition featuring the artifacts three years ago, the Peruvian government started negotiations to get them back. Yale offered to divide the items up and help Peru install its share in a museum near the site. Peruvian officials would not agree to any joint projects until Yale acknowledged that all of the objects belong to the Peruvian people. Yale refused.”
Downtown D.C. Finally Gets A Community Music Center
“After years of planning, organizers of a proposed National Music Center announced yesterday that they are moving to the former Carnegie Library [in Washington, D.C.] and starting performances, classes and exhibitions this spring… ‘The Gig,’ as the center’s public programs will be known, will test the waters for a more permanent, comprehensive museum of music.”
Danish Cartoons Won’t Be Found At Borders
Two of the largest bookstore chains in North America say they will not stock the April/May issue of the magazine, Free Inquiry, because it contains reprints of the Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammed which sparked riots and protests around the world earlier this year. Borders and Waldenbooks, which ordinarily carry the magazine, say that they are acting out of concern for the safety of their customers.
Philly’s Skyline Conundrum
Philadelphia’s skyline has always been a bit understated for an American city of its size (due in large part to a longstanding unofficial rule that no building could be taller than the statue of William Penn that stands atop the magnificent city hall) but ever since city officials began allowing developers greater leeway in the 1980s, Philly has been getting vertical. Inga Saffron says that the proliferation of skyscrapers isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but that the city’s distinct lack of an urban plan is a serious threat to Philadelphia’s distinctive look and feel. “The main issue is no longer about how high Philadelphia’s towers should go. It’s about guiding what happens on the ground.”
Levine Surgery Successful
Conductor James Levine is out of the hospital and recuperating at his New York home following shoulder surgery that will keep him out of action until the summer. Levine, who tore his rotator cuff in a fall following a Boston Symphony Orchestra concert last month, has canceled all his bookings through the spring, but hopes to be ready for the BSO’s Tanglewood season, which begins in July.
M’m! M’m! Expensive!
New York art dealer Irving Blum long ago donated most of his collection of Andy Warhol’s pop art depictions of Campbell’s Soup cans to the Museum of Modern Art, but he apparently held back at least one work, from the days before Warhol discovered silkscreening. “‘Small Torn Campbell’s Soup Can (Pepper Pot),’ an early hand-painted work from 1962, will be auctioned at Christie’s sale of postwar and contemporary art in New York on May 9. It is expected to fetch $10 million to $15 million.”
A Children’s Film Fest That Never Ends
“Beginning tomorrow, New York will have a year-round international, independent film series for children, the only one of its kind in the country. The first weekend of every month, the New York International Children’s Film Festival will show at least one feature for young children and one for ages 9 and older. Each film will be screened twice, preceded by a short, at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village.”
Pixar At 20
The animation company that changed the face of big-screen cartoons is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary. Pixar, which counts Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc. among its hit films, dragged Hollywood into the age of digital animation more or less single-handedly, thus setting off a raging debate on whether computer-generated characters can ever really have the humanity of a hand-drawn version. Pixar’s chief stands firm: “Computers don’t create computer animation any more than a pencil creates pencil animation. What creates computer animation is the artist.”