“Closing a $56.7 million deficit … required choices that in a vacuum look horrible: Who wants to defend a decision to close branch libraries citywide for all but 18½ hours a week?” But Mayor Jerry Sanders has rejected any cuts in the city’s $6.4 million arts funding, saying explicitly that the arts create more jobs than libraries.
Tag: 04.19.11
E-Book Piracy Might Not Be Such A Bad Thing For Publishers
One consultant “makes the distinction between the instances of e-book piracy (the number of pirated e-book files available for download) and the impact of e-book piracy (the actual effect on the business of publishing). … He says that one way to measure impact is to pick a book, wait for it to be pirated, and then compare sales before and after.”
The Paradox Of “International Literature”
“A novelist is not famous today unless internationally famous, not recognized unless recognized everywhere. Even the recognition extended to him in his home country is significantly increased if he is recognized abroad.”
Trusting Your Gut: Our Brains Are Shaped By Our Intestinal Bacteria
“People may advise you to listen to your gut instincts: now research suggests that your gut may have more impact on your thoughts than you ever realized … [N]ormal gut flora, the bacteria that inhabit our intestines, have a significant impact on brain development and subsequent adult behavior.”
Egypt’s Ousted Antiquities Chief Defends His Fashion Line
“[Zahi] Hawass has lent his name to a men’s wear brand: a line of rugged khakis, denim shirts and carefully worn leather jackets that are meant, according to the catalog copy, to hark ‘back to Egypt’s golden age of discovery in the early 20th century’.”
Philip Glass Founds New Festival In Big Sur
“I think of composers as global now. It’s not so important where the composers are living. What’s important is that their voices be authentic and cross-generational. We’re intending to construct something of a level of quality that people will be interested in, all over the world.”
Philadelphia Orchestra Bankruptcy Resounds – Now What?
“The move’s shock value is high both because of the ensemble’s prestige and history, and because Philadelphia’s is the first major U.S. orchestra to declare bankruptcy – at least in recent memory, and, say industry veterans, perhaps ever.”
If The Memoir Is Fiction Why Not Just Write Fiction?
“In the age of Oprah and celebrity reality television and true tales, everyone wants a spokesperson for some horrible incident or … tragedy. A lot of writers feel forced into making a memoir of something that might more accurately be called fiction.”
Salman Rushdie: We Must Fight For Artists Such As Ai Weiwei
“We can perhaps bet on art to win over tyrants. It is the world’s artists, particularly those courageous enough to stand up against authoritarianism, for whom we need to be concerned, and for whose safety we must fight.”
Arsonist Strikes Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia Church
“Tourists were hurriedly evacuated from Barcelona’s emblematic Sagrada Familia basilica after an arson attack destroyed part of the original work of its eccentric architect, Antoni Gaudi. A local man reportedly set the blaze after walking into the sacristy, spraying it with a flammable liquid and setting fire to the priests’ robes stored there.”