“Do you think that the press and the arts ought to have some different sort of relationship? More like a partnership?”
Tag: 08.02.11
Trend: More Designers Are Making Things Too
“The rise of the designer-maker has a lot to do with the fact that while design is an ever more popular career choice, the opportunities to work with manufacturers are not growing at the same pace (and in the UK are actually diminishing). Where product and furniture designers once aspired to get their work mass-manufactured, many have now given up on the idea.”
Stupid Thieves Give Up In Mid-Art Heist
“A trio of hapless thieves who tried to abscond with a $1-million sculpture by famed Canadian artist Jean-Paul Riopelle ended up ditching their treasure instead in the Quebec woods. It was retrieved – broken but salvageable.”
Why Placido Domingo Is The Wrong Guy To Be Fighting Media Piracy
“Politicians won’t do a thing if their electorates aren’t persuaded that illegal downloading is immoral and destructive of creativity. And, sadly, millions of people (especially those under 35) aren’t persuaded. Nor will they be, if the giant record companies project an image of themselves as out-of-touch fat cats trying to protect their cream. In that respect, choosing an ageing multimillionaire opera singer as a figurehead sends out just about the worst possible message.”
Australian National Broadcaster Eliminates Arts Programming
“The ABC will disband its arts unit, a move which will spell the end of weekly arts broadcasting on the ABC. Production has been cancelled on Art Nation presented by Fenella Kernebone and on all the internally-produced arts documentaries which air under the Artscape banner.”
Computerized Cars Are Better At Avoiding Crashes Than Humans
“The City Safety system was found to prevent about a quarter common low-speed commuter traffic crashes compared with cars that didn’t have the technology. We’ve been in this business for quite a while and you seldom see as dramatic a difference as these things appear to be making.”
Go Fish (Why The Smartest Computers Still Have Problems With A Simple Human Game)
“Fourteen years after Deep Blue stole Garry Kasparov’s crown — and in the wake of Watson’s triumph on the classic game show — some of the world’s top computer scientists are still struggling to best top-level players in the simple board game called Go.”
Hollywood’s Highest-Paid Actors
“While Johnny Depp topped our list last year with $75 million, Leonardo DiCaprio jumps from fifth to first place to beat Depp for the first time. Over the past year Depp earned $50 million to DiCaprio’s $77 million.”
Actor Richard Pearson, 93
“Pearson was the kind of actor on which the British theatre has always relied: utterly dependable and totally distinctive. His particular forte, with his slightly fluting voice, was for revealing the chink in the armour of middle-class respectability” – particularly on television. He is also “remembered for his role in one of the most famous theatrical failures of modern times: what you might call a flop d’estime.”
Can Sacramento Opera Save Itself With A Merger?
“When the Sacramento Opera pulled the plug on the remainder of its 2010-2011 season last December, it was with the awareness that its operating model was unsustainable. This fall the company is making a modest comeback, staking its future on coproduced operas and a possible merger with the Sacramento Philharmonic.”