The Latest Scoop? Gossip’s Cool

“Gossip has long been dismissed by researchers as little more than background noise, blather with no useful function. But some investigators now say that gossip should be central to any study of group interaction. People find it irresistible for good reason: Gossip not only helps clarify and enforce the rules that keep people working well together, studies suggest, but it circulates crucial information about the behavior of others that cannot be published in an office manual.”

Da Vinci Code Filming Finds Mixed Reception

“British churches are divided over whether to allow filming of “The Da Vinci Code,” an adaptation of Dan Brown’s biblically revisionist best seller. The novel’s claim that Jesus Christ fathered a child with Mary Magdalene has drawn strong protests from the Roman Catholic Church, and the movie version has fanned whispers of discontent in the cathedral city of Lincoln, where Tom Hanks and the crew were filming Tuesday.”

Your Name Here (As Long As You Pay)

“Next month, Stephen King, Amy Tan, Lemony Snicket, Nora Roberts, Michael Chabon and 11 other best-selling writers will sell the right to name characters in their new novels. Profits from the auction (at www.ebay.com/fap) will go to the First Amendment Project, whose lawyers go to court to protect the free speech rights of activists, writers and artists.”

And Just Who Is Michael Brand?

“Brand, 47, a native of Australia, is considered to be a rising star in the museum world and has been on short lists for several other museum directorships. He became the assistant director of the Queensland Art Gallery in Australia at 38, and took the director’s job four years later in Richmond, where he embarked on an aggressive mission to build the museum’s holdings, shepherd donations of major collections and raise $100 million for an expansion.” Brand: “One of the reasons why I’ve come to the Getty is that it’s already a great museum. I’m not coming here saying that it needs to be saved or anything like that.”

Hip Hop Nation (In Its Many Forms)

Think you know all about hip-hop? Think again. Different styles have evolved since hip-hop’s ’70s origins in the African American neighborhoods of the Bronx and later the Latino enclaves of Queens, and they get lumped together, says Rennie Harris. What makes the Illadelph festival unique is that many of his 15 teaching colleagues are originators of the form; these “Legends” provide the specifics of hip-hop history, theory and technique. “That’s why we stay on the foundation,” Harris says, so students can “take it, build on that, and do their thing.”