Mark Ravenhill likes American culture. “The problem, then, isn’t that American culture is a bad thing, just that it’s a very dominant thing. And sometimes it’s the only thing. So, a couple of months ago, I devised The Diet. If Dr Atkins could cut out the carbs, then I figured I could cut out the American culture. I’d set myself a date, do it for a month and see how it felt.”
Tag: 09.21.05
Asking The Hard Questions About Arts Funding
“The channelling of public money into the arts is now so widely accepted as a worthwhile thing to do, it would seem churlish to question it. Who could ever wish to return to the dark ages – pre-Australia Council, pre-state and regional arts councils – when creative artists struggled for recognition and support? But there are a couple of questions that should be raised from time to time, if only to assure ourselves that our money is being spent wisely. Who is supposed to benefit from arts funding? And what is the nature of the benefit?”
Mailer, Ferlinghetti Honored By National Book Foundation
Norman Mailer has been chosen to receive the 2005 medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the National Book Foundation. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the poet, publisher and bookseller at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco gets the foundation’s first Literarian Award.
Researcher Find Ancient Building By Using Google
An Italian researcher has discovered an ancient villa by looking at satellite maps doenloaded from Google. “Luca Mori was looking at Google Earth images of the region around his town of Sorbolo, near Parma, when he noticed a shaded oval area more than 500 metres (1,640ft) long, which marked the path of an ancient river.”