What Sells? Celebs…

Circulation for celebrity magazines is soaring. “Over the past year, Us Weekly and its competitors have soared in popularity even as the circulations of newspapers, business weeklies and practically every other print publication have been falling. The September cover of Conde Nast Publications Inc.’s Vanity Fair, featuring an exclusive interview with a tearful Aniston, was its highest selling issue ever. With Americans confronting grim news every day about war and natural disasters, “celebrities have become a sort of national distraction. They are hired entertainers, and the public demands to be entertained almost constantly.

Google Legal Woes Slow Books Project

Google has wandered into a mess of copyright traps with its attempts to make books searchable. “The legal action comes as yet another setback to Google’s goal of serving as a clearinghouse of a wide range of global information, legal scholars say. In addition to its publishing woes, Google has also drawn the ire of TV networks for its Google Video, which records and stores TV programs.”

Scottish Parliament Rejects Culture Commission Recommendations

The Scottish Parliament has killed a report’s recommendations to dramatically increase funding for the arts. “The report won initial support in the arts community for its call for a massive increase in spending of up to £100 million, to cover a ‘deficit’ in Scottish arts and take it to a 1 per cent share of the Scottish Executive’s budget. Scotland’s culture minister said a new arts bureaucracy was a non-starter. She did not rule out a “radical overhaul” in the arts, but spoke out against “unnecessary bureaucracies, which are a drain on resources”. She continued: “I’m not convinced that the solution preferred by the commission is the right one.”

Movie Directors Move To TV

Movie directors used to shun TV as a lesser art form. But many are now taking on projects for the small screen. “In what has become an annual rite of migration over the last few years, feature filmmakers flock to a once-scorned realm to direct (and often executive produce) TV series. This fall, the transfusion of feature film talent continues unabated with a new crop of drama pilots shaped by movie directors.”

US Considers Chinese Art Import Ban

The US is considering a request by the Chinese government o restrict imports of Chinese art. “The Chinese asked for the embargo in an effort reclaim stolen good and to stem looting and illicit export of archaeological material by reducing the market demand overseas. The request was made under the 1970 Unesco Convention regarding cultural property.”

Scalia: Government Has Right To Deny Arts Funding

US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says the government has the right to deny funding for art of which it disapproves. “The First Amendment has not repealed the basic rule of life, that he who pays the piper calls the tune. When you place the government in charge of funding art, just as when you place the government in charge of providing education, somebody has to pick the content of what art is going to be funded, what subjects are going to be taught. The only way to eliminate any government choice on what art is worthwhile, what art isn’t worthwhile, is to get the government totally out of the business of funding.”

A Look At Billy Forsythe’s New Company

William Forsythe’s new company looks a lot like his old Ballett Frankfurt. “At first, watching Forsythe’s 18 dancers, it is not particularly evident what has changed. They are still based, like the old company, in the studios of Frankfurt’s Opernhaus, and as they wait to begin work, swigging water and easing soreness out of their muscles, they look like any bunch of dancers, anywhere in the world. Slowly, however, it becomes evident that this new ensemble possesses a very singular dynamic.”

Wrapping A River In Colorado

Christo and Jeanne-Claude are working on their next project. “After more than 40 years of supersized artworks, one last mega-art project remains on the couple’s drawing board. They propose draping nearly seven miles of reflective translucent fabric at periodic intervals above a winding, 40-mile stretch of the Arkansas River in south central Colorado.