“Independent booksellers have gained market share during the first half of the year, despite a reduction in the number of independent bookshops trading … [and] increased discounting from competitors such as the supermarkets, Amazon, and chain booksellers.”
Tag: 10.01.09
Fassbinder Script Premieres After Quarter-Century Of Controversy
“Twenty-four years ago, the curtain never quite raised on the Rainer Werner Fassbinder play Der Müll, die Stadt und der Tod. The Jewish community, flexing its muscles for one of the first times since World War II, blasted the piece for being anti-Semitic.” This week the piece began its debut run in Germany’s Ruhr Valley. “And, over two decades later, feelings about the play among Germany’s Jews haven’t changed.”
Roman Theatre, Possibly Emperor Trajan’s, Found Near Airport
“British archaeologists have unearthed a Roman amphitheatre the size of the Pantheon at the site of a port which once supplied Rome and its legions.” That site, as it happens, is very near the runway at Fiumicino. “Its design suggests it was used by a high-status official, possibly the emperor himself.”
Facing Rise In Libel Suits, Small UK Houses Avoid Non-Fiction
“Publishers are turning down titles they would previously have published because of increasing numbers of highly expensive ‘no win, no fee’ legal claims. The development, particularly strong over the past 18 months, poses a serious risk to free speech, according to English PEN.”
Two Macs And A Wii: The Fauxharmonic Orchestra
“[T]he instrumental sounds and full 100-voice choir that [Paul Henry] Smith coaxes from the machines, using a Nintendo Wii controller as his conductor’s baton, sound surprisingly acoustic, live, and real.”
Museum And University Prof’ls Move To Avoid Another Brandeis/Rose Museum Mess
“The prized modern art collection of Brandeis University isn’t headed to the auction house, but supporters of college art museums are trying not to declare victory. Rather, they are taking the controversial plan to sell the collection … as a wake-up call.”
There’s A New Character In Pooh’s Wood (And Some People Are Grumpy About It)
“Described as a stickler for etiquette, Lottie the otter will be only the second female character to populate the world of Winnie-the-Pooh (after Kanga the kangaroo), when Return to the Hundred Acre Wood – the first new Pooh book in more than 80 years – starts showing up in stores [next week].”
The Guardian‘s Chief Arts Writer Spanks The Booers At Covent Garden
Charlotte Higgins: “The wall of aggressive sound – of booing – that greeted the director and designers on the first night of Tristan on Tuesday was boorish, callow and just plain rude. In no other artform do artists – and it is always directors and designers – get such a hard time.” (Gosh, why might that be?)
NEA Chair Responds To Republican Senators
Rocco Landesman, on the participation of the now-departed NEA communications chief in a conference call regarding President Obama’s United We Serve project: “This isolated incident, undertaken without agency approval and prior to my tenure, should in no way tarnish [the agency and its achievements].”
Gay Characters On TV: One Step Forward, One Step Back
“The number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender characters has grown in recent years on prime-time network television, but decreased on cable, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said.”