“The dedicated Saatchi room will be in the General Staff Building, former government offices in Palace Square which are being restored to provide a home for the Hermitage’s collection of 19th to 21st century art.”
Tag: 11.08.07
Want To Stay Smart? Exercise!
“When inactive people get more exercise, even starting in their 70s, their executive function improves, as shown in a recent meta-analysis of 18 studies. One effective training program involves just 30 to 60 minutes of fast walking several times a week.”
What Do Classical Music Radio Listeners Want?
“Researchers played 30-second snippets from 150 compositions and asked listeners to rate the appeal of each excerpt. They found, to no one’s surprise, that bright, melodic music rated highest and passages that were dissonant, schmaltzy or not strictly “classical” got the lowest marks.”
Europe’s Best Museum?
Europe’s leading museum or not, the Prado’s new section, including its exhibition of 19th-century Spanish paintings from Francisco de Goya to Joaquin Sorolla, is a must-see.
How Iraq Is Different In Film
“The invasion of Iraq, with its escalating anarchy and swift fall from public favour, is commonly compared to Vietnam. But the manner in which film-makers have handled Iraq, from no-budget documentary crews all the way up (or down) to Hollywood studios, couldn’t be more different.”
The Woman From Arkansas And Her Museum
Alice Walton is the second richest person in the world. She’s spending $50 million on a museum in the American outback. “The art museum is, in many ways, her way of making peace with her home town and an attempt at personal redemption.”
Inside The Romance Novel (And Its 6000 Titles)
“Wal-Mart, Costco, Fred Meyer, Safeway, Bartell, and other mass-market retailers, sell around 40 percent of romance novels, according to the RWA. Study these in-store displays and you’ll discern highly specific genres within romance: fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, and especially historical.”
Proust And The Disappearing City
“Why do we find Proust’s failure meaningful or relevant? Because all around us, we see a city, a Seattle, that we can’t stop, that offers us no existential anchor, that makes a fool out of our memories by daily destroying the old and building the new–yet we continue the doomed project of living here.”
Paris Opera Workers Plan Strike
“These walkouts by technical workers — which have not as yet been joined by the Opéra’s performers and artistic staff — are but one part of the ongoing strikes throughout France over President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to reform the various national union pension schemes.”
La Scala Threatens Highly Inconvenient Strike
The opera house staff may strike “an important milestone for the legendary Milan opera house. Not only was it a tribute to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Arturo Toscanini, it was to mark the beginning of Daniel Barenboim’s appointment as La Scala’s highest-ranking musician.