“The average person watched four hours and 49 minutes of television a day in the 2008 to 2009 season, an all-time high … The average household watched a whopping 8 hours and 21 minutes of television a day, according to the study. That’s up from just an hour and 50 minutes in 1991, the first year to be included in the study.”
Tag: 11.10.09
Musical America’s ‘Of TheYear’ Awards For 2010: Muti, Garanca, Andriessen
Incoming Chicago Symphony music director Riccardo Muti is named Musician of the Year, with mezzo Elina Garanca as Vocalist, Louis Andriessen as Composer, and Joshua Bell as Instrumentalist. A special award for Collaborative Pianist goes to vocal recital specialist Warren Jones.
Telegraph Names ‘100 Best Jazz Recordings’
And what’s No. 1? King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, for what it’s worth, followed by the complete Bessie Smith, but the list is strictly chronological, not ranked. The dates range from 1923 to 2009; in a telling detail, fully one-third of the titles have been deleted from the catalogs.
Didn’t Waterstone’s Used To Be One Of The Good Guys?
“So the argument goes: in going big, Waterstone’s lost its soul. It gains credence if you consider what is happening in the US” — the discount wars, that is. Nicholas Spice, publisher of the London Review of Books, says: “Waterstone’s has really already done to British bookselling just the kind of things that we’re seeing in the US.”
British Curator Murdered With His Daughter In Sydney
“A British art curator and his daughter have been found dead of multiple stab wounds alongside an injured toddler at a million-dollar home in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs.” Police “found the bodies of Nick Waterlow, 68, and his daughter Chloe, 37, a cookbook author, on Monday night.” Nick Waterlow’s mentally ill son is said to be the suspect.
Same-Sex Couples Come To The Fore As Arts Donors
“It’s no surprise that gays and lesbians are strong supporters of the arts. What has changed in recent years is that they are choosing to be recognized as couples. Quietly in some cases, more publicly in others, these philanthropists are providing vital support and spurring the organizations to recruit other like-minded couples….”
Chia Obama, A Singular Tribute (Um: ‘It’s Not A Pet’)
“If RNC Chairman Michael Steele doesn’t have one of these in his den, I’ll eat Rush Limbaugh’s shorts. The staggering truth: Chia Obama is a real product, and its creator … means it to be a sincere tribute to Obama, who he says has inherited ‘the biggest can of worms ever put on a president.'”
When Sesame Street Was New
“Educators were thrilled that children were entering school with a grasp of letters, colors and elementary numbers. Later, the show was criticized as too winsome, leading children to expect that the elements of reading and math would bounce in bright colors across the classroom. Nowadays, teachers are probably just grateful if kindergartners aren’t texting in class.”
Nabokov’s Would-Be Novel Is A Violation Of The Author
“The Original of Laura can’t escape the musty air of an estate sale: The trinkets that piled up in the attic; the damp books from the basement; the old man’s stained cravat…. It would be ridiculous, of course, to blame the deceased for the estate sale.” Nabokov is a victim here.
Houston Ballet To Boast Largest All-Dance Facility In U.S.
“When it rains hard, dancers leap around buckets placed underneath the leaks. The Houston Ballet has struggled with challenging conditions at its headquarters in a former clothing factory since 1984” — but that’s due to change in 2011 with a new $53 million home, now under construction.