In an announcement, the co-creators of the HBO folk music/comedy series said: “We’ve noticed the less we say about the future of the show, the more people want to talk about it, so in an effort to reverse this trend we are today announcing that we won’t be returning for a 3rd season.”
Tag: 12.10.09
Leonardo Da Vinci’s Keyboard-Viola Hybrid Re-Created
“The instrument, called a clavi-viola in Italian or harpsichord-viola in English, has emerged from myth into Times Square. A realized version went on display Thursday at the exhibition ‘Leonardo da Vinci’s Workshop,’ which is running at the Discovery Times Square Exposition [in Manhattan].”
In Issuing Visas, ‘Culturally Unique’ Is Subjective
“[I]mmigration law gives an anonymous group of government bureaucrats a lot of cultural clout: They can decide which foreign ballerinas, musicians and artists qualify as ‘outstanding,’ or special enough to deserve a visa to enter the U.S. Ultimately, most applications are approved,” but some complain “that official judgments of artistic merit are often arbitrary.”
Talking Batons With Michael Tilson Thomas Et Al
“Small and soundless, the baton goes unnoticed by most concertgoers but can be an obsession to conductors. Born out of necessity centuries ago, when rooms were lit by candles and the conductor’s gestures needed to be seen by musicians, the baton serves unseen roles.”
Smithsonian, Ex-Worker Settle Asbestos Lawsuit
“The worker, Richard Pullman, 54, has settled a lawsuit with the institution for $233,000, according to records obtained by The Post this month from the Department of Labor under the Freedom of Information Act.” Meanwhile, an outside consultant has recommended changes to the Smithsonian’s asbestos procedures.
NEA Survey: Increasingly, Audiences Are Migrating Online
“While many adults still like the intimacy of live theater, particularly musical theater, over the past year an estimated 47 million of them chose to watch or listen to music, theater or dance performances online at least once a week.” According to the NEA’s 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, “the mode of delivery is rapidly changing.”
NEA Survey: Arts Attendance Has Reached A New Low
The 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts “noted that the downward trend was at least partially due to the deteriorating economic conditions of the past two years, including the rise in the price of gas and an overall drop in consumer spending. But it also emphasized larger shifts in the American public’s relationship to the arts.”
B&N’s Nook Rushed To Market Before It’s Ready
Though the promotional materials make it sound great, various “missing features are symptoms of B&N’s bad case of Ship-at-All-Costs-itis. But the biggest one of all is the Nook’s half-baked software. To use the technical term, it’s slower than an anesthetized slug in winter. And it’s buggy.”
At La Scala, A Slightly More Somber Opening Night
“If Old World Europe still has its great spectacle, it is this annual senior prom, at the end of which the so-called loggionisti, the diehard fans in the rafters who are opera’s original bloggers, rain ritual terror or roses down on the performers.” The singers got cheers, the director jeers.
Berlusconi Disses La Scala For 2012 At The Multiplex
“[T]his week, as the great and the good turned out at La Scala opera house in Milan for the opening of a new version of Carmen, many wondered why the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, was not in attendance.” Turns out he was at the movies, taking his own bow.