“Treasures worth more than £65m, including a Poussin, a Van Dyck and a stupendous Turner painting that was the artist’s final image of Rome, will all leave the UK because no one had sufficient money to prevent their export, an annual report has revealed.”
Tag: 12.13.11
Austin Powers: The Musical (It Had To Happen Eventually)
Mike Myers, creator and star of the cinematic ’60s spy spoof franchise, is writing the script for a stage musical – a prequel to the films that explains how Austin Powers became a superspy. Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello are reportedly writing the songs.
Under Conservative Protest, Lowe’s Pulls Sponsorship From “All-American Muslim”
“Peppered by a conservative group’s complaints about the program, the Lowe’s home-improvement chain last week pulled its sponsorship — and has been fielding countercomplaints that the company had caved in to the very prejudices faced by the program’s protagonists.”
Conservative Group That Got Lowe’s To Pull Ads On Muslim family Reality Show: Two Decades Of Proudly Fighting Gays
“The conservative group that got Lowe’s to pull its ads from a reality TV show about American Muslims has been fighting for more than two decades against gay rights, strip clubs and most anything else that offends evangelical Christians.”
Founding San Jose Ballet Artistic Director Dennis Nahat May Be Forced Out
‘Apparently, the artistic direction has moved solely into the hands of the board of directors.’
The Crowd Imagines The Future Of Humans And Tchnology
The most popular reader-submitted prediction came from Roy in Italy, who wrote that by 2020, “Google will provide everyone with the ability to communicate with everyone else, regardless of the specific language they speak, via their smartphone, with real-time language translation.”
Uh Oh. Could We Be Getting “Twitter” Brain?
“Basing their concern in part on graphic physical evidence of how brain cells adapt to meet new demands – and wither in the absence of such stimuli – a growing chorus of neuroscientists worry that the “expert reading brain” will soon be as obsolete as the paper and ink it once fed on. And the thing that replaces it (“the Twitter brain”) will be a completely different organ.”
Steven Holl Wins US Architecture’s Highest Prize
“Holl, 64, has celebrated projects all over Europe, and in Seattle, Kansas City, and Iowa. He has conquered China with two extraordinary commercial projects. Last week, the American Institute of Architects announced that he would receive the 2012 Gold Medal, the highest honor the organization bestows.’
New York Jazz Musicians Launch Campaign For Pensions
“For five years club owners have resisted the union’s efforts and remain divided about the idea. Some accuse the 8,000-member union of trolling for new revenue to prop up the pension fund, whose main beneficiaries are mostly retired Broadway musicians, studio session players and classical musicians who are covered by union contracts. Though some jazz artists belong to the union, they generally work in nonunion clubs.”
Alt-Classical Surges In Portland, Oregon
“There’s a growing sense with the current generation of performers that those jobs they trained for aren’t there, so you have to make your own opportunities, and while you’re at it, build a new audience.”