A new tour of Rome takes in the sites mentioned in the Da Vinci Code. “We have noticed in the past few months that lots of tourists, mainly American and British, have started coming to Rome just to see the sites in Angels and Demons. The four-hour tour, which costs €35 a head for groups and €75 for individuals, whisks tourists in a minibus around many of the sites. Participants need not have read the book.”
Tag: 12.27.04
Review-Based Arts Funding – More Money, But…
“The Howard model for arts funding was set: if arts organisations wanted more money from government, they should forgo warm, fuzzy talk and instead build a business case based on thorough research. Through its review-driven cultural agenda the Howard Government has given the arts greater funding fillips than most governments. Its record for injecting extra funds into the arts is impressive, up there with the Whitlam, Keating, Kennett and Dunstan administrations. Yet it is not perceived to be an arts-friendly government, and many artists still don’t support it.”
Lobbyists Push Culture Crusade
The Parents Television Council is a self-appointed lobbyist for their brand of broadcast “morality.” “What stands in the way of their success? Oh, not much: Just the seemingly irreversible trend that has all of American culture becoming cruder and more explicit. Then there are the passionate defenders of the First Amendment and the equally passionate defenders of the free market, who argue that people must want sex and violence since they sell.”
Christmas – Land Of The Reruns (But Why?)
Why do TV networks revert to reruns over the holiday season? They say it’s because no one’s watching. And yet, according to the numbers, viewership is down only about 5 percent. And maybe that’s because there’s not much new on. So why not try to win those audiences with fresh shows?
Freaking Out Over Language
For 15 years now, the Modern Language Association has seen its annual year-end conference dominated by “skirmishes between old-school traditionalists and the increasing powerful new breed of postmodernists, multiculturalists, feminists and queer-theory advocates.” But “the circus is looking pretty threadbare, and the ones trying to do the freak show aspect of it are looking silly now.”
Lit Love – The Age Of Literary Magazines
There are more than 1000 literary magazines currently publishing. “That is more than at any time in history. Most of the magazines are geared toward specific audiences, with average readerships of 2,000 and annual budgets under$10,000.”
New Reality: Political Documentaries After The Election
Political documentaries abounded before November’s elections. So what’s happening to the documentary makers since then? “Political documentaries are not going to come to an abrupt halt because of the re-election of George Bush. If people were motivated to make films because of their concern with the policies of the first administration, it’s hard to argue that those concerns were allayed on Nov. 2.”
The Video Game And The Painting (What You Can Learn)
A new video game that combines PacMan with a Mondrian painting has caught the attention of the art world. “Why is Pac-Mondrian attracting more art types than gaming types? Maybe it’s because Pac-Mondrian has more to say about Mondrian’s painting than about Pac-Man. In fact, it qualifies as a coherent interpretation of “Broadway Boogie Woogie.” The inventors don’t say so, but if you play the game you’ll probably discover some features of the painting that you never knew were there, and some that aren’t there at all.”
Swiss Parliament Punishes For Critical Exhibition
Members of the Swiss parliament are furious over an art exhibit at the Swiss Cultural Center in Paris that criticizes democracy in Switzerland and attacks the country’s minister of justice and police. “Last week, after 10 days of furious debate, the Swiss Parliament slashed $1.1 million from the $38.9 million annual budget of Pro Helvetia, the government-financed cultural foundation that owns the Swiss Cultural Center. Legislators on the right also demanded the resignation of Michel Ritter, the center’s director, who invited Mr. Hirschhorn to show his work here.”
Israel Museum’s Prized Pomegranate Is Fake
“The Israel Museum has discovered that the most important item in its priceless collection of biblical antiquities is a fake. An ivory pomegranate originally thought to have adorned a sceptre carried by the high priest in Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem is to be withdrawn from public exhibition. The withdrawal of the pomegranate, which was on display during an exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Civilization last year, is the latest in a series of embarrassing scandals which have rocked the quiet but high-spending world of antiquities collectors.”