The (Art) Thief

Don't Get Depressed, It's Not 1929

2008-11-23T06:07:00.000-08:00

Why all those Great Depression analogies are wrong.
By Daniel Gross
Posted Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008, at 7:35 AM ET
It's difficult to avoid the comparisons between the current sad state of financial affairs and the Great Depression. "This is not like 1987 or 1998 or 2001," Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain said at a conference on Nov. 11. "We will in fact look back to the 1929 period to see the kind of slowdown we are seeing now." Time depicted President-elect Barack Obama on its cover as Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And in Washington, the buzz is all about what the new team will do in its first 100 days. What's next? Show trials in Moscow?
All this historically inaccurate nostalgia can occasionally make you want to clock somebody with one of the three volumes of Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.'s history of the New Deal. The credit debacle of 2008 and the Great Depression may have similar origins: Both got going when financial crisis led to a reduction in consumer demand. But the two phenomena differ substantially. Instead of workers with 5 o'clock shadows asking, "Brother, can you spare a dime?" we have clean-shaven financial-services executives asking congressmen if they can spare $100 billion. More substantively, the economic trauma the nation suffered in the 1930s makes today's woes look like a flesh wound.
Juliet Lapidos explained the difference between a recession and a depression. David Greenberg recounted how FDR saved capitalism in eight days. He also asked whether our current crisis would be more like 1990 or 1929. Previously, Daniel Gross wrote about the annoying and alarming trend of faux optimism among the business media.
"By the afternoon of March 3, scarcely a bank in the country was open to do business," FDR said in his March 12, 1933, fireside chat (now available on a very cool podcast at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s Web site). In 1933, some 4,000 commercial banks failed, causing depositors to take huge losses. (There was no FDIC back then.) The recession that started in August 1929 lasted for a grinding 43 months, during which unemployment soared to 25 percent and national income was cut in half. By contrast, through mid-November 2008, only 19 banks had failed. The Federal Reserve last week said it expects unemployment to top out at 7.6 percent in 2009. Economists surveyed by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank believe the recession, which started in April 2008, will be over by next summer. (Of course, back in January the same guys forecast that the economy would grow nicely in 2008 and 2009.) But don't take it from me. Take it from this year's Nobel laureate in economics. "The world economy is not in depression," Paul Krugman writes in his just-reissued book The Return of Depression Economics. "It probably won't fall into depression, despite the magnitude of the current crisis (although I wish I was completely sure about that)."
So what's with all the speakeasy-era speak? Financial executives invoke distant history in part to make up for their own recent shortcomings. If a force as powerful as the Great Depression has been unleashed on the global economy, how can a mere mortal like Merrill's John Thain be held responsible? The specter of the 1930s has also been deployed by political leaders to create a sense of urgency. "We saw a lot of overblown analogies in the run-up to the passage of the bailout bill," notes Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. President Bush's Sept. 24 address to the nation warned that "the entire economy is in danger," and that "without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic, and a distressing scenario would unfold."
It's understandable that we make comparisons to the Great Depression. Analogies help us place things in context. But very few of us actually lived through the Depression. Studs Terkel, the great chronicler of the voices of the Depression, died in October at 96. The historical distance from today to 1929 is as vast as the chasm separating 1929 from 1850. Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University and author of Predictably Irrational, says, "The closer we are to something—an event, a person, an object—the more nuances we see." By contrast, the further away we are, the greater (and less accurate) the generalizations we make. And so when comparisons to the Great Depression are flashed on cable-news crawls, "it's all about the desire to fit everything into a snapshot," Ariely says.
Ironically, the differences between the two eras can be summed up in a few sound bites. The world of 1929-33 was one that lacked shock absorbers such as Social Security and deposit insurance to insulate people from economic disaster. In the 1930s, some of the world's largest economies—Germany, the Soviet Union, Japan, and Italy—were run by leaders hostile to the very notion of market capitalism. Today, U.S.-style market capitalism is under assault from self-inflicted wounds, and Germany, Italy, and Japan (Russia, not so much) are working with the United States to cope with a common problem. Back then, we were cursed with a feckless Federal Reserve, and a wealthy Treasury secretary, Paul Mellon, saw the downturn as a force for good. "Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate," he said. "People will work harder, live more moral lives." By contrast, today's Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, is a student of the Great Depression, and the wealthy Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, wants to provide liquidity to stocks, farmers, and real estate. A final difference: After the 1929 crash, the nation had to wait more than three years for a president who simply wasn't up to the job to leave the scene. This time, we've got to wait only two more months.

Yes

2008-11-22T11:23:00.000-08:00

You can build a house, but that doesn't make it a home

2007-04-18T16:04:00.000-07:00

TOP 5 REASONS WHY HOUSE OF BLUES SUCKS
(And is a disgrace to the sacred ground that is the blues)

1. 2 ID Checks, pat down and purse check. They practically strip you before you get past the door.

2. No cameras. You pay an inflated ticket prices, but got forbid you try to remember the night. And if they find your camera, they charge you $3 to keep it behind the counter till the concert is over.

3. $5.50 for a can of Bud Light. I can't believe ANYONE has the audacity to charge that much. It's a flat out slap in the face to mark up drinks 400%.

4. Employees are kinda dicks...."Can't stand here!!!!" And too many VIP sections. FU elitists. That's not what music is about to me.

5. House of blues, w/ tonight's special guest, Fallout Boy. ????

In conclusion, I'm going to start a petition to make them repeal the word "Blues" from their name. Nothing about that place is in the spirit of the blues. John Hurt, Robert J - they'd be rolling in their graves if they knew this is a supposed altar to their legacy. If you can't drink cheap whiskey, dance with your girl, and bring a knife (just in case) in the joint, then it ain't the blues.

Dignity - available exclusively at K-Mart

2007-03-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

I just had to point out some irony here this morning. If I were to ever record an album, and call it "Dignity," I would never then sell exclusive selling rights of any kind to "K-Mart." Yeah, Hillary Duff, a lot of Dignity - available for the right price. I long for a time when that word actually meant something to an artist.

Madonna's First Live Performance

2007-01-21T08:46:00.001-08:00

"She's sold over 200 million albums worldwide, won seven grammy awards, and is the highest earning female singer of all time. But even Madonna had to start somewhere. In this exclusive WOW TV clip, Madonna is filmed during her first ever live performance."

In Memory of Tupac

2006-12-12T08:30:00.001-08:00

Actress Jada Pinkett Smith, who learned her craft at the Baltimore School for the Arts before launching a successful film and television career, is donating $1 million to a major renovation and expansion campaign at the school, officials announced yesterday. The School for the Arts, considered one of the top public arts high schools in the country, plans to name its new theater the Jada Pinkett Smith Theater. At Pinkett Smith's request, the theater will be dedicated to rapper Tupac Shakur, a former classmate who was shot and killed in 1996...

American Cultural Domination?

2006-12-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

The world is moving toward a uniform material culture, dominated by mostly material American influences: technological innovations, fashion, Hollywood and the celebrity culture it promotes, hip-hop, and rock 'n' roll. But the pervasiveness of the trappings of American culture obscures the central cultural paradox that lies within the globalization process: Although people around the world may wear, eat, and listen to American products, they continue to maintain their deeply ingrained values, beliefs, and underlying assumptions...

Frank Lloyd Wrong?

2006-12-08T13:20:00.001-08:00

A new play currently running in Chicago dramatizes the life of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and to an architecture critic, seeing the production provides a stark reminder that some of our greatest artists can also be reprehensible human beings. It's a tough dichotomy to reconcile: 'Does Wright's art justify his life? Or do we have to set aside his skyscraper-size flaws and ignore the irony that this maker of idyllic homes seemed hell-bent on destroying the domestic tranquility that once existed in his own house?'

2006-11-30T22:07:00.000-08:00

The phone call (the pretenders)

The Pretenders and Chrissie Hynde are awesome. What took me so long to realize this? She's my new female musical hero.

Smells Like Literary Spirit

2006-11-17T10:16:00.000-08:00

'There I was, reading On Opera by the late philosopher Bernard Williams, and I was suddenly transported back to my childhood. How so? Because of the way it smelled. ... How to describe why one book smells nicer than another? I could burble on about the Williams book's hints of musk, fresh grass, and topnotes of vanilla, but you can see that I'd never make it as a wine writer. But maybe there is a secret community of book-sniffers out there who know what I mean...'

Bill O'Reilly the Opera (Okay, Oratorio)

2006-11-16T11:15:00.000-08:00

A Seattle composer is writing 'a 31-part, concert-length baroque oratorio titled, rather theatrically, Mackris v. O'Reilly. The libretto opens with a reading of the original complaint filed by Mackris and runs through seven chorales, four recitatives, and numerous arias before the denouement, which features a dramatic reading of the settlement.'..

VHS- Rest In Peace

2006-11-16T11:11:00.000-08:00

After a long illness, the groundbreaking home-entertainment format VHS has died of natural causes in the United States. The format was 30 years old. No services are planned. The format had been expected to survive until January, but high-def formats and next-generation vidgame consoles hastened its final decline...

'Mary Poppins' the Musical

2006-11-15T20:01:00.000-08:00

Mary Poppins, the star of the P.L. Travers books and Walt Disney movie, has followed the east wind from London and landed on Broadway, where her stories have been turned into a lavish $20 million musical.

The show opens Thursday night, but audience members should not expect a live-action replica of the 1964 Julie Andrews film. The stage show draws from the movie and the books, but features new characters, new plot points and new songs.

The show is co-produced by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh, the mega-successful producer of Cats and Phantom of the Opera. Mackintosh had the stage rights to the Travers books; Disney held the rights to songs that many people associate with the character, such as "Spoonful of Sugar."

The Boom in Old Time String Bands

2006-11-06T08:46:00.000-08:00

In this decade more and more musicians under the age of 30 have picked up banjos and fiddles and hit a burgeoning circuit of festivals, small-town theaters and big-city nightclubs. They don%u2019t want to play their parents%u2019 music, but they do long for a tradition older than themselves, one with memorable melodies, deep stories and a boisterous beat...

Music Molding Minds

2006-10-23T07:42:00.000-07:00

Is a musical education as important in child development as proper instruction in math and language? 'At a superficial level, most teachers would agree that becoming involved with music at school has a markedly good effect on pupils. [But] more significant is the nature of the music itself. Nobody can deny how central a part music plays in the life of most children and adolescents... It is the purpose of education to extend the imagination, to open up new and infinite pleasures. For many children, to learn an instrument is the beginning of this extension...

The Decemberists

2006-10-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

Venus: "Colin Meloy discusses the perils of narrative songwriting, the political implications of making a war-themed album, and how fatherhood has affected his music
by Ann Friedman

The story goes that a poor Japanese man heals an injured crane he finds one day after a storm. Shortly thereafter, a woman appears on his doorstep, and they fall in love and marry. His wife offers to support them by weaving beautiful silk fabric to sell at the market, but only if the man promises never to watch her work. They make enough money to live comfortably, yet the husband greedily pushes his wife to weave more and more, oblivious to the fact that her health is deteriorating.
Ultimately, the man gives into temptation and peeks behind the curtain in her weaving room. There he sees a crane sitting at the loom, plucking feathers from her body and weaving them into silk. The crane sees him, flies away, and never returns.
Something about this simple tale resonated with the Decemberists’ Colin Meloy, who first read the story at a Portland bookstore several years ago and knew immediately that he wanted to write a song about it. Meloy eventually spun the folktale into several songs that mark the beginning and end of the Decemberists’ fourth full-length album, The Crane Wife.
With several tracks that soar past the 10-minute mark, The Crane Wife isn’t exactly what you’d expect from a major-label debut (the band recently defected from longtime label Kill Rock Stars to join Capitol Records). The album has the familiar cast of characters and lit-major lyrics, but the sound — equal parts Steely Dan, Yes and Portland indie — marks a departure from the band’s previous efforts with its unapologetically gloomy tone.
I called Meloy at his home in Portland, two days before he was set to embark on a national tour."

I am better than your kids.

2006-10-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

If you work in an office with lots of people, chances are that you work with a person who hangs pictures up that their kids have drawn. The pictures are always of some stupid flower or a tree with wheels. These pictures suck; I could draw pictures much better. In fact, I can spell, do math and run faster than your kids. So being that my skills are obviously superior to those of children, I've taken the liberty to judge art work done by other kids on the internet. I'll be assigning a grade A through F for each piece:

You spelled America wrong asshole. Also, I could have sworn America's colors were red, white and blue. There's no yellow anywhere, traitor.

Two Gallants!

2006-10-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

What if Toots was the lengthy storyteller that Dylan is?... what if Tom Waits was a poet like Talib Kweli. Well bitch, they both are and they sound like Two Gallants. This is the most exciting music/storytelling I've heard in so so long. Picture, if you will, a grease-ball pencil thin drummer and a hyperactive blonde Rogue guitar player. This is Two Gallants. No one has a feel for undulation and climax the way this band does. Every time you think they are going to rip the song open into some heavenly ballad, they throttle back and make you wait like a puppy for treats. And when they DO bring the pain, the singer's voice screechs and whines. It makes your (proverbial) testicles quiver and then drop to the floor.... every damn time. This music has enormously raw industrial drumming and every song is played with finger picks on guitar (like a banjo). I can't even discuss the harp playing... woo

Your time will not be ill spent if you click through these extensive arhives. Look at that huge body of work! They have two full length albums (the Throes and the What the Toll Tells) not included on this page with all different songs. I've concluded the only way to procure this much wisdom and sense in 23 years of life is to ride the sweet rails of America's Stowaway Special (I mean trains). I urge you to listen in and post comments if so inclined.

"Well, I went down to the polling place
The white men there just laughed in my face
Saying boy, this aint no nigger's race
You best get on your way
Sir, I believe I've got the right
Said you aint got nothing if you aint white
And I thought I said get out of site
Well, what was I to say?

And the summer day make a white man lazy
He sits on his porch killing time
I gotta work to feed my wife and baby
I work so god damn hard that it's a crime "
~Long Summer Day, Two Gallants

India's Literary Elite Call for Anti-Gay Law to be Scrapped

2006-09-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

More than 100 leading figures of literature, film and academia in India rallied this weekend against a "colonial-era" law making homosexuality a criminal offence. They argued that section 377 of the Indian penal code perpetuated Victorian-era antipathy and bigotry towards gay people. "This is why we ... support the overturning of [the law that criminalises] romantic love and private, consensual acts between adults of the same sex," they said...

What If Mozart Had Lived?

2006-09-18T14:47:00.000-07:00

Mozart's death in 1791 was probably caused by streptococcal infection, renal failure, terminal bronchial pneumonia and a matrix of other illnesses, some dating from his childhood, when the Mozart family spent years touring Europe to show off the boy genius and, to a lesser extent, his sister. Imagine how different music history would have been had Mozart lived...

Musical Taste, and Drugs?

2006-09-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

What does your taste in music say about your taste in illegal drugs? Quite a lot, if you believe the researchers behind a new study at the UK's University of Leicester. 'Researchers were trying to find out what people's taste in music revealed about their lifestyles. They discovered that fans of every style of music had taken drugs, with those who preferred DJ-based club music topping the list.' Other findings include that more than 25% of classical buffs smoke pot, that blues fans are the most likely to have a driving violation, and that fans of Broadway musicals are the least likely to have tried drugs...

Up and Coming Bohofolk Queen

2006-08-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

Rising star, Emma Moon, is sweeping the underground scene, with her ultra "hippie-ster" melodies and artsy vibes. She's been playing at art galleries, coffee shops, AA meetings, and prisons for the last four months. With the latest release of her debut album "Universal Soul Tree," she has made quite an impression on the folkster music scene. Check her out at: www.myspace.com/emmamoongoddess

Thriller: The Musical?

2006-08-28T17:12:00.000-07:00

The songs of Michael Jackson, about to take to London's West End. 'Thriller Live features more than 80 performers including a gospel choir, children's ballet and West End singers and dancers to reinterpret the singer's most memorable songs. Producer Adrian Grant has hailed the show a 'musical celebration' and says it will help to revive Jackson's status as the King of Pop...

Andrew Lloyd Webber Goes Russian

2006-08-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

Andrew Lloyd Webber has chosen his next project. It's a musical adaptation of 'Mikhail Bulgakov's fantastical tale of the Devil, a talking cat, Christ and Pontius Pilate, a tormented writer named Master and a girlfriend named Margarita, who becomes a witch. A Faustian tale that satirizes the oppressive Stalin regime, the novel is considered a major work of 20th century Russian literature...

The Rise of Unconnected Culture

2006-08-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

Trivia books have become a publishing phenomenon. 'Each tidbit or bound collection of factoids may be so insignificant that calling it trivia is almost an honorific. However, this growing genre signals a profound trend in America: The rise of Jolt Culture, which combines our quest for information -- this is, after all, the Age of Information -- with our lust for immediate gratification...

The Neuroscience of Talent (There Isn't Any)

2006-08-27T12:23:00.000-07:00

I think we've debunked the myth of talent. It doesn't appear that there's anything like a music gene or center in the brain that Stevie Wonder has that nobody else has. There's no evidence that (talented people) have a different brain structure or different wiring than the rest of us initially, although we do know that becoming an expert in anything -- like chess or race-car driving or journalism -- does change the brain and creates circuitry that's more efficient at doing what you're an expert at...

What Motivates Fame Seekers?

2006-08-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

For most of its existence, the field of psychology has ignored fame as a primary motivator of human behavior: it was considered too shallow, too culturally variable, too often mingled with other motives to be taken seriously. But in recent years, a small number of social scientists have begun to study and think about fame in a different way, ranking it with other goals, measuring its psychological effects, characterizing its devoted seekers...

Marketing Classical Music- And The "Brand" Played On

2006-07-26T13:33:00.001-07:00

Music itself is not a product. A thing of beauty, a universal language, an outpouring essential to life and expression, yes - but not a product. Yet, unfortunately, classical music seems to be slipping down the image-conscious slope that degrades so many other art forms. More and more it attempts to package itself as a consumer item, with all the fatuous and artfully deceptive gloss to match; it sacrifices ideas of integrity and transmitting the benefits of artistic endeavour for the ideologies of market competitiveness and maximised returns...

Portrait of the Artist as an Antisocial Loner

2006-07-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

It's a phenomenon that seems to cross all artistic genres and mediums: the live-fast, die-hard lifestyle of artists from James Dean to Lord Byron. But why is it that artists capable of communicating such profundity through their work are so frequently incapable of normal social interaction? " A new exhibition at Britain's National Gallery traces the image of the artist as rebellious loner from its Romantic roots through works by Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch, Edgar Degas and others."

Lost Photo of Mozart's Wife Found

2006-07-11T16:02:00.000-07:00

The previously unknown print was discovered in archives in the southern German town of Alt�tting, local authorities said yesterday, and has been authenticated as including Mrs Mozart. The long-lost photograph was taken in October 1840, when Constanze Weber was 78, at Max Keller's home. The Alt�tting state archive said it was believed this was the only time in her life that she had been photographed...

Stevie Wonder - Sesame song (live)

2006-06-26T21:14:00.001-07:00

"Stevie Wonder - Sesame song (live)

Wow! Who doesn't love Stevie Wonder? And Sesame Street?! Must see.

Stevie Wonder - Sesame song (live)

2006-06-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

"Stevie Wonder - Sesame song (live)

Wow! Who doesn't love Stevie Wonder? And Sesame Street?! Must see.

50 top conservative rock songs, subtitle %u201CQuit calling us squares, you beatniks!

2006-05-22T11:35:00.000-07:00

Pandagon: "A reader found a blog that%u2019s reprinted the NRO's Top 50 Conservative Rock Songs. It's worth reading for the deep, deep irony that is the #1 pick is enough to make this one a thigh-slapper.
1. 'Won't Get Fooled Again,' by The Who. The conservative movement is full of disillusioned revolutionaries; this could be their theme song, an oath that swears off naive idealism once and for all. 'There's nothing in the streets / Looks any different to me / And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye... Meet the new boss / Same as the old boss.' The instantly recognizable synthesizer intro, Pete Townshend's ringing guitar, Keith Moon's pounding drums, and Roger Daltrey's wailing vocals make this one of the most explosive rock anthems ever recorded - the best number by a big band, and a classic for conservatives.
The fact that they fall for the 'small government' line and continue to elect Republicans who drive up deficits and curtail civil liberties demonstrates that conservatives are in fact easy to fool over and over and over again. Anyone who still trusts Bush after he lied to get us in the Iraq war is demonstrating a depth of gullibility previous unmeasurable by any instruments known to man.
But the choice of 'Won't Get Fooled Again' was inevitable. The critical mythology of neo-conservatives is that they were once idealistic leftists and totally cool and could so get laid and knew where to buy the best weed but the tawdry stupidity of liberal beliefs ran them off. The seedy reality is that the only known human being to actually make the legitimate case that this is his life story is P.J. O'Rourke. The rest of them were just Marxists who ran off to be right wingers when they realized the American left wasn't ever going to embrace Stalinist authoritarianism. All attempts to claim the mantle of pseudo-cool rebellion must be viewed in this light."

Stanley Kunitz, Poet Laureate, 100

2006-05-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

Stanley Kunitz, who was one of the most acclaimed and durable American poets of the last century and who, at age 95, was named poet laureate of the United States, died on Sunday at his home in Manhattan. He was 100... Over the extraordinary span of his career — nearly 80 years — Mr. Kunitz achieved a wide range of expression, from intellectual to lyric, from intimately confessional to grandly oracular. Among other honors, he won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1959, the National Book Award in 1995, at age 90, the National Medal of the Arts in 1993 and the prestigious Bollingen Prize in poetry in 1987.

Has DaVinci's Lost Masterpiece Been Located?

2006-05-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

Step by patient step, one man is drawing ever closer to the real Da Vinci mystery: tracking down the master’s greatest painting, lost for four and a half centuries... For art historians, finding Leonardo’s lost Battle of Anghiari is in the same league as finding the Titanic or the still lost tomb of the Ancient Egyptian architect Imhotep — as big as you can get... And it is hidden, [Maurizio Seracini] believes, in a room at the heart of political power since the Middle Ages in Florence...

Tom Wolfe on 'Homo Loquax' and Human Nature

2006-05-16T01:11:00.000-07:00

The author advances his theory that evolution effectively ended for the human species when man grasped the power of speech. It's a key component of his Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities...

Art Chicago: How the Mighty Have Fallen

2006-05-11T22:29:00.000-07:00

Art Chicago used to be the top art fair in the US. No more. "Now Art Chicago has been bought by the company which runs the Merchandise Mart, a vast wholesale showroom for furniture, apparel and other companies which also runs a plethora of trade shows."

Ramona and the Movie Deal

2006-05-08T10:17:00.000-07:00

Anyone who was ever a child has probably read at least one Beverly Cleary book, and most of us have read far more than that. "Although Cleary's 39 books have not achieved the quick sales numbers of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (120 million copies) or Lemony Snicket's books (50 million), they've never gone out of print. And since 1950, when Cleary's first children's novel, Henry Huggins, was published, she has sold more than 90 million copies." Now, at age 90, she has finally agreed to allow her popular "Ramona" series to be made into a movie, but is zealously guarding the character against the rampant commercialization she so detests.

George W. Revives the Protest Song

2006-05-07T17:05:00.001-07:00

The 1960s were a divisive time in America, and the music of the period reflects the "protest" movement that flourished at the time. And though overtly political music has been out of fashion for decades now, the protest song is showing signs of making a comeback, thanks in large part to the divisive qualities of the Bush Administration. "These artists' dissent is not the innocuous, war-hurts whine of U2, R.E.M., Ani DiFranco, Dar Williams or the Dead Kennedys that has passed in recent years as an expression of conscience, but a rage-grounded strain that sounds a lot like the potent snarl of the dispossessed and betrayed."

-(Let us not forget to add Neil Young to the mix, "Impeach the President")

Cirque du Soleil Takes Over

2006-05-07T05:36:00.000-07:00

"To judge from its own statistics, Cirque du Soleil has taken over the circus world. Drawing, like other major circuses, from the same international pool of small traveling circuses and circus schools, augmented by fresh talent from Eastern Europe and Asia, Cirque du Soleil has elevated the once marginal and innovative "new circus" experiments of Europe into an international brand name. The Cirque format has surpassed the older-fashioned, sawdust plus painted clowns plus animal acts of Barnum & Bailey, wedding instead the jugglers and acrobats and its own kind of clowns to formulaic fantasies."

Gaddafi, The Opera

2006-05-07T05:28:00.000-07:00

English national Opera will present an opera about Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. "The opera tackles some of Libya's most controversial moments on the world stage, including U.S. attacks on the country in 1986, the Lockerbie disaster of 1988 and the shooting of police officer Yvonne Fletcher outside Libya's London embassy in 1984. Little wonder its creators see the project as high risk for one of Britain's two main opera houses."

It's All Right, Ma: Bob Dylan Turns D.J. - New York Times

2006-04-30T08:18:00.000-07:00

WHO knew Bob Dylan was an LL Cool J fan?
Once famously reclusive, Mr. Dylan is now going very public with his eclectic musical tastes, on a show that makes its debut Wednesday on XM Satellite Radio.'Theme Time Radio Hour' (XM Channel 40) features Mr. Dylan introducing his favorite records, organized each week around a different theme %u2014 like cars, drinking or, this week's theme, weather. (First tune: 'Blow, Wind, Blow,' by Muddy Waters.) He typically records from home or on tour, XM says, even though an announcer says the show is recorded in 'Studio B of the Abernathy Building,' to lend it a vintage aura. The hourly programs are sprinkled with recorded spoken cameos from the likes of Elvis Costello, Sarah Silverman and Penn Jillette. As D.J., Mr. Dylan vamps on the lyrics of his chosen songs, and makes observations that often amount to something like what he does musically: he taps America's musical heritage with words that veer from the logically linear to the abstract, delivered in his wry, mumbly growl.To illustrate, here are excerpts from the show to be broadcast next week, devoted to mothers for Mother's Day."

World hip-hop questions US rap

2006-04-29T23:21:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS : "A recent international hip-hop festival which brought together rap artists from around the world has raised the question of why non-US rap is so political - whereas mainstream American rap appears frivolous.
Many of the performers at the three-day Trinity International Hip-Hop Festival in Hartford, Connecticut, were critical of the way that US rap - which is by far the best-selling - appears concerned mostly with money, drugs and sex, and has little to do with its roots in the angry political expression of groups like Public Enemy or KRS One.
'There's this negative perception of hip-hop as being a criminal artform, as being the home of the uneducated and non-thinking people,' said Nigerian MC Oke.
'When you go across the continents of the Earth, people are embracing hip-hop as the force to change and transform the world.'

"They don't really want to hear about your opposition to George Bush - they'd much rather hear about what you want to do with George Bush's wife," she said."

Blaine plans underwater challenge

2006-04-25T12:15:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS: "Magician David Blaine has announced plans to spend seven days submerged in a water-filled container in New York.
The illusionist, who spent 44 days in a glass box for a starvation stunt in London in 2003, will use lines giving nutrition and air to stay alive.
After one week, he will remove his air supply and attempt to break the world record for holding breath.
Blaine, 33, endured a 62-hour stint sealed in an ice block in New York's Times Square in 2003.
The magician will enter an 8ft (2.5m) high water-filled sphere on 1 May and remain submerged for a week.
Organisers say they want fans and well-wishers 'to visit, touch the sphere and offer words of support'"

Culture Clash?

2006-04-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

All across Europe, the controversial construction of new mosques is raising questions about aesthetics and assimilation, faith and tolerance—and liberal democracy itself.
One of Europe's largest mosques is rising over Rotterdam, and many residents are none too pleased. Its ornamented façade and arched windows appear transplanted from afar, and in fact the design was inspired by mosques in Cairo and Dubai. At a recent ceremony marking the start of the mosque's construction, Mayor Ivo Opstelten complained that Muslims had ignored official calls to downsize the structure. "Faith is sometimes expressed more by reserved rather than explicit dissemination," he said.

Rumsfeld Shouldn't be Fired, He Should be Indicted

2006-04-18T18:55:00.000-07:00

Its not Donald Rumsfelds colossal arrogance or his glaring misjudgments we should be focusing on. Its his potential crimes.
The mainstream media in the U.S. is giving enormous attention to the retired generals who are demanding Donald Rumsfeld%u2019s resignation because of his autocratic style and his bungling in Iraq.
But the mainstream media is barely discussing Rumsfelds alleged culpability in the abusive treatment of detainees, up to and including torture.
The question at this point is not whether Secretary Rumsfeld should resign, its whether he should be indicted, says Joanne Mariner of Human Rights Watch, who directs its terrorism and counterterrorism program.
She was reacting to a report from Salon.com that Rumsfeld was personally involved in monitoring the interrogation at Guantanamo of the so-called 20th hijacker, Muhammad al-Qahtani.
For six weeks at the end of 2002 and the start of 2003, U.S. interrogators worked al-Qahtani over.
Among other things, they forced him to stand naked in front of a female interrogator, and they forced him to wear womens underwear and to performdog tricks on a leash, according to salon.com.

Human Rights Watch disagrees. It says that Rumsfeld could be
criminally liable under federal or military criminal law for torture,
assaults, and sexual abuse for the treatment of al-Qahtani.And Human Rights Watch says they deprived him of sleep, forced him into painful physical positions, and made him suffer sexual and other physical humiliation.They also forced him to take an enema, and at one point they forced him to take water intravenously and then refused to allow him to use a latrine so that he urinated on himself at least twice.

On top of that, they brought in a snarling dog.
All of these acts were specifically intended to cause severe physical pain and suffering and severe mental pain and suffering, says Mariner of Human Rights Watch. Thats the legal definition of torture.
Much of al-Qahtanis interrogation occurred while a December 2, 2002, Rumsfeld directive was in effect. (He rescinded it, under pressure from the Navy, six weeks later.) That memo authorized sixteen controversial interrogation techniques, including the use of nudity, removal of religious items, sensory deprivation, blaring music, stress positions, and dogs."

Neil Young urges Bush impeachment on protest album - Yahoo! News

2006-04-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

Neil Young has
recorded a protest album featuring an anti-
Iraq war track with
'a holy vow to never kill again' and a song titled 'Let's
Impeach the President,' the singer said on Monday.
The 10-track set, called 'Living with War,' was recorded
this month by a 'power trio' -- electric guitar, bass and drums
-- plus trumpet and a 100 voices, the 60-year-old Canadian-born
musician announced on his Web site.
Young's longtime manager, Elliot Roberts, told Reuters the
album, which has been the subject of Internet buzz for several
days, will be played for executives at his label, Warner Music
Group's Reprise Records, on Tuesday.
'It's devoted to the state of America, or the direction
that America is moving in,' Roberts said of the album.
In a message crawl along the bottom of his Web site, Young
drew parallels to two of the leading protest singers of the
1960s, saying of his new record: 'I think it is a metal version
of Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan ... metal folk protest?'
The crawl goes on to reveal the lyrics of the album's title
track, with such lines as: 'I raise my hand in peace ... I
never bow to the laws of the thought police ... I take a holy
vow ... to never kill again ...
'In the big hotels ... in the mosques and the doors of the
old museum ... I take a holy vow ... to never kill again.'"

Going to New Orleans

2006-04-10T15:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry mom, I still really want to go to the New Orleans Jazz fest. I want to be there for the last day of it - Sunday May 7th, to see Paul Simon and then Fats Domino in the evening, but spend the rest of the day taking in unknown acts. I could leave Friday night after work, drive all evening. Stay Saturday and sunday night, drive back monday. I'd only need to take 1 day off of work.
So, am I crazy if I go, or crazy if I don't go?
A) I've always wanted to see New Orleans. All my favorite musicians sing about it, writers tell about it, etc.
B) Plus I've never been on the bayou. What a great road trip to go on south.
C) As far as the weather goes, its the perfect time right now.
D) I wont regret going, its not going that I will be sad about.
E) They need tourists dollars, and to not let the culture of music and legend die out.
F) Nobody's worried about crime right now, just about getting things back to normal.
G) I need some excitement and travel in my life. My spirits are dragging.

So, consider this post like a notice at a bulletin board. Who wants to go with me? All I need is a fellow music lover to sit shot gun, and I'm there. Think of the sweet playlists to be made for a trip like this.

The Spongebobbing of the Christ

2006-03-29T09:57:00.000-08:00

Dear Dr. Reisman,I think there are many of us who've wondered how it is possible that so many priests are pedophiles. Although we rejected the secularist explanation that the Church's repressive sexual policies were at fault, we had no reasonable theory to compete with it. Claims promoted by you and others that it was the result of a homosexual conspiracy did not ring true--too many of the assaults were heterosexual in nature.Now, thanks to your collaboration with the makers of the documentary, Rape of the Soul, we finally have a satisfactory explanation for those despicable crimes: the priests' wills were subverted by subliminal images, ranging from penises to demonic faces, incorporated into sacred works of art.Although this is certainly the best work you've done since Captain Kangaroo, I'm concerned that you may have overlooked the most important work of Christian art ever created, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. It's a very powerful film, an orgy of blood, torn flesh, and suffering that's revived our faith and replenished our thirsty souls.Yet there was something that always bothered me about it. At first, I was uncomfortable with the way it aroused me, but then I noticed that everyone in my Patriots of the Bible study group had the same reaction when we discussed the biblical justification for torture. That served as confirmation that I was aroused for the right reasons.It was only after reading about Rape of the Soul that I considered the possibility that subliminal imagery might have been incorporated into The Passion of the Christ. A quick scan through the video proved this to be true. The clearest example comes in the scene where Jesus is carrying his cross through the streets of Jerusalem. I'm enclosing a frame from that scene, along with an enhanced image for your examination. As you can see, it shows Spongebob Squarepants being orally pleasured by Tinky Winky as Alfred Kinsey takes notes. Seeing this, it's no wonder the film made me uncomfortable.I don't see any references to The Passion of the Christ in the trailer for Rape of the Soul. I hope that doesn't mean that it isn't addressed in the film. Heterosexually yours,Gen. JC Christian, patriot"

Princess Di Has a Diet for You

2006-03-23T09:38:00.000-08:00

March 23, 2006 --
POSTHUMOUSLY, Princess Diana is out with a diet book. It's titled: 'Body Transformation: Lose Weight, Gain Energy & Reverse Premature Aging.' The coverline by HRH Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia says: 'This is the only health book Princess Diana wanted to share with the world.' The back of the jacket has this from Dr. Ronald W. Davey, the Queen's Physician: 'I am very impressed by the book . . . it explores and explains alternative medicine . . . with scientific assessment and justifications.' Author Julie Chrystyn's acknowledgements say: ' 'Body Transformation' would not have happened without the encouragement of the late Diana, princess of Wales. She eagerly chose to offer her public endorsement of the original, pre-updated version of this book, which would have made it her first, and perhaps only, gesture of its kind.' Author Chrystyn goes on to explain HRH's connection to this work and then offers 'my heartfelt gratitude to the late Princess Diana.'

After Diana's death, the work was shelved then picked up by Random House and is now being published by Phoenix."

The Dixie Chicks are back. And they're pissed.

2006-03-23T05:24:00.000-08:00

by John in DC - 3/22/2006 08:52:00 PM
GREAT new song. You can hear it for free on their home page, just turn up your speakers, it plays automatically - lyrics are there too.
Its a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they%u2019d write me a letter
Sayin' that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over
I'm not ready to make nice
I'm not ready to back down
I'm still mad as hell and
I don't have time to go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should."

Archaic Sounds Caress Modern Ears

2006-03-20T22:43:00.000-08:00

"Curators at the University of California at Santa Barbara's Donald C. Davidson Library have digitized 6,000 late 19th-century and early 20th-century wax and plastic cylinder recordings -- precursors to the flat record. The audio, which includes ragtime hits, vaudeville routines and presidential speeches, encapsulates history with crackles and hisses, but archivists say preserving the sounds now is vital because the cylinders are deteriorating."

Hip-hop Mozart?

2006-03-20T21:38:00.000-08:00

Cosi fan tutte, Mozart's 1790 original, has gorgeous music and the story, set in Naples, is about two young men devising a loyalty test for their lovers.
In School 4 Lovers, designed and put together by Glyndebourne's education department and the Finnish National Opera, the action takes place on a London housing estate and a lot of the peripheral detail has been left out.
In addition to the six leads you get an on-stage orchestra of 20, an excellent rap crew from Hackney called The Lyrical Prophets plus 20 or so young non-professional dancers.

Music-masters Jonathan Gill and Charlie Parker have added beats to Mozart in a way that means it's more exciting and engaging for anyone under 25 - the people least likely to go to an operaHe says there's no clash between opera and hip-hop culture: "Those conflicts are just prejudices on both sides."People think hip-hop is the dregs or that opera is just elitist. We're bringing the two of them together and it's beautiful."

Chicago Reinventing America's Tallest Building

2006-03-20T21:22:00.000-08:00

Chicago has approved the construction of what will be America's tallest building. "The design for the $550 million tower, which was breathtaking but hardly flawless when it was introduced last July, has taken some important steps forward, both in the sky and along the ground. Now here's the trend part of the story: If this tower and Jeanne Gang's sensuous Aqua high-rise both get built, Chicago will be running a clinic in the new aesthetic possibilities offered by skyscrapers that are places to live rather than work."

Isaac 'Chef' Hayes quits 'South Park'

2006-03-14T08:50:00.000-08:00

Soul singer Isaac Hayes, voice of the Yoda-esque 'Chef' character in Comedy Central's 'South Park', said he was quitting the show after nine seasons, citing 'inappropriate ridicule' of religion as the reason.

""'There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins,' the soul legend said. 'Religious beliefs are sacred to people and at all times should be respected and honored. As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices.""'

Evidently, the place for satire is when the show's talking about Christianity. Or Judaism. Or Buddhism. Or Islam. Or Hinduism. Or farting Canadians. Or, really, anything that's not Scientology, the religion Hayes belongs to that 'South Park' recently ridiculed. Being the observant folks they are, Matt Stone and Trey Parker commented on this coincidence:

Past episodes of South Park have skewered Catholics, Jews and Mormons, among others. However, according to Stone, he and Parker 'never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. 'He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin,' Stone told the Associated Press.

So the end has come for baritoned chocolate salty balls recipes and instructional ditties on getting women in the mood. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Chef, though. Seeing as how the two parties have parted in bad blood, there's bound to be a sweet death scene in the upcoming weeks. Most likely involving Tom Cruise and at least one or two references about Scientology being 100% true."

Scientologist Isaac Hayes quits 'South Park'

2006-03-13T20:26:00.000-08:00

MSNBC.com: "NEW YORK - Isaac Hayes has quit %u201CSouth Park,%u201D where he voices Chef, saying he can no longer stomach its take on religion.Hayes, who has played the ladies' man/school cook in the animated Comedy Central satire since 1997, said in a statement Monday that he feels a line has been crossed. 'There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins,' the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said. 'Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored,' he continued. 'As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices. South Park co-creator Matt Stone responded sharply in an interview with The Associated Press Monday, saying, 'This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem -and he's cashed plenty of checks - with our show making fun of Christians.' Last November, 'South Park' targeted the Church of Scientology and its celebrity followers, including actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, in a top-rated episode called 'Trapped in the Closet.' In the episode, Stan, one of the show's four mischievous fourth graders, is hailed as a reluctant savior by Scientology leaders, while a cartoon Cruise locks himself in a closet and won't come out.Stone told The AP he and co-creator Trey Parker 'never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin.'"

A Jazz Legend Enshrined as a Rock Star?: The New York Times

2006-03-12T20:35:00.000-08:00

Miles Davis is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight. Not as an 'early influence,' as Hank Williams, Louis Jordan, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith and Jelly Roll Morton were; that category is for artists whose careers were established long before rock 'n' roll began. (The hall has not inducted anyone in that category since 2001.) Davis is being recognized as a rock star.

Miles Davis, who flirted with rock from the late 1960's on, will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight. The view of the trumpeter as rock star is not shared by all.

This seems provocative for a second, and then a little meaningless. It is not some sort of timely argument for underappreciated work; adventurous musicians like those in the Black Rock Coalition have been claiming Davis's electric period as an inspiration for decades. There are some jazz adherents who never liked Davis's long electric phase and will be mildly outraged. But after all the jagged turns of his career, and its thorough box-set gilding, most of us have long since let Davis's body of work just assume its own meaning."

IMAX Theaters: Taking the Plunge - Newsweek Periscope - MSNBC.com

2006-03-09T08:34:00.000-08:00

In the new IMAX 3-D movie 'Deep Sea 3D,' squids appear to dart toward viewers' 3-D glasses and jellyfish float within arm's reach. To get this effect, director Howard Hall had to use the world's largest camera. Weighing 1,300 pounds in its underwater housing, the camera needed two people to operate and cost $60 a second to use. 'The camera is almost totally impractical,' says Hall.
But well worth it. At a time when traditional movie-theater sales are declining, IMAX 3-D films are a growing niche market new screens are added a year (there are currently 266 worldwide). Richard Gelfond, co-CEO of IMAX Corp., says the next frontier is converting full-length Hollywood blockbusters into 3-D. IMAX first did that with 'The Polar Express,' and it grossed more than $60 million; IMAX made up only a tiny fraction of the theaters showing 'The Polar Express' but it brought in 20 percent of the film's worldwide sales. IMAX plans to release two more animated full-length 3-D films in the next year and eventually to convert a full-length live-action blockbuster to 3-D. The reason behind IMAX's success is simple, says Hall. 'The audience craves 3-D. It is magic.' Even if it sometimes needs a little help from a really big camera."

Farrell for Haynes' Dylan biopic

2006-03-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

Colin Farrell has been linked to American writer-director Todd Haynes' alternative biopic of Bob Dylan, according to Production Weekly.
The film 'I'm Not There' is designed to star seven actors, all of who embody a different aspect of the singer-songwriter's life and work.
Farrell, along with Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Julianne Moore have all been added to the cast list.
Haynes, who has previously directed 'Far From Heaven' and 'Velvet Goldmine' is planning to start filming this summer in Romania."

I knew this trend of making hollywood movies about music icons would go sour. I am not okay with this. They already made this movie - its called No Direction Home, &, not to mention, Don't look back. And its got the real deal, not glamorized hollywood it boys looking to boost their career and bank account. Grrr.

Minus 30F 'anti-griddle' insta-freezes anything you put on it

2006-03-07T16:24:00.000-08:00

The 'anti-griddle' is a super-chilled slab of metal in your kitchen that nearly instantaneously freezes anything you set down on it:
* Quickly freezes sauces and purees into solid, unique forms %u2014 or freezes just the outer surfaces while maintaining a creamy center.

* Minus 30F griddle' temperature ensures almost instantaneous results.

* Approximately 1 square foot high-endurance cooktop provides an ample, easy-to-clean work surface. "

Star Factory

2006-03-06T21:03:00.000-08:00

Dallas Observer : "
At Septien Vocal Studio, anyone can make it in music. But you've got to be cute. And a million bucks would help too.
By Andrea Grimes
Caroline Dingwall has her game face on. Perched before the piano in a mirrored practice room, the 12-year-old's intent gaze hides her inexperience as a performer. She stretches her fingers gently across the keys, playing the opening notes to John Lennon's 'Imagine.' You'd be forgiven if you suppress a cringe: Bubbly pre-teens simply were not meant to sing about having no possessions, no need for greed or hunger and no religion too. But amazingly, as Caroline churns through the plodding chords, the song comes to life. The yellow-blond girl closes her eyes while she sings and instinctively makes eye contact when emphasizing key phrases. She shakes her head slightly at the chorus. Watching her, you'd believe this little girl could tell you, in all seriousness, that you may say she's a dreamer, but she's not the only one.
Across the room, her vocal coach, Linda Septien, smiles approvingly. Caroline has successfully 'sold' the song. It's a skill she's honed during more than a year and a half of intensive training at the Septien Vocal Studio in Addison, where she's learned the elements of commercial pop performance: using delicate vocal inflections and slipping in timed gestures to turn every song into a show.
Does Caroline think she'll make it big?
'Of course I do. There's no doubt,' she says.
And mentor Linda Septien stands behind her product. She's spent the past six years developing a 'master class' vocal performance and artist development program for kids like Caroline--an exclusive star factory where, each year, 15 kids ages 9 to 17 will learn to sing, dance, play instruments and perform anywhere that will have them. Placing these raw talents on her assembly line, Septien, a classically trained singer, molds and shapes them into marketable musical product. She claims 100 percent success in getting her master-class students signed to song-publishing contracts or development deals, and her young charges--such as 13-year-old Paige Velasquez--routinely blow away the competition in local talent showcases.
'If you had somebody all day long telling you how to be onstage,' says Septien, in her Louisiana-infused accent, 'how to sing, how to songwrite...you'd be pretty good too.' Reclining in front of tens of thousands of dollars worth of vocal recording equipment in her Addison studio, she laughs a little. 'You'd be pretty dumb if you weren't.'
Septien will tell you, in fact, that anyone can make it in music. All it takes is a million dollars. And she ought to know. She spent years grooming Jessica Simpson for stardom, teaching her voice lessons and corraling investors to fund her promotion. After Ryan Cabrera trained in her program, Septien sent him to Jessica's father and manager, Joe Simpson, who turned him into an overnight success. Septien's program is geared toward commercial success any way you can get it, no apologies offered. Her students value Septien for her honesty, her acknowledgment that music is a business; they're here to make it big, not toil for years in basement bands.

She's comfortable talking about the flaws of former students Ashlee and Jessica Simpson. Ashlee, she says, 'can't sing.' And Jessica, she adds, shouldn't have gone for the sexy look to sell more records. Septien also acknowledges that parents need a significant amount of money to keep their kids in her master class, which can cost up to $1,500 a month."

11 Actors You Recognize Whose Names You Forget

2006-03-06T15:39:00.000-08:00

Netscape Celebrity: "Late in 2005, director Robert Brinkmann released an intimate film entitled 'Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party.' The 87-minute documentary focused on the life and career of Stephen Tobolowsky, one of America's most prolific and, perhaps, least-known actors. Despite starring in such films as 'Thelma and Louise,' 'Basic Instinct' and 'Groundhog Day,' the American public is oblivious to his star status, a premise that was underscored in the film's trailer when Tobolowsky himself asked a passersby if they had ever heard of him.As humorous as the scenario may have been, it's not uncommon. For every Tom Cruise and Will Smith there are dozens of actors who aren't even household names within their own households. Dim the lights and grab your popcorn as we take a loving look at these underappreciated artists."

Book Signing, Sans Author

2006-03-06T09:36:00.000-08:00

Margaret Atwood has had enough of long journeys, late nights and writer's cramp. Tired of grueling book tours, the Booker Prize-winning Canadian author on Sunday unveiled her new invention: a remote-controlled pen that allows writers to sign books for fans from thousands of miles away.

Some fear Atwood's LongPen could end the personal contact between writers and readers. Atwood says it will enhance the relationship.

'I think of this as a democratizing device,' said Atwood, whose appearances draw hundreds of fans willing to stand in long lines for a word and an autograph.

'You cannot be in five countries at the same time. But you can be in five countries at the same time with the LongPen.'

Atwood's democratic device underwent the most universal of experiences on Sunday: the last-minute technical hitch. Its first-ever public demonstration, at the London Book Fair, was delayed as project director Matthew Gibson and his crew engaged in some frantic tinkering.

'We've had a setback, and we're trying to address it,' Gibson said.

Anxious minutes later, Atwood picked up a pen to autograph her new short story collection, The Tent, for Nigel Newton, chief executive of her British publisher, Bloomsbury. She wrote the words on an electronic pad while chatting to Newton over a video linkup.

A few seconds later in another part of the exhibition center, two spindly metal arms clutching a pen reproduced the words onto Newton's book in Atwood's angular scrawl: 'For Nigel, with best wishes, Margaret Atwood.'

Later, Atwood planned to give the device its transatlantic 'Marconi moment,' signing copies of The Tent for readers in New York and Guelph, Ontario.

When Atwood, 66, announced her invention late in 2004, many assumed it was a hoax. But the inventive spirit is not surprising from an author whose interest in science and technology informed science fiction-flavored novels such as The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake."

Fake Autobiographies: A Great American Tradition

2006-03-01T22:49:00.000-08:00

Let's stop wringing our hands over the recent rash of fake autobiographies. First, let's dispose of the idea that these books are merely evidence of deplorable new trends in the world of publishing. Rather, they fall into a centuries-old American tradition: the impersonator autobiography. The success of impersonator autobiographies has always depended on their authors' ability to exploit readers' preconceptions.

The most recent impersonator autobiographies take advantage of stereotypes about alcoholism, HIV-positive abused teenagers and American Indians. Navajo author Nasdijj is actually Timothy Barrus, a white, middle-class author of gay S/M fiction. JT LeRoy, the HIV-positive transgendered, former drug-addicted truck stop teen prostitute, is really Laura Albert, a well-off forty-year old woman.

The exposure of these works as fakes should make readers ask why these cliches are so compelling in the first place. Autobiographies, with their emphasis on individualism and self-fashioning, make up a form peculiarly suited to American national mythologies...

Boy Sticks Gum On Museum Painting

2006-02-28T17:52:00.000-08:00

At the Detroit Institute of Arts on Friday, "a mischievous 12-year-old boy visiting the museum with a school group took a piece of barely chewed Wrigley's Extra Polar Ice out of his mouth and stuck it on Helen Frankenthaler's 1963 abstract painting "The Bay," damaging one of the most important modern paintings in the museum's collection and a landmark picture in the artist's output."

Victorian Sci-Fi That Accurately Predicted the Future

2006-02-27T18:52:00.000-08:00

A little-known Victorian book of science fiction published in 1892 appears to have predicted many of the technological advances that in fact happened. Entitled, Golf in the Year 2000 or What Are We Coming To, it follows the tale of avid 19th-century golfer Alexander J Gibson, who falls into a deep sleep on 24 March 1892 and wakes up Rip Van Winkle-style on 25 March 2000 to find a world transformed. Television, superfast trains, digital watches and female emancipation are all predicted in the tale, which envisages a world of leisure where golf is paramount. The rare text - published under the pseudonym J.A.C.K. - goes under the hammer this weekend at Edinburgh auctioneers Lyon and Turnbull.

WHAT J.A.C.K. GOT RIGHT

• Flat-screen television
• Bullet trains
• Mini digital watches
• Driverless golf carts
• Unisex clothing
• Women in men’s jobs
• International golf competitions

WHAT HE GOT WRONG

• Control of the weather to ensure good sporting conditions
• The exchange of dinner dress for scarlet breeches
• A society of leisure where people work less than ever
• Parliament half female (currently 18 per cent)
• A world obsessed by golf

Classical Versus Contemporary

2006-02-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

"Classical music is the music that has lived on or will live on. The implication here is that there's lots of other music that hasn't or won't live on because it isn't as good. Contemporary implies having a quality of newness, which is impermanent at best. Once something becomes familiar, by being around for a while and people getting to know it, it can't really be contemporary anymore. So the more out there and inscrutable the music is to an audience, the longer it can stay contemporary."

Da Vinci trial pits history against art

2006-02-26T16:52:00.001-08:00

Nothing less than the future of Western literature is at stake in the High Court tomorrow. Or so the publisher of The Da Vinci Code, the money-spinning blockbuster by Dan Brown, is expected to argue in a ground-breaking trial.Brown, whose tale of clerical conspiracy and murder has become the bestselling hardback adult novel of all time, is accused of plundering his plot from a non-fiction work called The Holy Blood and the Holy GrailHistorians Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, who co-wrote the book with Henry Lincoln, claim that Brown plagiarised 'the whole jigsaw puzzle' of their decade's worth of research - that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a child, founding a bloodline that was protected by the Knights Templar.If they win, the historians will seek an injunction preventing further infringement of their copyright. In theory, this could bar Random House from publishing Brown's book, which has sold more than 40 million copies, and even threaten the British release of the �53m film adaptation, starring Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou and Sir Ian McKellen.However, lawyers representing Random House are expected to argue that the implications would damage the art of writing itself.It is believed they will tell the court that for centuries writers have recycled plots, themes and ideas from each other. One literary figure has pointed out that apart from A Midsummer Night's Dream, every one of Shakespeare's plays is based on another source. Such trading has given rise to the saying, 'good writers borrow, great writers steal'."

Da Vinci trial pits history against art

2006-02-26T16:52:00.000-08:00

The Envelope.com: A 'Daily' dose

2006-02-25T15:13:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK --
Had the Academy Awards people asked, Jon Stewart would have told them how many films he's seen this year in a theater: 'One,' says the host of this year's Oscars broadcast.

That would be 'The 40 Year-Old Virgin,' written by and starring Steve Carell, a veteran faux newsman from Stewart's own faux news show, 'The Daily Show.'

'Tremendous film,' declares Stewart. 'The acting. The cinematography,' and how it failed to garner major category nominations from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences %u2014 well, he'll take that up with them when he gets out there.

Stewart has only the lamest excuses for having gone to the movies once in the last year %u2014 something about having to put on that TV show almost every night while having one little kid at home and another on the way, now just arrived, in fact, the whole Trying to Be a Good Daddy defense.

Stewart's own film career ('I like to think of it as an oeuvre,' he says) runs the gamut from 'Big Daddy' to 'Death to Smoochy.' Like one longtime host of the Oscars, Bob Hope %u2014 the first to host it for television %u2014 he does not have a gold statuette to use as a paperweight.

He is bummed too that the academy did not nominate 'Grizzly Man' for best documentary, because of the high-concept commentary he might have wrung from Werner Herzog's existential rumination on the bear lover eventually eaten in the wilds.

Stewart explains, 'I very much wanted to do a bit where the bear from 'Grizzly Man' and one of the penguins from 'March of the Penguins' came out to present best documentary. Only the bear would come out and I would go over and go, 'YOU PROMISED ME! YOU PROMISED ME! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID IT! WHAT ARE WE GONNA TELL HIS WIFE?'"

Lollapalooza

2006-02-22T18:24:00.000-08:00

Grant Park
300 S. Columbus Drive
Three-day event in Grant Park (from Hutchinson Field to the Petrillo Music Shell) features more than 130 bands performing on eight stages. More information TBA.
Aug. 4: Aug. 5: Aug. 6:
Price: www.lollapalooza.com
**********************************************************
Chili Peppers' Flea spills beans to MTV a month before official word

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are on tap to headline Lollapalooza in Grant Park this summer, it was disclosed Tuesday.

Chili Peppers bassist Flea told MTV News that the multimillion-selling Southern California funk-punk quartet had agreed in principle to play the three-day festival, which returns to the Chicago lakefront for the second year in a row Aug. 4-6. The concert would follow up the the band's first studio release in four years, the 25-track double album "Stadium Arcadium," due out May 9. It would also mark their first Lollapalooza appearance since 1992, when they first became arena stars.

The festival's executive producer, Charlie Jones of Texas-based Capital Sports & Entertainment and Charles Attal Presents, said Flea's announcement wasn't authorized, but he didn't deny its authenticity.

"If it came from anybody else, I might get upset," he said of the flamboyant Flea. "But you can't."

Asked if the Chili Peppers would headline more than one night, he replied, "We're saving that [information] for later."

A lineup expected to include as many as 130 artists performing on eight stages spanning Hutchinson and Butler Fields in Grant Park is to be announced next month, Jones said.

Bush's Chat With Novelist Alarms Environmentalists - New York Times

2006-02-19T08:14:00.000-08:00

One of the perquisites of being president is the ability to have the author of a book you enjoyed pop into the White House for a chat.
Over the years, a number of writers have visited President Bush, including Natan Sharansky, Bernard Lewis and John Lewis Gaddis. And while the meetings are usually private, they rarely ruffle feathers.Now, one has.In his new book about Mr. Bush, 'Rebel in Chief: Inside the Bold and Controversial Presidency of George W. Bush,' Fred Barnes recalls a visit to the White House last year by Michael Crichton, whose 2004 best-selling novel, 'State of Fear,' suggests that global warming is an unproven theory and an overstated threat.Mr. Barnes, who describes Mr. Bush as 'a dissenter on the theory of global warming,' writes that the president 'avidly read' the novel and met the author after Karl Rove, his chief political adviser, arranged it. He says Mr. Bush and his guest 'talked for an hour and were in near-total agreement.''The visit was not made public for fear of outraging environmentalists all the more,' he adds.And so it has, fueling a common perception among environmental groups that Mr. Crichton's dismissal of global warming, coupled with his popularity as a novelist and screenwriter, has undermined efforts to pass legislation intended to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas that leading scientists say causes climate change.Mr. Crichton, whose views in 'State of Fear' helped him win the American Association of Petroleum Geologists' annual journalism award this month, has been a leading doubter of global warming and last September appeared before a Senate committee to argue that the supporting science was mixed, at best."

'I've learned how to fight'

2006-02-10T23:21:00.000-08:00

Guardia': "George Clooney's handshake belongs to what I believe is known as the Bill Clinton school; firm grip, level gaze and that 'special' touch, a discreet squeeze under the elbow that implies, 'If you think it's exciting meeting me, just imagine how exciting it is being me.' Actually, I imagine that a lot of the time it's kind of embarrassing being George Clooney. The path to his door is littered with the corpses of female journalists, who after spending half an hour in his company - smart, funny, so suave as to practically curve at the edges - simply expired on the way out and were left to petrify where they fell, on the green patterned carpet of the Dorchester Hotel.
Clooney remains unimpressed. It is part of his regular-guy charm that, at 44, he has lived for more years in obscurity than fame and regards the excesses of the entertainment world with a sort of good-humoured condescension. His image as a rebel has as much to do with his manner as his politics; when he attacks Bush it's with a heavy irony that takes into account the fact that people don't, generally, like being preached at by actors. It is what separates him from other, politically outspoken celebrities whose laudable views are undermined somewhat by the exceptional self-regard that holding them seems to inspire. Clooney is as vain and materialistic as the next guy in Hollywood - 'Fuck it, I love my house in Italy. It's big and audacious and ridiculous, and nicer than any human being has the right to have' - but he is also one of the few really grown-up movie stars. 'I have Irish Catholic guilt,' he says, smiling, 'and want to make up for [my successes].'"

The Neuroscience of Dance Improv

2006-02-07T20:21:00.000-08:00

Dancers moving with electrodes pasted to their skulls? That's the image that might come up, when you hear that neuroscientists are curious about dance improvisation.

Neuroscientists are studying improvisation in dance. Is there some similarity with how birds move in flocks? "There's no lead bird who dictates, 'Now we'll be in this V.' They're forming patterns by sensing where they all are in space, by wind currents, all the different variables. They're self-organizing themselves into a pattern. That's what the dancers are experiencing, they're forming their own patterns from within."

Police investigate whether assaults sparked by MySpace.com\

2006-02-04T10:30:00.000-08:00

Police investigate whether assaults sparked by MySpace.com -- Newsday.com: "HARTFORD, Conn. --

Police are investigating whether as many as seven teenage Middletown girls have been sexually assaulted by men they met through the popular Web site MySpace.com. Users of the social networking site create profiles that can include photos, personal information and even cell phone numbers.

'It is a predator's dream come true, this Web site,' said Middletown Police Sgt. Bill McKenna. 'Because not only can you see them, but you can see their friends. You can find out where they go to middle school and high school.' In a statement Thursday, MySpace.com said it was committed to providing a safe environment for its users and to working with state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to address his concerns. "

Colorado Music Teacher Defends Her Attempt to Teach About Opera

2006-02-03T14:52:00.000-08:00

Tresa Waggoner, the Colorado music teacher whose attempts to introduce local children to opera drew a storm of criticism, has decided to take legal action after being forced to take administrative leave from the Bennett School.

The controversy began after Waggoner, who teaches elementary, middle and high school students at the K-12 school in a small town about 25 miles east of Denver, tried to pique the curiosity of the first, second, and third graders in one of her classes about opera. She chose a video of Gounod's Faust (which she found on the classroom shelf) to teach the children about bass and tenor voices, the use of props, and "trouser roles" in opera.

The latter, she says, led to accusations that the married mother of two was a lesbian promoting homosexuality; the plot of Faust, where the title character sells his soul to the devil to recapture his youth, led to her being labeled a devil worshipper.

The uproar began about a week later, when Waggoner was contacted by a mother asking why her daughter had watched a video on the devil. Waggoner believes that the incident was a catalyst for parents to express their frustration about the school's December 9 annual concert. According to Waggoner, the parent said, "I don't understand why you wouldn't let the kids sing Christmas songs, but you'll show them a video on the devil." Ironically, Waggoner says, she had chosen a diverse repertoire for the concert in order to avoid offending the community's non-Christians.

Music Soothes the Wayward Dog

2006-02-03T13:57:00.000-08:00

A dog shelter in England has begun playing classical music to calm its canine guests. "The animals are said to respond well to the strains of Beethoven and Mozart, but are not fans of pop or dance music. Music is proven to have a calming effect on both animals and people. "It definitely works. It's quieter in the kennels now because if one dog barks when it's quiet they all start but if music's playing they don't."

Mining 'Brokeback Mountain'

2006-01-27T12:29:00.000-08:00

WSJ.com: "Despite the cracks about gay cowboys on late-night TV and chin-stroking about whether it would play in Peoria, 'Brokeback Mountain' is poised to be not just one of the most praised films of the 2005 Oscar class -- it will become one of the most profitable movies of the year, and a mainstream one at that.
How did 'Brokeback' break out? By surgically targeting where the movie would play in its initial release; selling it as a romance for women rather than a controversial gay-bashing tale; and opting out of the culture wars rather than engaging them.
'I'm more proud of what we didn't do with this film, as opposed to what we did do,' says James Schamus, co-president of Focus Features, explaining the contrarian marketing and distribution strategy behind the $14 million film.
'Brokeback,' which expanded into 1,196 theaters last weekend and has now grossed $43.8 million at the box office, is filling seats across the country, and last week passed Steven Spielberg's $70 million-budget 'Munich' (a drama about Palestinian terrorists) even in the heart of the heartland. 'Brokeback' is 'doing quite well,' says Debby Brehn, vice president of Douglas Theatres in Lincoln, Neb., where 'Brokeback' ticket sales are running 3-to-1 against those for 'Munich' since 'Brokeback' opened Jan. 6. 'I wouldn't say people are not seeing it because of its homosexual content,' she says."

Turkey Drops Charges Against Novelist - Forbes.com

2006-01-23T06:49:00.000-08:00

A Turkish court on Monday dropped charges against the country's best-known novelist for insulting 'Turkishness,' ending a high-profile trial that outraged Western observers and cast doubt on Turkey's commitment to free speech.

Orhan Pamuk went on trial for telling a Swiss newspaper in February that Turkey is unwilling to deal with two of the most painful episodes in recent Turkish history: the massacre of Armenians during World War I, which Turkey insists was not a planned genocide, and recent guerrilla fighting in Turkey's overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast.
"Thirty-thousand Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares to talk about it," he said.

The controversy came at a particularly sensitive time for the overwhelmingly Muslim country. Turkey recently began membership talks with the European Union, which has harshly criticized the trial, questioning Turkey's commitment to freedom of expression. "

Jon Stewart to Host Oscar Telecast

2006-01-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

New York Times: "LOS ANGELES, Jan. 5 - Billy Crystal was on tour. Steve Martin was prepping a movie. Whoopi - we're really not too sure what's up with her.
So in an act of either pure inspiration or complete desperation, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has asked Jon Stewart, host of a popular fake news program on Comedy Central, to host the movie industry's most prestigious event, the Academy Awards ceremony.Mr. Stewart, 43, was appropriately humbled by the invitation. 'As an avid watcher of the Oscars,' he dead-panned in a statement, 'I can't help but be a little disappointed with the choice.'Gil Cates, the producer of the Oscar telecast, which will air on March 5, said in a statement: 'I'm very excited,' adding that Mr. Stewart 'is a superb choice witty, current, intelligent and charming.'Mr. Stewart is also young and hip, something the Oscars has been striving to achieve in an environment of declining ratings for award shows. 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' has won Emmy and Peabody awards for Mr. Stewart's politically-barbed, too-close-for-comfort satire, which also spawned a best-seller, 'America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide To Democracy Inaction.'"

Woody Allen New York’s auteur remakes himself–again.

2005-12-14T08:28:00.000-08:00

Just an interesting excerpt from the interview:
George W. Bush? Arguably the worst administration in the history of the United States. I didn't start out with any hostility; I started out rooting for him. I was rooting for him, certainly, after 9/11, and when I was in Europe a few days after Sept. 11 and people were asking me questions about him because I was from New York and people thought I was an expert I was saying, Well, I hope he'll do a good job, I'm optimistic, I think he will. He certainly got off to a good start and showed sympathy and enthusiasm and said all the right things. But he didn't. He let the country down brutally.

Earliest Known Mayan Painting Discovered

2005-12-14T08:07:00.000-08:00

A major find of an ancient Mayan painting changes what we know about the history of Mayan culture. "The find, a 30-by-3-foot mural in vivid colors depicting the ancient culture's mythology of creation and kingship, is the centerpiece of a larger mural, parts of which were first discovered and exposed in Guatemala four years ago. New radiocarbon tests revealed the painting to be 200 years older than originally estimated, dating to about 100 B.C."

Bob Dylan to host weekly radio music show

2005-12-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Legendary folk rocker Bob Dylan will start a new career as a radio DJ when he launches a new weekly music show on XM Satellite Radio next March.The station said on Tuesday the show would feature music hand-picked by Dylan, writer of some of the enduring classics of popular music since the 1960s such as 'Mr Tambourine Man,' 'Like a Rolling Stone' and 'The Times They Are A-Changin'.''Dylan will offer regular commentary on music and other topics, host and interview special guests including other artists and will take emails from XM subscribers,' XM said.Now 64, Dylan's anti-establishment folk songs were the anthems of a generation and he has released over 44 albums in a career spanning more than four decades.'Songs and music have always inspired me. A lot of my own songs have been played on the radio, but this is the first time I've ever been on the other side of the mic,' Dylan said in a statement.His memoir 'Chronicles Vol. 1,' published in October 2004, was a huge best-seller in the United States.XM Satellite and its main rival Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. are battling for supremacy in the nascent market for subscription radio and both have been luring high profile names to their stables to boost their profiles.XM says it has more than 5 million subscribers."

Peoria Native, Comedy Legend Richard Pryor Dies at 65

2005-12-10T14:56:00.000-08:00

Richard Pryor, the caustic yet perceptive actor-comedian who lived dangerously close to the edge both on stage and off, died Saturday. He was 65. Pryor died shortly before 8 a.m. of a heart attack after being taken to a hospital from his home in the San Fernando Valley.

Pryor was regarded early in his career as one of the most foul-mouthed comics in the business, but he gained a wide following for his expletive-filled but universal and frequently personal insights into modern life and race relations.

His audacious style influenced an array of stand-up artists, including Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall and Damon Wayans, as well as Robin Williams, David Letterman and others.

Pryor once marveled "that I live in racist America and I'm uneducated, yet a lot of people love me and like what I do, and I can make a living from it. You can't do much better than that."

Imagine

2005-12-10T10:48:00.000-08:00

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
No religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one"

RIP John Lennon

Did the Smithsonian Sell It's Cachet for Cash?

2005-12-08T19:41:00.000-08:00

Did the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum sell its soul to the devil this week with the announcement that it would screen the latest Harry Potter flick in its IMAX theater? "The screening decision had nothing to do with education, or enlightenment, or any of the other grand ideals public museums have always been built around... no one is even pretending that this is about anything other than getting as much cash as possible, as quickly as possible."

Whitman's Signature Work Turns 150

2005-12-08T19:39:00.000-08:00

"Devotees and scholars of the writer Walt Whitman are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the original edition of his seminal work, Leaves of Grass, the concise volume of 12 poems that pushed the boundaries of social decency and of poetry itself. By rejecting the rigid structures of British metre, Whitman offered readers free-spirited bursts of consciousness that forever changed American poetry... Experts suspect only a few hundred copies of the original edition exist and are using the anniversary to try to count them."

Obama nominated for Grammy

2005-12-08T11:59:00.000-08:00

Chicago Tribune: "WASHINGTON --
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was nominated Thursday for a Grammy Award, joining the ranks of Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Bruce Springsteen and a host of artists recognized for their musical genius.
But when the Grammys are handed out early next year, Obama will not be competing against musicians or songwriters. His nomination comes under a different category: Best Spoken Word Album.
The senator turned his autobiography, 'Dreams From My Father,' into an audio book that was released earlier this year. His narration of his own life story earned him one of five spots in a somewhat obscure field known as Grammy Category 77.
The other nominees in the Spoken Word category include Garrison Keillor for 'The Adventures of Guy Noir;' Al Franken for 'The Al Franken Show Party Album;' Sean Pean for 'Bob Dylan Chronicles - Volume One;' George Carlin for 'When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?'"

See this movie

2005-12-08T10:15:00.000-08:00

Brokeback Mountain

Nutcracker Goes to the White House

2005-12-07T15:29:00.000-08:00

The president and first lady sat on a love seat near the back of the room while performers playing the roles of little Clara, the Prince and dancers from around the world put on a 25-minute show. Three children climbed up to sit with them, but they did not seem distracted by the first couple after the music began and all eyes were on the dancers.

What Happened to the Movie Villains?

2005-12-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

Why don't the movies have plausible, real-world villains anymore? One reason is that a plethora of stereotype-sensitive advocacy groups, representing everyone from hyphenated ethnic minorities and the physically handicapped to Army and CIA veterans, now maintain liaisons in Hollywood to protect their images. The studios themselves often have "outreach programs" in which executives review scripts and characters with representatives from these groups, evaluate their complaints, and attempt to avoid potential brouhahas.

This Season's War Cry: Commercialize Christmas, or Else - New York Times

2005-12-05T05:20:00.000-08:00

Religious conservatives have a cause this holiday season: the commercialization of Christmas. They're for it.The American Family Association is leading a boycott of Target for not using the words 'Merry Christmas' in its advertising. (Target denies it has an anti-Merry-Christmas policy.) The Catholic League boycotted Wal-Mart in part over the way its Web site treated searches for 'Christmas.' Bill O'Reilly, the Fox anchor who last year started a 'Christmas Under Siege' campaign, has a chart on his Web site of stores that use the phrase 'Happy Holidays,' along with a poll that asks, 'Will you shop at stores that do not say 'Merry Christmas'?'

This campaign - which is being hyped on Fox and conservative talk radio - is an odd one. Christmas remains ubiquitous, and with its celebrators in control of the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court and every state supreme court and legislature, it hardly lacks for powerful supporters. There is also something perverse, when Christians are being jailed for discussing the Bible in Saudi Arabia and slaughtered in Sudan, about spending so much energy on stores that sell 'holiday trees.'What is less obvious, though, is that Christmas's self-proclaimed defenders are rewriting the holiday's history. They claim that the 'traditional' American Christmas is under attack by what John Gibson, another Fox anchor, calls 'professional atheists' and 'Christian haters.' But America has a complicated history with Christmas, going back to the Puritans, who despised it. What the boycotters are doing is not defending America's Christmas traditions, but creating a new version of the holiday that fits a political agenda."
The campaign's leaders insist this is a new phenomenon - a "liberal plot," in Mr. Gibson's words. But as early as 1906, the Committee on Elementary Schools in New York City urged that Christmas hymns be banned from the classroom, after a boycott by more than 20,000 Jewish students. In 1946, the Rabbinical Assembly of America declared that calling on Jewish children to sing Christmas carols was "an infringement on their rights as Americans."

Other non-Christians have long expressed similar concerns. For decades, companies have replaced "Christmas parties" with "holiday parties," schools have adopted "winter breaks" instead of "Christmas breaks," and TV stations and stores have used phrases like "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" out of respect for the nation's religious diversity.

The Christmas that Mr. O'Reilly and his allies are promoting - one closely aligned with retailers, with a smack-down attitude toward nonobservers - fits with their campaign to make America more like a theocracy, with Christian displays on public property and Christian prayer in public schools.

It does not, however, appear to be catching on with the public. That may be because most Americans do not recognize this commercialized, mean-spirited Christmas as their own. Of course, it's not even clear the campaign's leaders really believe in it. Just a few days ago, Fox News's online store was promoting its "Holiday Collection" for shoppers. Among the items offered to put under a "holiday tree" was "The O'Reilly Factor Holiday Ornament." After bloggers pointed this out, Fox changed the "holidays" to "Christmases."

Dowd and Out : Radar Online

2005-12-01T15:07:00.000-08:00

Dowd and Out : Radar Online: "Radar talks to Maureen Dowd about her book’s backlash, Rummy’s diva fits and her future life as a playwright.
BY JULIE BLOOM

In the past month she’s been called an “out of whack” (South Florida Sun-Sentinel) “unreconstructed fox” (New York) whose “glib” (L.A. Times), “shoddy,” and “alarmist” arguments in her “maddening” (Slate) “cluster bomb between hard covers” (Philadelphia Inquirer) have riled women and men throughout the media world. Maureen Dowd’s meditation on the state of the sexes, Are Men Necessary?, has caused far more fuss than any 800-word castrating–Dick Cheney column ever could. In her 338 page book peppered with enough pop culture references to reel in the kids and annoy most others, the New York Times’s only female op-ed columnist, whose penchant for puns and fearless jabs at politicos won her a Pulitzer, covers everything from the doomed Y chromosome to the sex lives of fact checkers. Radar Online decided it was about time to ring up the 53-year-old bomb thrower and find out what all the fuss was about."

Art and Sex... They Go Together

2005-11-30T10:58:00.000-08:00

A survey comparing mental health and the number of sexual partners among the general population, artists and schizophrenics found that artists are more likely to share key behavioural traits with schizophrenics, and that they have on average twice as many sexual partners as the rest of the population.

Some of the genes that predispose to schizophrenia might be carried by artists and in many cases play a factor in their creativity, but because the artists do not develop full-blown schizophrenia and are able to direct their creativity, they are able to pass the genes on to their children. The creativity of some artists is fuelled by the unique world view mental illness can provide, but without the completely debilitating aspects of the condition. Instead, the artists are able to direct their creativity into artistic projects.

Air Guitar That Sounds Good

2005-11-30T10:40:00.000-08:00

The Virtual Air Guitar project, developed at the Helsinki University of Technology, adds genuine electric guitar sounds to the passionately played air guitar. Using a computer to monitor the hand movements of a "player", the system adds riffs and licks to match frantic mid-air finger work. By responding instantly to a wide variety of gestures it promises to turn even the least musically gifted air guitarist to a virtual fret board virtuoso."

Who Knew Deadheads Could Move That Fast?

2005-11-30T10:33:00.000-08:00

Bootleg recordings are a mainstay of the jam band genre, with bands regularly encouraging fans to tape their concerts and trade the resulting recordings amongst themselves. But now, the very band that led the jam band explosion, is angering its fans by cracking down on a website that offered such bootlegs for free download. The Grateful Dead, which exists these days primarily as a business in charge of marketing old product, wants the bootlegs to be available only for online listening, rather than downloading. Already, the international Deadhead community has roared into action, circulating a petition protesting the action and threatening a boycott.

License To Dance

2005-11-29T16:31:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, it is against the law to have dancing in most New York City clubs and bars. Establishments that do not hold one of the city's few cabaret licenses are breaking the law if they allow their patrons to dance; if caught, they can be subject to fines and shutdowns.

The cabaret laws were enacted in 1926 to regulate nightspots. Through the years the laws have been amended: safety regulations were added after a number of club disasters, while the law requiring that club musicians "must be of good character" was removed.

Some administrations did not enforce the laws, but in 1997, as part of his "quality of life" campaign, Mayor Giuliani used the dancing portion of the laws -- which requires bars and restaurants to hold a cabaret license if their patrons are going to dance -- to clamp down on problem or nuisance establishments. The Bloomberg administration has continued to enforce the laws, subjecting unlicensed bars and clubs to police raids, fines, padlocks, and shutdowns if patrons are caught dancing.

Is It Right To Rewrite the Classics To Appease the Politically Correct?

2005-11-27T20:33:00.000-08:00

"If we consider it reasonable to apply a modern evaluation of what is offensive or prejudiced to a script written nearly 40 years ago, why is it so complex to apply it to a text written 400 years ago? Should we allow contemporary revivals of Shakespeare and Marlowe to repeat attitudes and language considered acceptable at the time of writing, but untenable now, or should we attempt more culturally sensitive rereadings?

The Louvre Goes To Atlanta

2005-11-27T20:22:00.000-08:00

The Louvre is sending some of its art to Atlanta. "It will mark the first time in the Louvre's 212-year history that the museum has agreed to share entire collections with another museum for an extended period. The arrangement breaks new ground in the international arts world and scores a diplomatic success among tense Franco-American relations."

Rap 'not cause of French riots'

2005-11-27T19:10:00.000-08:00

The French Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, has dismissed claims by some of his party colleagues that rap music fuelled suburban rioting in France.

Mr de Villepin told French radio that he wanted to avoid finger-pointing about the origins of the unrest.

But he said that the courts should deal with lyrics that overstepped the mark.

About 200 MPs have urged the justice ministry to prosecute seven rap groups over allegedly provocative lyrics. A probe has begun into one group."