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angie reed
Angie Reed is an artist, musician and performer. Her Barbara Brockhaus Live Secretary Show has been......read more

microthol
skillfully combining the old with new, microthol might be the hottest act to emerge from vienna's electro......read more

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[random inspiration]

dogma
But boys and girls, there is no need for dogma, or tell me, would you be among those that booed Bob Dylan for going electric? Would you be there among those who threw tomatoes (even if only verbally)? Its only new equipment,and new equipment will bring new sounds, I mean, it has been over ten years that Radiohead gave in and said "Ok, mr. computer, ok". Sticking to the roots, they say. The roots of what? All I can see is the branches, and they look so exciting. They move in all possible directions, while the roots are stuck there in the ground, immovable. I dig it, I dig it, I do swear by all chuckberriness, but I do prefer the surprises of where the wind and the growth will take these new branches of pop pop pop music. - Ricardo Domeneck

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NEWS

08-31-07 What's So Special About 7:30? With so many people working flexible hours and so large a percentage of the audiences retired or elderly, why are theatres so fixated on the 7.30 start and galleries on 10 to 6? Shouldn't there be more matinees, and more late evening openings for exhibitions? If supermarkets can do it, why can't arts venues? Read the rest on The Telegraph.
08-31-07 Live Free In A Historic House Many state governments own more houses of historical interest than they can afford to maintain, mainly on farms acquired decades ago and converted to parkland. Now a few states have begun turning these properties, along with some of the surrounding land, over to live-in curators, who take on restoration responsibilities in lieu of paying rent or taxes. Read more about this on The New York Times.
08-30-07 How Shakespeare Became Famous It seems there is still much to be said about the Bard. A typical year now sees around 1,500 new articles, 650 new books, 200 new editions, and 100 new doctoral dissertations devoted to Shakespeare. By rough estimate, that translates into 30 new pages published per hour, around the clock, year-round. Read more about this on Chicago Tribune.
08-30-07 Burning Man Burns Early The climax of the annual Burning Man festival is the burning of the man at the end. But an arsonist set the guy on fire four days early this year. The fire broke out at 2:58 a.m. Tuesday. Eyewitnesses said flames began about 10 feet up the wooden man's left leg. The huge platform beneath the statue was undamaged. No injuries were reported.Find the entire article on San Francisco Chronicle.
08-30-07 Hirst's Skull Sells For $100 Million Damien Hirst's diamond-studded skull has been sold for $100 million to an investment group. The platinum skull, studded with 8,601 diamonds, has been on the market at least since June 3, when it went on show at London's White Cube gallery. Read all about the $100 million skull on Bloomberg.
08-29-07 New York - Past Its Prime? Manhattan has become history, permanently frozen as it wants to remember itself, in a Buddy-can-you-spare-a-dime, browny-grey Gotham pallor of neon and Art Deco. That's just how urban history goes. It had its day, between Edith Wharton and the Son of Sam. Now, in its dotage, New York has simply joined the ranks of all the other former greatest cities of the world - Athens, Rome, London, Vienna, Paris, et al - envying those racy whippersnappers in the Far East and occasionally indulging in dodgy midlife makeovers. Read the entire article on The Times.
08-29-07 A Boat Made Out Of Tetra-Pack Artist Frank Boelter set sails in his lifesize paper boat as he leaves a shipyard in Lauenburg, Germany. He constructed the 9-metre vessel from 'Tetrapack' and fearlessly sailed it up the Elbe, despite the fact the light material is more commonly used for packaging milk. Find te rest of the article on Daily Mail.
08-29-07 Why You Should Trust Those Gut Instincts Research indicates that gut feelings are based on simple rules of thumb, what we psychologists term 'heuristics.' These take advantage of certain capacities of the brain that have come down to us through time, experience and evolution. Gut instincts often rely on simple cues in the environment. In most situations, when people use their instincts, they are heeding these cues and ignoring other unnecessary information. Read more about this on The New York Times.
08-28-07 Fires Threaten Ancient Greek Olympics Site New blazes broke out faster than others could be brought under control, and through the night, more fires started. Desperate residents appealed through television stations for help from a firefighting service already stretched to the limit and many blamed authorities for leaving them defenseless. Read more about this on ABCNews.com.
08-28-07 Spelling Out The Berlin Philharmonic's Nazi Past The Berlin Philharmonic became a privileged servant of Nazi propaganda after Adolf Hitler's 1933 takeover. The pact with the Nazi regime resulted from the terrible financial situation of the orchestra since the middle of the 1920s, a certain feeling of superiority on the part of the orchestra collective and Goebbel's vision of cultural propaganda. Find out more about the past of Berlin Philharmonic on The Guardian.
08-28-07 Disputed Pollocks To Go On Display For First Time The Boston College show features about 170 Jackson Pollocks, including paintings, drawings, photographs, and letters. But the most interest will be generated by two dozen paintings which may or may not be by the 20th Century master. Studied by scientists and argued over by art historians, the paint-spattered pictures will be on view for the first time. More about this on Boston Globe.
08-27-07 Music After Katrina Two years after Katrina, the landscape of New Orleans music, like the landscape of the city itself, is radically different. Where the scene was dominated by party tunes and decades-old standards, where some of the most popular local acts could count on weekly gigs without having to stretch too much, now there's something deeper. Find the entire article on Los Angeles Times.
08-27-07 Scientists Simulate Out-Of-Body Experience Scientists have long suspected that the clue to these extraordinary, and sometimes life-changing, experiences lies in disrupting our normal illusion of being a self behind our eyes, and replacing it with a new viewpoint from above or behind.Read more about this on BBC.
08-27-07 When America Was Copyright Outlaw Americans work up outrage over copyright violations in countries such as China. But a century and a half ago, another fast-growing nation had a reputation for sacrificing standards to its pursuit of profit, and it was the United States.Get more information on Boston Globe.
08-24-07 Opera Singers On Drugs? Some attempts to stay on top are relatively harmless, like popping a beta blocker to soothe the butterflies before stepping on stage. But others are more alarming. Singers often overuse steroids in the form of cortisone to control inflamed vocal cords -- sometimes in amounts that can permanently impair their abilities, say performers and their doctors. Others drink too much. Still others snort cocaine, according to insiders. More about opera singers and drugs on International Herald Tribune.
08-24-07 Spanish TV Drops Live Bullfights Spain's public television network has dropped live bullfighting from its schedule. Bullfight promoters say dropping live broadcasts is unfair to older people who cannot afford to go to bullfights. The sport, described so eloquently by Ernest Hemingway in Death in the Afternoon, still draws 65 million people annually, promoters said. But bullfighting has few young followers in Spain and most audiences are middle-aged or older. Read more about this on CBC.
08-24-07 Are "Reality" Show Participants Actors? Most reality shows treat their participants a bit like game-show contestants in requiring confidentiality agreements. But reality-TV contracts are especially strict and designed to protect the producers. In many cases, people sign away practically all their rights just to appear on camera. Find out more on Slate.
08-23-07 Hollywood's Oldest Working Writer What is remarkable about Horton Foote's career is its longevity. A playwright's career is usually 10 to 15 good years, even Tennessee Williams. It's a specific period of time, like opera singers. But Horton gets better and better. Read more about this on New York Times Magazine.
08-23-07 Rivals Team Up To Challenge iTunes iTunes dominates the online music business. First, Wal-Mart, the nation's leading music retailer, announced that it has begun selling copy protection-free songs through its online music store. Separately, RealNetworks announced it is merging its Rhapsody music service with MTV's Urge music store and Verizon Wireless' V-Cast, which offers song downloads for mobile phones. Find the whole story on San Jose Mercury-News.
08-23-07 Can Technology Bring Kids To Books? Minnesota librarians hope a new after-school program that brings together video games, computers, tutors and books will attract teens who often socialize at the library and expose them to technology -- including how to e-mail and use a digital camera -- that they might not have at home. And while they're at the library, the hope is that maybe they'll pick up a book or two. More information about this on The Star-Tribune.
08-22-07 The Myth Of Dying Libraries So multimedia is taking over and books are out? If that's the case, why are libraries everywhere thriving? Or, at least, thriving when the bureaucrats running them aren't despoiling them by hiding the books and filling them with DVDs. Find out more on The Guardian.
08-22-07 Tiny Film Scores Big Box Office 'Once' was written and directed by John Carney, 35, who was a bass player with the Irish band The Frames, between 1990 and 1994. The film tells the story of an Irish street musician who lacks the confidence to perform his own songs and who finds a muse in a Czech flower-seller and pianist he meets on the streets of Dublin. Having been made for only �75,000, Once has taken almost $7 million (�3.5 million) at the box office in a few weeks. Read the whole story on The Times.
08-21-07 Van Gogh Letters Deny Genius-Madness Link A new collection of Vincent van Gogh's letters casts doubt on the popular notion that his mental illness was also the source of his artistic genius. A curator at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Leo Jansen, and two Dutch colleagues are working on a complete annotated edition of the artist's more than 800 extant letters. The new edition will also include around 2,000 illustrations, artwork by van Gogh himself and by other artists that he refers to in his letters. Read more about Van Goghs letters on New York Sun.
08-21-07 Do We Need To Redefine Life? As scientists push the bounds of biology, astronomy and robotics, a big question looms: What exactly is life? That question is bubbling up from recent advances in lab work. Find out more on MSNBC.
08-21-07 In Tuscany, An Etruscan Tomb Is Unearthed By Locals The recent unearthing of an Etruscan tomb in Tuscany relied on an unconventional work force: not professional archaeologists but local amateurs. "If it weren't for amateur groups ... much of Italy's ancient heritage would be even more at risk to random plundering by tomb robbers, said Gabriella Barbieri, who is the state official in charge of protecting the area's archaeological heritage and granted permission for the excavation. 'The more citizens are concerned, they more they can help us,' she said. 'The state can't be everywhere at once.'" Read all about it on The New York Times.
08-20-07 Has Burning Man Been Spoiled By Money? This Labor Day weekend, Burning Man is expected to generate $10 million in revenue from 45,000 ticket-buying customers, each of whom will pay $195 to $280 for entrance to a patch of Nevada desert called Black Rock City. In art circles and around the blogosphere, Burners are asking: Is this famously anti-monetary event getting ruined by too much cash? More information about this on San Francisco Chronicle.
08-20-07 Analysis: What Makes A Successful Movie A psychology professor at the University of California, Davis, has done a statistical study of thousands of movies to determine what makes them critical darlings or box-office hits. Find out more on Yahoo!
08-20-07 The Venezuela Music Program That Changed A Country In the 30 years since its foundation, El Sistema has evolved into one of the most successful community arts programmes in the world. There are 250,000 children studying music under its auspices across Venezuela, from the most remote rural villages to the poorest barrios of Caracas. Its founder, the composer/statesman Jose Antonio Abreu (according to legend, he started with 11 children rehearsing in a garage), has said that it heralds a new era in which great art is created by the majority, for the majority. Read the entire article on New Statesman.
08-17-07 Poe Fan Says He Created Mysterious Grave Visitor The legend was almost too good to be true. For decades, a mysterious figure dressed in black, his features cloaked by a wide-brimmed hat and scarf, crept into a churchyard to lay three roses and a bottle of cognac at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe. Now, a 92-year-old man who led the fight to preserve the historic site says the visitor was his creation. Read the whole story on Washington Post.
08-17-07 A Video Game May Rescue An Orphaned Instrument Popular music has changed since the guitar's heyday in the '60s, and the instrument's popularity isn't helped by the decline of music education in the schools. But there is hope for the guitar, and it lies in a "technology launching rock stars across the land, one that most guitar players don't even consider part of their world. I'm talking about 'Guitar Hero,' the ridiculously popular video game in which players use a plastic guitar-shaped controller to simulate rocking out." Find out more on Salon.
08-17-07 What If We Took Away All The Ads In The City? Gilberto Kassab, the mayor of S�o Paulo, passed a law last year banning all advertising from the Brazilian city. The place is now being held up by activists worldwide as an example to us all: an image of an anti-Orwellian future, where The Man is no longer in control of our day to day choices. But does the planet's first 'clean city' really live up to the hype? Read all about this on The Guardian.
08-16-07 Portable Architecture Comes Into Its Own Ever since Le Corbusier and the Italian futurists salivated over biplanes, steam trains, ocean liners and automobiles in the early 20th century, architecture has been in awe of moving machines. But, as much as the modernist pioneers eulogised these dynamic inventions, they never dared disobey the sacred rule that says buildings stay where they're built. Architecture is architecture. Unleash it from its static condition and you're in some hazy no- man's-land.... Yet this nebulous zone is becoming an intriguing place to visit. Find out more on The Guardian.
08-16-07 Books Into Film: A Case Of Irreconcilable Differences Ken Russell, pondering the imminent release of the film version of Ian McEwan's "Atonement" and looking back on the books he's turned into movies, writes: "There's no formula and no guarantee. There are a million more ways an adaptation can go wrong than right. ... At heart, the two forms, movie and book, are irreconcilable." Read more on The Times.
08-16-07 Blocking Acropolis View, Athens Homes May Be Razed It's a hot day in Athens and a builder working on the new $178 million Acropolis Museum pauses to wipe his brow and stare up at the 2,500-year-old Parthenon. At the same time, Elly Kouremenos looks out of the apartment she's lived in for 72 years and wonders why the view from the museum means her home must be razed. ... The future of her block, once declared a work of art by the Greek Ministry of Culture, and its neoclassical neighbor ... has caused a furore, pitting architects against archaeologists. Find out more on Bloomberg.
08-15-07 NY philharmonic mulls invitation from north korea The New York Philharmonic is considering an official invitation from the North Korean government to perform in Pyongyang, the United States' oldest symphony orchestra said on Monday. More information about this on Reuters.
08-15-07 museum clones itself in virtual world Dresden's Old Masters Picture Gallery, recently opened a virtual version of itself in Second Life. Second Life representatives say it's the first real-world museum to 'clone' itself online, although virtual versions of other collections (most famously 'Second Louvre,' which has no official ties to the Paris museum) have popped up. All 37,700 square feet of the 150-year-old building, plus the grounds outside, have been recreated, down to the trash cans and fountains in the courtyard and ceiling moldings, staircases and furniture within. Find out more about the virtual museum on Wired.
08-15-07 at last, hit iraq war play to get a london stage After a year of frustration searching for a suitable space, Black Watch, last year's Edinburgh festival hit play about the Scottish regiment and the lives of its soldiers in Iraq, is finally to be shown in England. It will be staged at the Barbican in London next June, nearly two years after its Edinburgh festival premiere." Audiences in Los Angeles and New York will see it first, this fall.... Read all about this on The Guardian.
08-14-07 royal liverpool philharmonic orchestra will play a concert in second life In the internet virtual world Second Life, you can buy property, gamble and go to lectures. You can attend film festivals, go to gigs and buy art. And next month, a British orchestra will stage the first full-scale symphonic concert on the site. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic has created a virtual, 3-D version of its concert hall and on September 14 users of the website will be able to attend a concert led by the orchestra's chief conductor, Vasily Petrenko. More about the planned online concert on The Guardian.
08-14-07 what if we're all just someone's cyber-simulation? Until I talked to Nick Bostrom, a philosopher at Oxford University, it never occurred to me that our universe might be somebody else's hobby. I hadn't imagined that the omniscient, omnipotent creator of the heavens and earth could be an advanced version of a guy who spends his weekends building model railroads or overseeing video-game worlds like the Sims. But now it seems quite possible. In fact ... it is almost a mathematical certainty that we are living in someone else's computer simulation. Read the entire article on The New York Times.
08-14-07 fire destroys cine citta studios A large fire burned through part of Rome's famous movie studios. The studios, which celebrated their 70th anniversary in April, were created by Italy's wartime Fascist leader Benito Mussolini. But they became most famous as a symbol of the country's postwar rebirth and were closely associated with the work of the flamboyant and iconoclastic director Federico Fellini. Read more about the fire in Cine Citta on Backstage.
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