The Arts

CANADIAN AUTHORS TO WALK THE CBC LINE

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 04:03:27 GMT

The Writers’ Union of Canada announced today that its members across the country will walk the picket lines with the locked-out CBC workers on Friday Sept. 9, starting at 1.15 pm local time in each region.

The Globe and Mail: 'Don't you guys realize what's at stake?'

Thu, 25 Aug 2005 04:08:41 GMT

The CBC is meant to be our Canadian voice seeking a place in a sky teeming with American accents. It's ours, and every Canadian is a shareholder. The CBC's role is to showcase Canadian drama, music, sports, comedy, news, current affairs and documentaries, and to do things the private networks deem too risky, commercially unappetizing or lacking mass appeal. The CBC should not be burdened by an all-consuming lust for advertiser-driven audience tonnage. Audience size is certainly one of the measures of success, but it's not the only one, given what the Broadcasting Act outlines as the CBC's mandate.

Maybe political realities were such that this mandate was an impossible dream to begin with. But given today's bedlam in the air, with hundreds of TV channels, radio stations and the Internet -- mostly echoing American mores -- a clear, Canadian voice is needed more now than ever before. Otherwise, because of private-sector commercial realities, we'll be culturally overwhelmed by our neighbour to the south.

It may sound childishly naive, but the CBC is not, as some say, a business just like any other. The CBC is more a service than a business. That concept seems to be mislaid in the current firefight. It is, of course, critical to run the CBC with as much efficiency as possible, but, in the end, it is even more important for the CBC to be effective.

A lovely editorial from Knowlton Nash in the Globe today.

The Globe and Mail: CBC lockout slams door on artists

Thu, 25 Aug 2005 03:58:15 GMT

The longer the CBC lockout lasts, the more it will hinder the promotion of grassroots and independent art scenes across Canada, say publicists and artists. The lockout is causing problems for more than just musicians. Publishers, for example, must search for alternate outlets to promote Canadian writers whom the CBC would typically interview.

Review: Postscript by Geoffrey Cook

Fri, 24 Jun 2005 22:02:45 GMT

What I find most interesting in Postscript is the variety of poetic styles that Cook employs. The long contemplative free-verse lines of the “Still Life” poems contrast the lively and musical rhythm of the poem “Chopping Wood.” He ends the “Peninsula” section of the book with “River Renga,” a poem in the ancient Japanese form from which haiku is derived. The most successful of these poems, in my opinion, are those that are executed in steady musical form. Cook is very skilled and innovative in this regard: his use of rhyme and meter are unique, and he creates vivid sounds and feelings.

Frist Center Podcast is a First

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 17:30:24 GMT

The Frist Center for the Visual Arts has begun podcasting and is among the first, if not THE first, major visual arts institutions to utilize this new medium. A real breakthrough in the art world, the Frist’s initial podcasts feature a discussion of one of their new exhibitions, and other podcasts include visits with budding artists and an architectural overview of the Frist Center. Expect to see other fine arts podcasts from the Frist such as gallery lectures, sightseeing tours of exhibitions and "audio eavesdropping" of their summer camps for kids. It's refreshing to see members of the fine arts community embracing this new format, and we hope this is a sign of great things to come.

The Frist Center’s podcasts are available on their website as well as listed on GalleryCast.com, a voter-driven guide for museum and gallery podcasts founded by Mary Mancini, Tim Moses and Bill Butler (who helped with the podcast project).
[Via Droxy (Digital Radio)]

20th century sweatshop

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:23:34 GMT

Writers Guild of America: "The secret about reality TV isn't that it's scripted, which it is," Mr. Petrie said in a statement. "The secret is that reality TV is a 21st-century telecommunications industry sweatshop."
[Via Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]

Digital audio book library launched

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 04:28:16 GMT

New York Public Library making 700 books available in digital audio form for downloading onto PCs, CD players and portable listening devices
[Via The Globe and Mail - Technology News]

TDR Interview: Geoffrey Cook

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 03:48:58 GMT

Geoffrey Cook is the author of Postscript (Signal 2004), a first book of poems that has recently been shortlisted for the 2005 Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Cook was born in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, and currently teaches in the English Department of John Abbott College in Montreal. He is a past poetry editor of The Danforth Review and a regular contributor to Books in Canada. Jennifer Varkonyi interviewed him via email in April 2005.

The Complete List - ALL-TIME 100 Movies - TIME Magazine

Tue, 31 May 2005 04:36:45 GMT

Oh dear. I've seen exactly 12 of these. Not a big movie-goer. Delighted to see Léolo there.

N.S. tale slays Atwood giant in Canada Reads

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:26:28 GMT

Rockbound, a 1928 novel by little-known author Frank Parker Day, has emerged victorious in CBC's annual Canada Reads book battle. FULL STORY
[Via CBC News]

Just a moment ago I was heating up my lunch in the microwave. "Rockbound is the winning book! Rockbound is the winning book!" It was Marcia who was boiling some water for tea. "What?" "Oh. I've known it for a month and a half but I've had to keep it a secret. Not anymore. Rockbound is the winning book!"

U.S. playwright Arthur Miller dies...

Sat, 12 Feb 2005 04:26:29 GMT

American playwright Arthur Miller, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Death of a Salesman, has died at age 89. FULL STORY
[Via CBC News]

CBC Arts gets HTML!

Tue, 01 Feb 2005 21:15:16 GMT

Remember ArtsCanada, the CBC's ill-fated "arts portal." It was a Flash-drenched "hey, let's do TV in a web browser" kind of portal the design of which was described by its creators as:

...influenced by modern living spaces, promoting a sense of comfort and personal fulfillment with a provocative and intriguing design aesthetic.

In other words, visiting it once was enough to convince you never to visit again.

I'm happy to report that the CBC has seen the light, and has ditched the non-functional whizbang for some good old HTML: CBC.ca/arts is the result. It features nifty innovations like "text you can cut and paste" and "hyperlinks." And, on first blush at least, some interesting content. Stay tuned.

[Via ruk.ca from peter rukavina]

As usual Peter gets 'bingo'. One visit to the old Arts site did if for me.

Gallery vandals damage Colville paintings

Sat, 29 Jan 2005 01:51:46 GMT

Two paintings by Canadian artist Alex Colville were damaged by unknown vandals while on display at a Saskatchewan art gallery earlier this month. FULL STORY
[Via CBC Arts News]

David Gilbert , a professor at Marymount...

Tue, 07 Dec 2004 16:04:57 GMT

David Gilbert, a professor at Marymount Manhattan College, writes: "Our Art Mobs team is using mobile text messaging and podcasting to allow people to experience art in a new way. Along with the Department of Art and the mobile arts organization YellowArrow, we are hosting a gallery event on Wednesday, December 8 (tomorrow), here in Manhattan to showcase our technologies."
[Via Scripting News]

Thousands of movie reviews

Tue, 30 Nov 2004 05:05:13 GMT

Thousands of movie reviews The Globe and Mail archive contains reviews dating back to 1977. Movie reviews older than 7 days are available to INSIDER Edition subscribers. Reviews can also be purchased on a pay-per-view basis. [Via The Globe and Mail: Arts]

Literary pantheon follows musicians' lead on Aids in Africa

Mon, 29 Nov 2004 17:02:10 GMT

First the pop stars sang for aid to Africa, and now an illustrious group of authors are helping victims of Aids in the continent.
[Via Guardian Unlimited World Latest]
'Telling Tales, a collection of short stories by Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Gabriel García Márquez, Susan Sontag, Woody Allen, John Updike and 15 others, will be launched at the United Nations headquarters in New York by Kofi Annan tomorrow, before World Aids Day.'

'Amélie' Star Tautou on Her New Hit Movie

Sun, 28 Nov 2004 05:12:01 GMT

Audrey Tautou teams up with her ‘Amélie’ director again in a new film that’s already raking up big receipts in France—and winning raves abroad
[Via MSNBC.com: Newsweek]

Nice. I was charmed by Amélie. I see very few films but I'll try to see this one.

What do libraries own?

Sun, 28 Nov 2004 04:04:19 GMT

From my mother comes a link to the top 1000 books, described as:

...the "Top 1000" titles owned by OCLC member libraries—the intellectual works that have been judged to be worth owning by the "purchase vote" of libraries around the globe.

OCLC is the "Online Computer Library Center," a "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world's information and reducing information costs."
[Via ruk.ca from peter rukavina]

Canada's week to wax poetic

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 15:37:15 GMT

Look out for poets on the loose likely to burst into verse

[Via The Globe and Mail: Arts]
"If it all sounds wonderfully weird, well, the event's genesis is even weirder. It all began when Morton, an insurance investigator by day, was caught speeding on her way home from a poetry reading last year. Morton offered to read the police officer a poem. He liked it, and told Morton he wasn't going to give her a ticket, but warned her not to drive so fast. "See what you can do with poetry?" Morton says. "That was my first random act." Morton, a 64-year-old poet with incredible chutzpah, had already convinced the folks at WestJet Airlines to sponsor her as their "poet of the skies.""

Modigliani: Beyond the Myth...

Sun, 24 Oct 2004 05:15:16 GMT

Who was the real Modigliani?

[Via The Globe and Mail: Arts]

I'll be checking out this show with my baby sometime soon.

U.S. poets take home new $75,000 poetry prizes

Fri, 08 Oct 2004 06:37:52 GMT

Billy Collins, one of the most well-known poets in the U.S., and one of his more obscure colleagues, the acclaimed but little known poet Samuel Menashe, have won the first annual Pegasus Awards, poetry prizes worth a total of $75,000 US. FULL STORY [CBC Arts News]

An Exhibition of Drawings Celebrates Lennon at 64

Fri, 08 Oct 2004 06:23:37 GMT

John Lennon would have been 64 on Saturday, so Yoko Ono is celebrating with "When I'm Sixty-Four," an exhibition of drawings, caricatures and sketches by Lennon. [New York Times: Arts]

Poetry Starts to Wear $100 Million Crown

Fri, 08 Oct 2004 06:22:38 GMT

The Poetry Foundation plans a series of projects to make use of an enormous donation it received two years ago. [New York Times: Arts]

Atlantic filmmakers' co-op celebrates 30 years

Tue, 21 Sep 2004 01:49:49 GMT

To celebrate 30 years of helping local directors translate their ideas onto the big screen, the Atlantic Filmmakers Co-operative will screen a compilation of original short films by 10 of its most successful members Monday. FULL STORY [CBC Arts News]

When Hollywood and indie films collide

Fri, 17 Sep 2004 04:14:29 GMT

Film: What makes the Toronto film festival different from other film festivals? Real people in the audience. B Ruby Rich reports. [Guardian Unlimited]