| August 2006
Arts Management | Cultural Preservation | Film & Television | History | Literature | Performing
Arts | Visual Arts |
Arts Management
G1 - Artist Employment, 2005
Nichols, Bonnie
National Endowment for the Arts, July 2006, Note #90, online edition, 9p
“The 2005 labor market improved for the civilian work force and for most workers in artist occupations. Employment in artist jobs grew to 2.1 million workers, while the artist unemployment rate declined from 5.1% in 2004 to 4.4% in 2005. […] This note reports on employment conditions of artists.” Using graphics the report shows figures for artist employment as well as average earnings and projected employment growth for artists. In addition, the report lists training requirements for selected artist occupations.
Bonnie Nichols is Program Analyst in the research division of the National Endowment for the Arts. Fulltext
G2 - Heritage vs. History at the National Museum of the American Indian
Conn, Steven
The Public Historian, v28, #2, Spring 2006, pp69-73
“The NMAI is clearly a work in progress. It certainly faces a set of complicated institutional and political challenges as it evolves. But the achievement represented by the opening of the NMAI must now be matched with an equivalent seriousness about its intellectual and educational missions.” Steven Conn directs the Public History Program at Ohio State University and is e.g. the author of "Museums and American Intellectual Life 1876-1926." Steven Conn directs the Public History Program at Ohio State University and is e.g. the author of "Museums and American Intellectual Life 1876-1926." Order Article
Film & Television
G3 - Eco-Apocalypse and the Powerpoint Film: Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth
Harsin, Jayson
Bright Lights Film Journal, #53, August 2006, online edition
"Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth may get the honor of being the first widely distributed PowerPoint film, based on the Microsoft PowerPoint software that has become popular for professional and public speaking all over the world. The film breaks new generic, production, and rhetorical ground. It is “Al Gore’s” film because he is its hero, and it is based on his passion for the topic. Significant portions of the film showcase Gore speaking in a PowerPoint lecture, showing him at work, traveling in the car, speaking to audiences around the world; showing images of his family and childhood home. Director Davis Guggenheim masterfully weaves this patchwork together, complementing it with Matt Groening’s animation. This hybridity is also a testament to the centrality of computer-driven media in information gathering, distribution, and the conduct of political communication." Jayson Harsin is assistant professor of media studies and political communication at the American University of Paris. Fulltext
G4 - Test Screenings
Galloway, Stephen
Hollywood Reporter, July 25, 2006, online edition
Looking to shore up box office returns, studios have become increasingly dependent on findings from research screenings -- whether filmmakers like it or not. “Whereas test screenings once were widely reviled by filmmakers, who resented how studio executives would use early audience reaction to exact changes to their visions, producers and directors now seem to find comfort in them. Perhaps it's a matter of accepting the inevitable or attempting to predict an unpredictable public, but during the past few years, test screenings have become an integral part of moviemaking -- not only by the major studios but also by independents.” Stephen Galloway is contributing editor for Hollywood Reporter. Fulltext
G5 - Communication Services Bundling
Wallenstein, Andrew
Hollywood Reporter, August 1, 2006, online edition
“An arms race is escalating between the cable and telecommunications industries, and television might end up being the secret weapon. Tensions have run high this summer in the "battle of the bundle," with companies competing to offer discounted combinations of phone, broadband and video services.” Andrew Wallenstein is TV Features Editor with the Hollywood Reporter. Fulltext
History
G6 - The Hurricane that saved America
D’Alto, Nick
American History, October 2006, v41, #4, pp56-64
The article discusses the attempted rescue of the failing Jamestown, Virginia colony. In 1609, Sea Venture, a ship commanded by Sir George Somers, was bound for Jamestown when it was hit with a massive hurricane that blew it off course, arriving in Bermuda before sinking. After nine months, Somers' crew went to Jamestown but found a starving, wrecked colony. After several colonists had made it back to England, rescue ships were then sent to Jamestown with provisions that would keep the last of the colonists alive. Nick D’Alto is a freelance science writer and frequent contributor to Weather-wise, a leading journal about climate and weather. Living on storm-tossed Long Island, he's long been fascinated by hurricanes.Climatologists studying Virginia's Tidewater region alerted him to the intriguing connection between weather and the Jamestown colony. Fulltext
Literature
G7 - The Da Vinci Code Distraction
Thornbury, Gregory Alan
The American Spectator, Jul/Aug 2006, v39, #6, pp20-26
"Dan Brown's "THE DA VINCI CODE" is no ordinary work of fiction-hut it is fiction. Despite the fact that the hardcover edition of the novel has sold 50 million copies and that Sony Pictures' movie adaptation quickly became a blockbuster, the central theme of The Da Vinci Code remains historically inaccurate." Fans have lauded the book as a creative, action-packed and thought-provoking work. Critics, whilst often praising the quality of the storytelling, have described the book as being inaccurate on a number of points, both large and small, and claim that most of the information on the "Fact" page at the front of the book is in fact completely untrue and creates confusion between speculation and fact. This article explores why readers and viewers found the book or the film so irresistible. Gregory Alan Thornbury is a senior fellow at the Kairos Journal. Fulltext
Performing Arts
G8 - The Music of America
Scruton, Roger
The American Spectator, Jul/Aug 2006, v39, #6, pp52-55
The article focuses on the captivation of Europe by the music of the U.S. A century ago, composers and musicologists set out to collect and preserve the folk music of Europe. Composers from every European country such as Stravinsky and Szymanowski joined in the rush. Europe absorbed the entire tradition, from the Negro spiritual, via the blues and the minstrel shows, to the Music Hall and beyond. "It is through music that America has had the farthest-reaching influence on other cultures. It is through music that the country came to self-knowledge and it is still part of the American character to fill every silence with a song." Roger Scruton, tin-writer and philosopher, is most recently the author of Gentle Regrets: Thoughts From a Life (Continuum). Fulltext
G9 -
Woody Guthrie - A Hard Travelin' Man
Kim-Brown, Caroline
Humanities, v27, #4, July/August 2006, online edition
A new film examines the life of the balladeer of the down-and-out, Woody Guthrie who composed more than a thousand songs. It aired on PBS on July 12, 2006. "These songs will always remain rallying points for generation after generation after generation," says Bruce Springsteen. "Some people are going to rap them. Some people are going to thrash them out, however they're done. But people are going to return to them and find something in them. The music is at the core of what it means to be an American, and as long as there are Americans out there, somebody is going to be singing that stuff. That's the way it ought to be." Caroline Kim-Brown is a writer in Oakland, California. Fulltext
Visual Arts
G10 - American Abstract: The Art World
Schjeldahl, Peter
New Yorker, July 31, 2006, v82, #23, p80
"Half a century ago, on August 11, 1956, an Oldsmobile convertible driven by Jackson Pollock, who was drunk, hit a tree in the "Springs", killing the artist and passenger.” This article presents a biography on the life and career of artist Jackson Pollock. An exhibition called "No Limits, Just Edges: Jackson Pollock Paintings on Paper," at the Guggenheim Museum is discussed, as well as actor Ed Harris's portrayal of Pollock in the motion picture "Pollock," the automobile accident that caused his death, and his paintings "Blue Poles," and "Number 13." Peter Schjeldahl is a staff writer with the New Yorker. Fulltext
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