From The New York Times Magazine, a special issue on Eco-Tecture. It’s boring at the top: Is Andreas Gursky—the highest-priced photographer alive—running out of ideas? The Branding of Rothko: How his art became the ultimate luxury object.
From The Potomac, All This Makes a Magnificent Asparagus: Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso on how to look; and if childhood and happiness are inseparable in the poet’s mind, the fear that they must come to an end lurks in his mind. Rembrandt's Feathers: Why do people collect? Is collecting a primal activity, perhaps rooted in the survival activities of primitive hunter-gatherers? Laurence Olivier was born 100 years ago today, but how have the years affected his reputation? Was he a sublime master of stagecraft or ham cut thick? What makes a "film pledge" visionary?
Unimpeded by Norwegian language, culture, or social conditions, Norway should be capable of creating and expanding a visionary arena for critically independent, international documentary film. An interview with Sonya Dyer: "Can’t non-white people ever just make art?" A review of Some Kind of Genius: The Extraordinary Journey of Musical Savant Tony DeBlois by Janice DeBlois and Antonia Felix.
From Open Democracy, Le Monde’s democratic coup: A journalists’ revolt at the great flagship of France’s media is a case-study in democracy, ethics, power, hubris and capitalism. From CJR, an article on The Tragedy of Peter Kann: A devoted son of Dow Jones brings down the company. A review of Media Concentration and Democracy: Why Ownership Matters.
A great idea lives forever. Shouldn’t its copyright? No good case exists for the inequality of real and intellectual property, because no good case can exist for treating with special disfavor the work of the spirit and the mind. Should the government begin regulating violent content on television or can the industry police itself? A former FCC commissioner and the executive producer of "Law & Order" debate. Jack Shafer on The Monday Crap Story: As nonperishable as a MoonPie. So many news articles are the same; only the names are changed. In Hollywood, where everything is fleeting, all reporters need is this template from Michael Y. Park to file their stories.
From Editor & Publisher, editors explore recent redesigns at major Web sites. Working Without Wires: Who will WiFi's biggest beneficiaries be? Cory Doctorow on how to keep hostile jerks from taking over your online community. Even Better Than The Real Thing: Sweatshop gamers, virtual terrorists, avatar porn, and other tales from the digital frontier. And chip-maker Intel "should be ashamed of itself" for efforts to undermine the $100 laptop initiative, according to its founder Nicholas Negroponte
