Construction of the Elbe Philharmonic is underway, with its opening planned for autumn, 2011. Hamburg?s creative artists are not alone in seeing a new landmark for their city in this spectacular concert hall....
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The Spectator | Semana | Nepszabadsag |
Le Monde diplomatique | Przekroj | Edge.org | Portfolio.com
The Spectator 09.02.2008 (UK)
"Stinking ditches dignified with the pompous denomination of canals, a fine bridge spoilt by two rows of houses upon it and a large square decorated with the worst architecture I ever yet saw." Edward Gibbon, author of "The History of the Decline and the Fall of the Roman Empire," in the 18th century was one of the few people to document his immunity to Venice's morbid charms, and Steven Bayley continues this tradition today. "Venice embraced the wrong sort of modernism. It rejected new architecture and organic growth, preferring the far more corrupting forces of mass-tourism. Meanwhile, Virtual Venice enslaves the dwindling local population who tend to go home to Mestre, to drive and visit supermarkets."
Venetia Thomson tells how she came to love life as a 'posh bird' broker among the loud-mouthed Essex boys in one of the most aggressive, archaic and male-dominated firms in the City. "My first trade was greeted with the obligatory chants of 'RUN!', meaning a lap of the entire floor while other brokers hurled water and hammered their phones on their desks, creating a deafening blast of sound. I soon developed an entirely different language: cockney rhyming slang mixed with trading terms, sprinkled with a hefty dose of obscenities, all said with perfect RP, much to everyone's amusement."
Semana 09.02.2008 (Columbia)
"Why are German intellectuals so fascinated by the Columbian aphorist Nicolas Gomez Davila?" asks Hernan D. Caro and lists a number of possible explanations. "Everyone loves a proper creep and our man here was certainly that. Every century spawns a member of this breed of intellectual, who give their admirers the feeling of belonging to an extremely sharpwitted, profound and just very special caste.
Or is it simply becuase, as no one seems to tire of repeating, here we have a 'Columbian' thinker, as if that would make his anti-modern cant and his aggressive Catholicism something special."
Nepszabadsag 09.02.2008 (Hungary)
Hungarians are suffering terribly. The nation is divided and nothing seems to be able to reconcile the two sides. This is no great drama, but quite normal, according to Istvan Deak, Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University in New York. Although in the autumn of 1956 there might have been a brief moment of complete unity, it couldn't last. "The protagonists of the French Revolution also started sending each other to the guillotine after a while. (...) Might it not be the case that many of those who took to streets against the communist regime in October 1956 then signed up voluntarily on May 1, 1957 to march for Kadar? One has to take into account that the historical role of Janos Kadar, a man I believe was a murderer, is viewed positively by half the Hungarian population. Which is why it is important for the public that a rational evaluation of the past should take place. And this will certainly not be helped by sanctifying an historical event, because then all those who want to adjust something in the holy scriptures will be branded as heretics and traitors to the fatherland."
For poet and critic Akos Szilagyi, an anti-liberal backlash is inevitable in Hungary. True liberal democrats – we are seeing now – never existed in Hungary. People just viewed themselves as such. "As soon as it became clear that the downfall of an obsolete system would not exhaust itelf with the return of rights of freedom but would also go on to cause the collapse of state subsystems (industry, agriculture), growing unemployment, yes even the dismantling of the state welfare system, this intuitive liberalism buckled."
Le Monde diplomatique 09.02.2008 (Germany / France)
The magazine prints a chapter from Olivier Roy's new book "Le Croissant et le Chaos." It is time the west starts to understand the complexity of the Islamic world. "The image of Muslim world in the midst of a war with the Occident, is a figment of the imagination. No such 'Muslim world' exists. The majority of conflicts in the Middle East take place between Muslims. The existing regimes see themselves as allies of the west. This by the way, also explains why under President Ahmadinejad, Iran is looking for allies among the Latin American populists and not with its neighbours."
"Here on board the war in Iraq is 'a huge success,' global warming is not happening and Europe is the next Caliphate," reports Johann Hari from a cruise ship filled with around 500 readers of the National Review, the central organ of American conservatism. 'One Park Avenue lady delivers a few erudite comments on the cities she has visited. Her companion is prompted to add: 'I was in Paris and it was simply wonderful.' Then her face darkens. 'But soon you realise, it is surrounded by Muslims.' The first lady nods. 'They're lurking out there, and they will come.'"
Przekroj 07.02.2008 (Poland)
All Poland has been discussing "Fear" in recent weeks, Jan T. Gross' book about the murder of Holocaust survivors in Poland at the end of WWII. No, he is not proud about this, the sociologist says in an interview, but he does have the feeling of a job well done. "This book is so important because we Poles construct our identity from remembrance and reflection of history. Therefore this history must be true and take such catastrophes into account." He is done with subject of Polish Jews now, Gross explains. "I have said what I had to say." See our feature about "Fear."
Edge.org 05.02.2008 (USA)
Kevin Kelly, one of the most intelligent Internet enthusiasts in the USA, gives Edge.org a glimpse of his forthcoming book, which tackles the question of how the culture industry can survive when everything on the internet can be copied for free. "If reproductions of our best efforts are free, how can we keep going? To put it simply, how does one make money selling free copies? I have an answer. The simplest way I can put it is thus: When copies are super abundant, they become worthless. When copies are super abundant, stuff which can't be copied becomes scarce and valuable. When copies are free, you need to sell things which can not be copied." In Kevin Kelly's blog Technium you can watch his "Book in Progress." Currently it features the same excerpt now available at Edge.
Portfolio.com 11.02.2008 (USA)
According to its own estimations the American film industry loses 2 billion dollars every year to internet piracy, and the music industry 3.7 billion. Daniel Roth shows why the empire has no chance of winning its war against the pirates – thanks to teenagers like Ethan who hacked into MediaDefender, the security software used by the industry. "He uncovered the salaries of the top engineers as well as names and contact information kept by C.E.O. and co-founder Randy Saaf (with notations of who in the videogame industry is an 'asshole' and which venture capitalists didn't come through with financing). Ethan also figured out how the firm's pirate-fighting software works." Even when Ethan published all this information on the same file sharing sites patrolled by MediaDefender, the company got no wind of it.
RSS
Protect investors from themselves, cries the New York Review of Books, in tune with George Soros. Teach the Roma how to work, calls Nepszabadsag. In La vie des idees, Historian Roger Chartier shows how the digital age has returned the book to its medieval state. The Economist thinks it has seen the light for the music industry. In Standpoint, tenor Ian Bostridge pops a rock 'n' roll bubble. Jonathan Littell goes to Georgia for Le Monde. Bollywood is to India what Dante was to Italy, says Outlook India. And the New York Times visits a rosy-cheeked Kleiner Perkins. 
In the Nation, Joseph Stiglitz is not buying anything the Bush administration is selling. L'Express introduces the "black book of publishing". The Times Literary Supplement warms to the unlikely Ukraine defender, Archduke Wilhelm Franz von Habsburg-Lothringen. Literaturen travels to Kamering with Austrian author Josef Winkler and his pepper spray. HGV has the end of lonely thinking in sight. And The Economist is keeping a beady eye on Total Information Awareness.
Portfolio portrays the billionaire Raymond Harbert who is knocking ever louder on the New York Times's door. In Espresso, Umberto Eco has a good old chuckle about downgrading. In the Gazeta Wyborcza historian 
Rupert Murdoch is fantasising about reaping sweet revenge on the New York Times, Vanity Fair believes. The New Yorker describes the sticky situation of the Putin-critical radio station Ekho Moskvy. The Spectator describes the impossible situation of bloggers in Iran. Le Monde diplomatique prints a posthumous text by Jacques Derrida about rogue states and how to outfox them. Outlook India celebrates India's rise to nuclear standing. And the Atlantic thanks the Met's Philippe de Montebello for never underestimating the public.
The New Yorker tells the tale of a hero, police officer James Zadroga. In El Pais author Javier Cercas seaches for happiness, boring as that might be. Le Figaro explains the difference between a snob and a dandy. Nepzsabadsag is amazed at how Serbian nationalism is moving with the times. In the Gazeta Wyborcza, political scientist Ivan Krastev admires the power of the paper tiger. Przekroj harbours the secret of the Westerplatte. The London Review of Books examines the malaise of party politics. And in L'Espresso, Umberto Eco calls for a new law on naming streets.
The New York Review of Books explains how Russia sent a message to the Ukrainians and the Balts. In Le Point, Bernard-Henri Levy awards Monsieur Putin a gold medal for his cynicism. Prospect meets the world's best and fairest society. Rue 89 asks whether France was waging a revolutionary war in Rwanda. Elet es Irodalom prescribes an "Operation Paprika" for Hungary. Gazeta Wyborczy remembers the Polish Danzigers. Folio goes on a dream holiday. And the Nation describes how New Orleans came close to reinstating segregation.
The Hudson Review tells the story of the boxing film "The Set Up" which was based on an epic poem from 1928. Wired plugs into the future of electric cars in Israel. In The New Republic, Joseph Stiglitz looks at the impact made by the Great Depression 2008. Tygodnik Powszechny tells the Catholic Church to wake up and smell the environment. In Babelia, novelist-turned-publisher Javier Marias explains how he ended up working for the afterlife. In openDemocracy, Ivan Krasten looks at the fatal consequences of the war in Georgia for Russia. And in the New Yorker, John Updike follows Max Factor on his journey from wigs to bee-stung lips.
The Atlantic holds up the termite as a paradigm of bio-efficiency. The New York Times investigates wine classification in Bordeaux. In Tygodnik Powszechny, writer Marek Nowakowski outlines his strategy for accommodating communism. Letras Libras misses the hawkishness of Roberto Bolano. Outlook India portrays the new Bollywood star Aksay Kumar. In Rue 89 Michel Wieviorka warns about burgeoning racism in France. And in L'Espresso Umberto Eco smells fear and regression in Italy.
In Die Welt, Victor Erofeyev collects his thoughts on Solzhenitsyn's life and work. The New Republic laments the Europeanisation of American cities. In the Gazeta Wyborcza, theatre directors Monika Strzepka and Pawel Demirski are pining for the equality that neoliberalism has abolished. Prospect magazine covers the re-emergence of character in Britain. Przekroj magazine covers both Sarkozy and heavy metal, albeit in separate articles. And Roberto Saviano tells us in L'Espresso why Italy's boxers will be packing a punch with Southern gusto. 
The London Review of Books finds one point on which to agree with General Franco. Rue89 asks: How anti-Semitic is the cartoonist Sine? The Wall Street Journal reports on a Dutch cartoonist who landed in jail for making anti-Muslim jokes. In the New York Times Thomas Schweich looks at myopia, corruption and poppies in Afghanistan. Al-Ahram watched the Egyptian remake of 'Cabaret'. In Espresso, Umberto Eco uses taxi drivers to justify the rise in global security. And political scientist Seyla Benhabib tells ResetDoc why we need blogs.
In the Hungarian Quarterly, Magda Szabo remembers how her first manuscript was smuggled out of Hungary and into the hands of a German publisher's reader by the name of Hermann Hesse. Portfolio portrays the new publisher of the Washington Post, Katherine Weymouth. The Financial Times portrays the editor of the New Yorker, David Remmick. In Espresso, Robert Saviano meet actors who would never join the Mafia. The Economist is amazed to see that the music industry is starting to wise up at last. And in the New Yorker, Chinese students ask why they need democracy.
"Hands off Lech Walesa!" demands Adam Michnik in the Gazeta Wyborcza. Polityka also defends the Solidarnosc leader against the hatred of the Kaczynski brothers. La vie des idees introduces a resistance programme against the dominance of English. In The Nation, Naomi Klein explains the neat rationale for pillaging Iraqi oil. Suketu Mehta encourages slum tourism in Espressso. Martina Navratilova lobs and smashes her way into the art world in the Spectator. And Elet es Irodalom can't get over the Dutch in Hungary.
In American Scholar, Yale professor William Deresiewicz sees the downside of his elite education while standing opposite his plumber. Wired welcomes in the Petabyte Age. Tygodnik Powszechny visits the "Sacroexpo" to look at camouflaged chalices. In the New York Review of Books, Zadie Smith analyses the supra-Kafka. In L'Espresso, Umberto Eco explains the vocative to Italian ministerial officials. Merkur recommends that art critics take a leaf out of Theocritus' Fifteenth Idyll. And the New York Times goes out in search of children in Europe.
The New Republic portrays the last hero of Tiananmen, the surgeon Jiang Yanyong. In Tygodnik Powszechny, historian Jochen Staadt explains why Polish lustration is anything, but not a witch hunt. Polityka says Poles just wanna have fun. The Spectator fears that the Catholic Church is on the brink of civil war. Espresso portrays Italy's two most famous fugitives. The TLS reads Prokofiev's diaries. And the best English-language books of the moment, Outlook India claims, all come from Pakistan.