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• TMZ's New Status Post-Michael Jackson - A Smarter Media Model?

"The scoops, and subsequent red-framed 'exclusives' about Jackson's tangled personal and professional affairs, have brought not only massive attention to the site but also a journalistic reassessment as well. The question is: Did TMZ just get lucky with its Jackson coverage -- a right-place, right-time lightning strike -- or has TMZ built a smarter new-media organization that could teach the rest of the pack how to get it done?" Washington Post 07/03/09

• In Australia, Individual Giving To The Arts Goes Up

"A survey of corporate and private philanthropy to Australia's 28 major performing arts companies reveals that in 2008 individual support through bequests, gifts of money and prescribed private funds had increased from 2004 by 119 per cent to $20 million." The Australian 07/03/09

• Michael Jackson On Architecture - Behind The Gates At Neverland

"At the height of his popularity, Jackson bent the music industry toward an androgynous, perpetually childlike model of superstardom. He managed a similar trick in transforming the architecture of this classic Santa Barbara County ranch property." Los Angeles Times 07/03/09

• Italy Shows Off Looted Art Returned By Cleveland Musseum

"It's the latest success for Italy in its campaign to recover artifacts stolen from ancient sites and smuggled out of the country to be sold. The Cleveland Museum had bought the artifacts in the 1970s and 1980s and said it had no knowledge about the tainted past of the artifacts until contacted by Italian authorities." CBC 07/02/09

• First "living Statue" In Trafalgar Square Is A Housewife

"I wanted to be able to represent normal, everyday stay-at-home mums who aren't normally a feature of major artworks - to show my kids now, and when they're older, that you can do, and be part of anything, no matter how ordinary you are or feel. I never expected to get a place so hadn't thought about what to do and I never expected to be first." BBC 07/02/09

• "Pop-Up" Art - Artists Take Over Vacant Stores

"By opening pop up shops we are making a high streets more appealing to shoppers and visitors. And it's not just happening in London. Many of the UK's towns and cities are seeing their own high street galleries." BBC 07/03/09

• A Museum That Has To Cut Back To Only A Few Hours A Month

"Like those brand-new ghost towns in Nevada and Arizona, the Spertus's acclaimed building will stand mostly unpopulated, its distinctive, faceted glass facade a taunting portal to a locked vault. Treasures and programs that were easily accessible at its former location--a building of the same height, right next door--will now be available to the public a total of about 12 hours a month." Chicago Reader 07/03/09

• Freedom By Any Other Definition Of Culture

"Does the notion of 'freedom' really mean the same thing in Baghdad as it does in Boston? Newly published research suggests the answer is probably no. It's a question of whether one is more oriented toward independence or interdependence -- an attitude that is largely conditioned by one's cultural background." Miller-McCune 07/02/09