David Hockney's big Royal Academy show, Leonard Cohen's new hit album, Woody Allen's big success with Midnight in Paris - turns out that many artists, if they get to live that long, don't let age wither their talents. The Guardian (UK) 02/10/12

David Hockney's big Royal Academy show, Leonard Cohen's new hit album, Woody Allen's big success with Midnight in Paris - turns out that many artists, if they get to live that long, don't let age wither their talents. The Guardian (UK) 02/10/12

Erno Rubik, of course. And it all started as foam. The New York Times 02/12/12

Erno Rubik, of course. And it all started as foam. The New York Times 02/12/12

"The 28-year-old Swedish entrepreneur with a boyish face ... addressed a ballroom full of power attorneys in Brooks Brothers and Armani suits -- essentially schooling them on the brave new world of digital music. Ek boldly predicted that revenue from streaming services such as Spotify will in two years return as much revenue to the industry as iTunes does today." Los Angeles Times 02/10/12

"The 28-year-old Swedish entrepreneur with a boyish face ... addressed a ballroom full of power attorneys in Brooks Brothers and Armani suits -- essentially schooling them on the brave new world of digital music. Ek boldly predicted that revenue from streaming services such as Spotify will in two years return as much revenue to the industry as iTunes does today." Los Angeles Times 02/10/12

"The black middle and upper classes have long fumed that stage and film have rendered them largely invisible -- and are hungry for serious works with rounded characterizations of themselves. This hunger was not satisfied by The Help." The New York Times 02/11/12

"The black middle and upper classes have long fumed that stage and film have rendered them largely invisible -- and are hungry for serious works with rounded characterizations of themselves. This hunger was not satisfied by The Help." The New York Times 02/11/12

Richter "probably numbers among the least eccentric painters in the world. While working, he wears his sleeves crisply rolled up. He applies his paint very deliberately, and he concentrates on the canvas in a keenly focused manner. Indeed, while painting, he looks more like a self-composed surgeon than an artist striving for self-realization." Der Spiegel 02/10/12

"I know the arguments about never forgetting; that making movies or writing books about the Holocaust is a way to keep these memories alive. But books -- libraries full of them -- have been written. Plenty of good films (bad ones, too) have been made, and this output will endure. Why do we need fresh entries at this point? Is anyone truly going to see In Darkness to learn about war-time atrocities? Or are they driven by some pornographic instinct?" Tablet Magazine 02/10/12

"I know the arguments about never forgetting; that making movies or writing books about the Holocaust is a way to keep these memories alive. But books -- libraries full of them -- have been written. Plenty of good films (bad ones, too) have been made, and this output will endure. Why do we need fresh entries at this point? Is anyone truly going to see In Darkness to learn about war-time atrocities? Or are they driven by some pornographic instinct?" Tablet Magazine 02/10/12

"The trouble with Jean Cocteau was the breadth of his talents: poet, playwright, performer, filmmaker, sculptor, painter and musician. Celia Bernasconi, the director of the new museum, says that that's exactly what turned the French against him." NPR 02/11/12

"The trouble with Jean Cocteau was the breadth of his talents: poet, playwright, performer, filmmaker, sculptor, painter and musician. Celia Bernasconi, the director of the new museum, says that that's exactly what turned the French against him." NPR 02/11/12

"The English approach to show business and their work is more -- and this is a big generalization, I hasten to say -- but it's more, they work on it as a craft job. There's not the expectation that any minute they're going to take over the world, the way show business is set up in L.A., for instance. I feel comfortable with that." Los Angeles Times 02/12/12

"The English approach to show business and their work is more -- and this is a big generalization, I hasten to say -- but it's more, they work on it as a craft job. There's not the expectation that any minute they're going to take over the world, the way show business is set up in L.A., for instance. I feel comfortable with that." Los Angeles Times 02/12/12

When 15,000 viewers watched a webcast of the DSO, they set a new record - one that the DSO hopes to overturn. "'Our goal is to be the most accessible orchestra on the planet,' Scott Harrison, the orchestra's executive producer of digital media, said in a statement." Detroit Free Press (AP) 02/11/12

When 15,000 viewers watched a webcast of the DSO, they set a new record - one that the DSO hopes to overturn. "'Our goal is to be the most accessible orchestra on the planet,' Scott Harrison, the orchestra's executive producer of digital media, said in a statement." Detroit Free Press (AP) 02/11/12

The portrait, which has been hanging in the Illinois Statehouse, isn't of Mrs. Lincoln at all. "Bauman identifies the culprit behind the scam as Ludwig Pflum, who rechristened himself Lew Bloom and was given to the kind of self-invention that America became famous for during the industrial era. He worked as a jockey, circus clown, boxer and vaudevillian before settling on art collecting." The New York Times 02/12/12

The portrait, which has been hanging in the Illinois Statehouse, isn't of Mrs. Lincoln at all. "Bauman identifies the culprit behind the scam as Ludwig Pflum, who rechristened himself Lew Bloom and was given to the kind of self-invention that America became famous for during the industrial era. He worked as a jockey, circus clown, boxer and vaudevillian before settling on art collecting." The New York Times 02/12/12

David Dawson: "Even though Lucian said he was not a creature of habit, the one thing he did do every single day of his life was get into the studio every morning. In our 20 or so years he did not miss a day, literally. And I had to be there first thing every morning, seven days a week, to prepare it for him." The Observer (UK) 02/11/12