Finally, somebody with something sensible to say about the LATBR and its devolution from stand-alone section to part of the culture pages. More reasonableness here. And the NBCC, after a spate of the usual hand-wringing, actually did a mini-interview with LATBR editor David Ulin and learned a couple of reassuring things (what’s NOT going away, in other words). Was that so hard?

If you want more, you can find an editor’s note from Ulin to LAT readers here.

Meanwhile, I am resisting the impulse to read this as ironic:

Having some standards seems more and more important in a time when the traditional arts have lost a bit of their prestige, some of their audience, and all of their monopoly on perceived quality. As silly as the chaste, Victorian tones of the literary and high culture worlds could be in their heyday, we need a certain amount of seriousness in our lives. At least I do. If the marketplace is left entirely unfettered, we’ll lose a lot of what we consider valuable — not just J.S. Bach and John Coltrane but shows such as “Deadwood” and nonchain bookstores.

The LAT running a defense of “a certain amount of seriousnes in our lives” the same week it downsizes its book coverage? Interesting. Then again, much of the article is a defense of high-middle-lowbrow mashups. It’s all good, right?

Right.