GOVERNMENT AT WORK

-- The Indispensability of Arts and Crafts: (1) There are not enough video games, according to the National Endowment for the Arts, which in April awarded a $40,000 grant to the University of Southern California to help produce another, based on Henry David Thoreau's "Walden." (2) Australia's Council for the Arts announced in May that it would give A$20,000 (U.S. equivalent, $20,380) to the "death-metal" band Ouroboros, citing the band's distinct genre and its need for a symphony orchestra for its next album. Said the drummer, "We wouldn't consider hiring an orchestra to do this without (the grant)." [Time, 4-30-2012] [The Australian, 5-21-2012]