In 15 short years Cirque de Soleil has gone from big-top attraction to multinational entertainment conglomerate. A new Cirque show is about to debut. – CBC
Author: Douglas McLennan
OVER REPRESENTED?
A new report challenges idea that network television is doing a poor job of representing blacks in primetime and suggests that things have gotten better, not worse, over the past 20 years. CBS and ABC, the report says, actually feature more black actors in leading roles on their primetime series than the 11.8% of the US population that is African-American. Variety
PICTURE PERFECT
An 80-year-old London artist, once described as “the best kept secret in British art” has won England’s most prestigious art prize. Prunella Clough tells the BBC that she has never won a prize before but believes in them in principle. BBC
THE ASIANS ARE BACK –
– reports the Art Newspaper. The latest round of auctions found a lot of Asian buyers. ARTNewspaper.com
Indian signs
As the world’s biggest democracy heads for the polls, party symbols – bicycles, flowers, trees – provide crucial guide to India’s 374 political parties. National Post (Canada)
NEUROTIC REALISM
Contemporary art finally has a label. Charles Saatchi’s second show on the subject confirms his tag on the new generation of Brits. Financial Times
ELLIOTT CARTER WAITED 90 YEARS –
– to write his first opera. Despite last week’s standing ovation at the Berlin premiere, one critic wonders why he bothered at all. – Financial Times
Once around the block
Lots of new music, lots of performances, but what happens after the opera or symphony premiere? The second-performance problem. – The New York Times
ONTARIO GOVERNMENT REPORT
recommends taxing violent entertainment and using the money for victims of violent crime. CBC
TV TALK SHOWS ARE A SCUZZY BUSINESS
Not so scuzzy as trying to make them, though. Here’s an inside account of the inner turmoils of a TV talk show. Salon