“The National Assn. of Theater Owners took out full-page ads in the trade papers warning studios that they need to consult with exhibitors about any [moves] to dramatically shorten the windows between when a movie is released in theaters and when it is shown in homes.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Met Opera Tax Returns Paint A Gloomy Picture Of FY 2009
“The company finished the year with its net worth down substantially and sizable debts looming in coming years. In financial statements, filed on Monday, the opera house listed net assets of $236 million, down from $380 million a year earlier.”
Broads, Bloomberg Back Buffett-Gates Philanthropy Pledge
“Buffett, 79, and the Gateses have been assembling billionaires at private meetings to drum up support for their challenge,” which asks “rich Americans to give at least half of their wealth to charity.” Said Michael Bloomberg: “I am a big believer in giving it all away and have always said that the best financial planning ends with bouncing the check to the undertaker.”
Downtown, Can The Whitney Live Up To Its Past?
“Critics don’t normally weigh in at this stage of a design or dwell on the many tricky decisions involved in maintaining the design’s integrity in the face of financial pressures. But in this case those pressures are unusually intense, and the way they are resolved will determine the answer to [this] question … : Will the final result be an experience as good as — or better than — Marcel Breuer’s Whitney?”
On The Offensive Against A (Nonexistent?) Ticketing Scam
A new campaign cautions “West End theatregoers to watch out for online ticketing scams.” But do such scams exist? “There just isn’t the demand. As a fraudster, there’s very little point in selling fake theatre tickets on the web because you can’t sell them quickly at high enough prices, or in enough bulk, to turn a quick profit and disappear.”
Researchers Think They’ve Found Caravaggio’s Remains
“The researchers announced results Wednesday of their year-long project, saying bones dug up in the place where Caravaggio died are likely his. However, they acknowledge there is only an 85 per cent probability they are right and they can never be fully certain.”
Prepping NYC’s Pianos For Their Public-Art Debut
“On corners, in parks, the pianos will be an eyeful as well as an earful, with attention-getting cases and living-color keys — green or blue, or all black instead of the usual allotment of 52 white and 36 black. So before the whole city finds out who needs to brush up on the ‘Minuet in G,’ volunteers have been putting brushes to the pianos.”
Pop Music Loves Its Classics. Why Can’t High Art?
“There is a maturity, a common sense about critics and consumers of popular music that is totally absent from the high arts. No one thinks it demeans Lady Gaga to admire Madonna. There is a sense of history in the appreciation of pop that completely eludes today’s debates about art.”
Is Your Video Game Console Watching You Dance?
“Traditional dance games like Dance Dance Revolution use a plastic floor mat plugged into the game console, and on-screen symbols that tell the players where to step. In Dance Central, players simply try to mimic the on-screen moves of expert dancers. The Kinect sensor, which can track 48 different points on a human body, watches the players” and “awards points.”
Pilobolus Founder Jonathan Wolken Dies At 60
“The cause was complications of a stem cell transplant Mr. Wolken underwent in April, his wife, JoAnne Torti, said. He had been ill with myelofibrosis, a bone marrow disease…. Founded in 1971 by Mr. Wolken and Moses Pendleton, classmates at Dartmouth whose combined dance experience was practically nil, Pilobolus was beyond category from the first.”