“If we can tell anything about the [presidential] candidates from their campaign theme music, it may be this: They (or perhaps their aides) aren’t paying much attention to the lyrics.” So far this campaign season, Hillary Clinton is using a theme song that celebrates slacker apathy, Barack Obama wants us to think about what we’re tryin’ to do to him, and as for Mitt Romney, well…
Tag: 01.17.08
Quebec Gets Into The Film Biz In A Big Way
The provincial government of Quebec has acquired a controlling financial stake in Alliance Films, a large Canadian distribution firm. Alliance controls a huge library of Canadian movies, and Quebec takes over the firm from a private equity company which had owned 51% of the company since last summer.
The Global Library Leader
“The Toronto Public Library is undergoing a modest building boom, using a successful strategy that reaches out and continues to draw in more city residents: both the established and newly arrived… On a per-capita basis, the city’s 99 branches are the busiest and most utilized by its citizenry around the globe.”
SF Opera Cuts Ticket Prices For Ambitious New Season
“The San Francisco Opera’s 2008-09 season will boast a rich mix of repertoire – including two premieres and a classic work new to the company – as well as a number of debuting singers alongside well-known stars… [The company] also announced a nearly 50 percent reduction in the price of side orchestra seats and discounts on full and half series subscriptions.”
Case Study: The Politics Of University Architecture
Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University has been trying to make its architectural mark in the academic world for some time, but “conflicts among administrators, donors and trustees over architecture and urban design have led to uneven performances and lurches from one extreme to another.” It’s a struggle that highlights the difficulty of creating great buildings in a school setting.
Sundance Reflects Nationwide Uncertainty
Does this year’s Sundance lineup suggest an American crisis of identity? “In a pre-election year of uncertainty, a failing economy and an apparently interminable war, the national mood is uneasy. American navel-gazing has rarely been deeper or more intense.”
Leif’s Year?
Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes is one of those musicians who is so famous in his home country that he can barely walk the streets, but still virtually unknown in many other corners of the music world. But this could be the year that he breaks into the pantheon of top-tier soloists worldwide.
When Funding’s On The Line, No One Is Happy
The power of the UK’s Arts Council to make or break arts organizations with its funding decisions is a constant headache for those who depend on government funds to keep their organizational heads above water. But the council says that it would be irresponsible not to periodically reevaluate how public dollars are being spent.
A Sellers’ Year At Sundance?
The writers’ strike could turn out to be a boon to filmmakers hoping to peddle their work to major studios at the Sundance Festival this month. “Studio specialty divisions and a slew of relatively new distribution companies will be looking for movies to fill their threatened schedules for later this year and 2009. And that could drive up prices for the undiscovered gem even more.”
Grammys Likely To Be Low-Key Affair
The Grammys “were supposed to be a balm to the ailing music industry, a 50th-anniversary celebration of artistry and longevity at a time of mass layoffs and sharply declining sales. Instead the music world began bracing for the latest havoc from the continuing strike by Hollywood writers, as a stalemate with the Writers Guild of America threatened to force record labels and organizers of the Grammy Awards to proceed with a show with severely diminished star wattage.”