“This is a book that cries out like one of his maudlin ditties to be edited. But were an editor to start, there would be no stopping. It is a heavy tome, utterly devoid of insight, warmth, wisdom or likeability,” writes Gill.
Tag: 02.11.14
Behind The TV Dance Shows
“In the last decade, dance on TV has become popular, sometimes wildly so. Dancing With the Stars launched in 2004 and is one of Nielsen’s highest-rated primetime programs. So You Think You Can Dance (2005) has had rating ups and downs but its contestants are generally exceptional and it has a strong fan base.”
Alan Ayckbourn: Here’s How Theatre Can Compete With Film
“I think theatre has realised somewhat belatedly that it can no longer provide adequate competition for kids watching videos or computer games. It has to get the liveness back, and that is the only think it trades on.”
Hollywood Should Probably Die (But It Won’t, And Here’s Why)
“Hollywood is the closest thing the business world has to a Roman Empire: a largely self-sustaining, self-contained industry, reigning supreme over most premium content in most media channels. And like Rome, the entertainment business has plenty of enemies who’d love to watch it burn. They probably won’t get their wish.”
TV Networks Find Consumers Just Aren’t In To The “Second Screen” Experience
“It seems that people who use their smartphones while watching their favorite shows are only doing so to distract themselves during commercials — not good for advertisers — though they do often look up websites related to the show.”
Why Hollywood Is More Like The Chinese Empire Than The Roman Empire
And why YouTube and Hulu are more like the Mongols and Manchus than like the Vandals and Visigoths.
Shirley Temple Black, the Child Star Who Wasn’t a Cautionary Tale
Surely the anti-Lindsay Lohan, STB, who has died at age 85, was a creature of Hollywood who survived being the most famous preschooler on the planet to become a well-adjusted, successful, meltdown-free adult. “If she emerged unscarred, it’s not for the film industry’s lack of trying.” How did she do it?
Neuroscientists Figure Out Optical Illusion That Stumped Galileo
“Neuroscientists may have figured out what’s behind a visual trick that puzzled Galileo Galilei and stumped many others for centuries. The answer to this trompe l’oeil also could explain why Mom and Dad always warned that it’s bad to read in dim light.”
So What’s Pina Bausch’s 1980 Actually About?
Lyn Gardner has what’s probably the best answer.
Beyond the Monument Men: How U.S. Museums Protected Their Own Art From the Nazis
It seems unnecessary in hindsight, but in 1942 and ’43, after Pearl Harbor and the bombing of Britain, air attacks on the U.S. mainland seemed like a real danger. Here are the (considerable) steps some art institutions took to protect their holdings.