“Snacks are a cash cow for theaters, providing some 85 percent in net profits. But no one really goes after the food Americans eat in movie theaters, which is mostly bits of corn syrup, food starch, malic acid, and artificial colors, encapsulated in a sugary ether.”
Tag: 02.25.14
Information-As-Junk-Food: Are You Obese?
“A new kind of obesity is now looming with our information, data, and media diet. We have only scratched the surface, but there is already way too much of information available, and it is way too tasty, too cheap, and too rich.”
Poll: This Year Two-Thirds Of Americans Haven’t Seen A Single Oscar-Nominated Movie
“Among those who responded to the online survey, Somali piracy thriller “Captain Phillips” was the most-watched film, at 15 percent. But 67 percent said they had yet to see any of the eleven films in the poll.”
National Book Awards Data: In 60 Years Women Writers Have Achieved Gender Parity
“In the 1950s, the finalists and winners of National Book Awards were more than 80 percent male. But notice how that percentage has steadily fallen until we reach the current decade – then women pulled slightly ahead.”
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Profumo Affair Musical to Close After Four Months
Allan Kozinn: “The theater gods have at long last taken revenge on Andrew Lloyd Webber for the ubiquity of Cats, Phantom of the Opera and Evita. His latest musical, Stephen Ward, which opened to mixed reviews in London in December, and has had mediocre ticket sales ever since, will close on March 29.”
Why Did Andrew Lloyd Webber Take On the Profumo Affair in the First Place?
Michael Billington observes that this particular topic lacks the one element at which Lloyd Webber is genuinely brilliant. (This was a job for Kander & Ebb.)
Ancient Buddhist Cave Paintings in China Could ‘Turn to Sand’
“The network of 236 sandstone caves extend over an area of two to three kilometres in the vast, sparsely-populated autonomous Xinjiang region of China, along the ancient Silk Road. The caves were inhabited by Buddhist monks and used as temples between the third and the eighth centuries, and are lined with murals providing a rich picture of early Buddhist culture.”
Turkey Proposes Reconstructing Madrasa Next to Hagia Sophia
“The Turkish government plans to reconstruct a demolished madrasa (religious school) next to Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia Museum, a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1985. But the local branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos) strongly protests these plans, calling the proposed construction a ‘new fake historic monument’ that would undermine the area’s significance.”
Wait – Is This Actually Atheism?
Louise Antony: “I say ‘there is no God’ with the same confidence I say ‘there are no ghosts’ or ‘there is no magic.’ The main issue is supernaturalism – I deny that there are beings or phenomena outside the scope of natural law. That’s not to say that I think everything is within the scope of human knowledge.”
One of the Wagner Sisters Running Bayreuth to Step Down
“Eva Wagner-Pasquier, 68, great grand-daughter of Richard Wagner, will retire as co-director of the Bayreuth Festival next year. She currently runs the festival in uneasy collaboration with her much younger half-sister, Katharina Wagner, 36.”