“He has a reputation for being difficult and dangerous, his films celebrated for their nihilistic brilliance. Yet despite saying he never smiles, the German director can’t stop laughing at himself – and the comedy in his work.”
Tag: 03.05.11
Rochester’s Mercury Opera Shuts Down
“Western New York’s only professional opera company will cease operations immediately because of shaky finances and scheduling problems. … A key reason for these moves was low attendance at the troupe’s last two productions … Both contributed to a deficit estimated to be below $50,000.”
You Can’t Keep Harvey Weinstein Down
“I had 25 years in a row of unparalleled success, and then I have three years where it all seemed upside down. And I will tell anyone who goes through that — at the time it’s painful and torturous, but it’s so good to come out the other side, because I appreciate what I do.”
Where Did All The Audiophiles Go?
“The audiophile was a symbol of the Golden Age of Audiophonics, a time when certain people worshiped at the altar of expensive high-fidelity, two-channel stereo equipment. They were knights errant on an eternal quest for audio perfection — the exact replication of an original performance.”
Public Broadcasters See Opportunity In More Robust News Efforts
“NPR, PBS and local public broadcast stations around the country are hiring more journalists and pumping millions of dollars into investigative news to make up for what they see as a lack of deep-digging coverage by their for-profit counterparts.”
Why Amazon’s Streaming Movie Service Helps Hollywood
“The move provides the online retailer a new hook for acquiring profitable customers. But more important, it shows how the digital economy is allowing big companies to use media as a means to grow or protect legacy business model.”
New: Toronto Incorporates History Into Its New Buildings
“Toronto developers, those stalkers of the bottom line, are waking to the economic potential of heritage. One wouldn’t want to overstate the case but there are reasons for optimism.”
Survey: Readers Still Prefer Printed Books
“Print books still look unlikely to go out of fashion in the immediate future however, with both adults and teenagers ranking them ahead of news, comics, e-books and magazines as their preferred media.”
A Million Books Given Away (And Sales Are Up)
“According to Nielsen BookScan data, 16 of the 25 books have enjoyed month on month sales boosts in February and 12 of the 25 have stronger sales in February 2011 than February 2010. In total, the 25 books have sold 53,000 copies in the first three weeks of last month, worth £322,000.”
An E-book Library Lending Strategy (Makes No Sense)
“Its sales president, Josh Marwell, believes that’s only fair: 26, he claims, is the average number of loans a print book would survive before having to be replaced. HarperCollins UK won’t rule out applying this ebook strategy to British libraries – and should it do so, it can expect a frustrated reaction.”