All guests, nominees and presenters at the Academy Awards will go home with “gift bags.” At one time the bags were a modest thing, but “designers and companies looking to win some high-profile promotion have been vying to have their products included in the Academy Awards gift baskets for years. At first a relatively modest undertaking, Hollywood’s version of the goodie bag has swollen to ridiculous size and value, with this year’s priced at approximately US$30,000.”
Tag: 03.21.03
Broadway – A Season Of Bad News?
Some Broadway watchers are worrying about the health of area theatres. “Daily ticket sales have been sluggish all winter and everybody expects them to fall further now that war has started in Iraq. But yesterday several producers and theater owners were surprised that the plunge wasn’t as precipitous as they had expected.”
Struggling To Get By On $111 Million Profit
The book business is good. At least good enough for superstore Barnes & Noble to earn $111 million profit in the fourth quarter of last year. But though that’s up 32 percent from the previous year, the company’s spin makes it seem like the company is barely getting by. “Barnes & Noble store sales were $1.2 billion for the quarter, an increase of 4 percent. Sales at stores open at least a year, known as same-store sales, fell 3 percent.”
Holmes To Head Atheneum
Willard J. Holmes has been named director of Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum. “Holmes, 54, is deputy director of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. His selection ends a five-month search begun after the surprise resignation of director Kate Sellers in October.”
Will Oscars Become Anti-War Demonstration?
“The thought of what might be said at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony – four hours of spotlight-loving liberals making live speeches to a worldwide audience of billions – has to be giving George W. Bush’s spin doctors the spins. While presenters have been sternly warned to stick to their scripts,” there is no policy concerning the acceptance speeches. “The only instruction nominees have been given is that they not begin a lengthy list of names that most viewers are unfamiliar with. Other than that, winners can choose to use their time on stage to air their opinions about anything else going on in the world.”
With Dropouts And Cancellations – Should Oscar Cancel?
At what point should the Oscars be cancelled? The red carpet has been rolled up and a few presenters have dropped out, writes Roger Ebert. “Whatever the reasons given by the dropouts, they added up to a dilemma for the Academy: If there are enough cancellations, does there come a turning point when a pall settles over the Oscars, and Hollywood loses the spirit to carry on?”
“American Spirit”: Sure We’re Invading Iraq – But That Doesn’t Mean We Can’t Still Have Fun
Should the Oscars cancel? Not if the American people have their way. A poll reports that 9 of ten people asked believe the show should go on. “This is a true testament to the American spirit. While nearly everyone is concerned about our troops, in post-Sept. 11 America, people strongly feel that we all must continue living our lives.”
Radio – Music With A Corporate Voice
What will people be listening to on the radio as the war goes on? Pretty much the same thing across the country. “I don’t think it will be anything like radio during the Vietnam War when radio was the voice of the revolution and the voice of the other side. Now you’re not going to get any of that: you’re going to get the voice of the corporate world.”
Columbia U Getting Serious About The Arts?
While some universities seem to be moving away from the arts, Lee Bollinger, the new president of Columbia University, believes the arts are “integral to the university experience.” Now that “he finds himself running a major Ivy League research university in the most highly cultured city in the United States. He gives every sign of relishing the prospect of forging more ambitious, more glamorous bonds between the arts and the university.”
Attracted To Coming Attractions
Previews of movies “embody the great promise of modern consumerist entertainment: that there will always be more. They are like the still-wrapped packages under a Christmas tree: the one you are about to tear into might turn out to be a pair of wool socks or a cheap knockoff of the toy you really wanted, but there is still all this other stuff yet to be opened up. Whatever disappointments the movies themselves might bring are safely in the future, as you feel the rush of all their expensive promise — the fights, the explosions, the computer-generated imagery, the macho repartee — in compact, thrill-packed doses. Big, commercial movies may rarely be surprising these days, but the possibility that they might be is always there.”