“I’ve seen just about every narrative movie in the current 3-D crop, and every single one has caused me some degree of discomfort–ranging from minor eye soreness (Coraline) to intense nausea (My Bloody Valentine). The egregious side effects of stereo viewing may well have been diminished over the past few decades,” but they haven’t been banished — because the technology hasn’t fundamentally changed.
Tag: 04.02.09
Google Finds Book-Scanning Takes Too Long, Finds Another Way
“Its trick is to project an infrared pattern onto the open page spread. This lets a pair of infrared cameras map the three-dimensional shape of the pages by detecting distortion to the pattern. This in turn allows the distortion of the text to be determined – and therefore the degree of correction needed to read it accurately.”
Are We Losing An Entire Generation Of Theatre Critics?
“In contemporary criticism, authority is everything, and it is nothing without both expertise and experience. As far as I know, there are no regularly employed theatre critics under 30. For all their vim and vigour, their self-assurance and their passion, the young critic is inevitably a naive one. The question, then, is not one of whereabouts, but of training: where are tomorrow’s critics going to come from?”
Movie Studios Slash Star Salaries
“Salaries are being slashed now in Hollywood and even bigger stars are not immune. ‘Why would anybody pay Julia Roberts $20 million to do Duplicity?’ says one producer. ‘That won’t happen again’.”
How Did Classical Music Lose The Youth Vote?
“There is evidence that playing Beethoven and Mahler has reduced antisocial behaviour on the transport network. An entire generation, aged between 10 and 30, seems radically disenfranchised from classical music. How, and when, did this happen?”
A Knack For Memorizing Poetry
“A few lucky types seem to memorize great swaths of poetry without even trying. For the rest of us, the key to memorizing a poem painlessly is to do it incrementally, in tiny bits. The process of memorizing a poem is fairly mechanical at first. But then something organic starts to happen. Mere memorization gives way to performance.”
A Museum Director, The Culture Wars, And A New Job
“In a way, Christina Orr-Cahall’s story is ancient history. And while the job in Seattle may be plum in some respects–interim EMP director Josi Callan made $339,192 in fiscal year 2007, according to tax records–it’s also about as far as you can get from respected centers of culture without getting out of the museum business entirely.”
USC’s Music School Expands Space And Programs
“The USC Thornton School of Music announced today that it is expanding its physical presence by 50% with the acquisition of three buildings on the university’s main campus… [to be] used as classrooms and rehearsal and performance spaces.” In addition, Thornton “will offer [new] Bachelor of Arts degrees in popular music performance, choral music, vocal jazz and performing and visual arts studies.”
Have We Read The Last Of Garcia Marquez?
The 82-year-old titan of Latin American magical realism has published almost nothing since his 2004 novel, Memories of My Melancholy Whores, and he has said that he wrote not a single line in all of 2005. Now his agent and his biographer say they think Gabo has wrapped up his career.
Phoenix Symphony Considers Reducing Season
“Phoenix Symphony musicians could become part-time workers under a proposal to help balance the 60-year-old organization’s budget, a labor union says. […] The change would shorten the orchestra’s 40-week season, which features 200 performances.”