“With Hollywood-sized budgets (sci-fi shooter Halo 4 was built on a budget of $100 million and made $220 million on the first day of its release) to throw behind writing, graphics, testing, and even psychological expertise to maximize fun, critics–including many parents–say that video games hold the attention all too well. “
Tag: 05.07.13
Ranking The Arts As Public Investment Opportunity
“The arts get less than 0.1% of public spending but deliver four times that in gross domestic product, an Arts Council England-commissioned report says.”
Shakespeare, The First Playwright Entrepreneur
“It was an unprecedented step for an Elizabethan author to take a stake in the ownership of of a theatre company and it put Shakespeare in a “unique position”, compared with his literary contemporaries.”
London Gets A New Theatre
“It’s our intention to be spoken about in the same breath as the Young Vic,” said artistic director Jez Bond. The two-auditorium venue incorporates a 200-seat theatre – Park200 – and a flexible 90-seat space – Park90.
Kaija Saariaho And Youssou N’Dour Win Polar Music Prize
“Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour and Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho have won Sweden’s 2013 Polar Music Prize, organisers said Tuesday. … The winners take home one million kronor (117,000 euros, $154,000) in prize money.”
No Box-Office Boost For Most Tony Nominees
“So far, only two of the four top-nominated shows” – Kinky Boots and Pippin have seen an uptick in ticket sales,” with Matilda‘s receipts actually dipping slightly. (On the other hand, Bette Midler’s one-woman show I’ll Eat You Last, snubbed by Tony, saw a 17% increase in income.)
Abu Dhabi Angry Over Unspent €25m Gift To Louvre
A letter sent last year by the emirate’s top cultural and tourism official to the Louvre’s director reveals that “the museum has, since 2007, been sitting on €25m, which the Gulf state paid the Louvre for spaces on one floor of its Pavillon de Flore … to be opened to the public and named in honour of … the founder of the United Arab Emirates.”
Translators Of Dan Brown’s Inferno Confined In Underground Bunker
simultaneously that they hired 11 translators from France, Spain, Germany, Brazil and Italy to translate it intensively between February and April 2012. The translators are said to have worked seven days a week until at least 8pm, in a windowless, high-security basement.”
2013 Was Record Year For EU Movie Box Office (But Attendance Was Down)
“Total box-office revenue in the 27 countries of the European Union topped last year’s record figure to set a new high-water mark. This was despite a slight drop in overall attendance, with 933.3 million tickets sold across the EU last year, 2.2 percent fewer than in 2011.”
Understanding The Revolution That Was MTV
“It’s not just that this model of MTV largely went away, or that getting most of your music listening through the radio faded. It’s that the entire idea of ephemeral availability — that you would have to sit and wait for something to be played for you, and that at other times you had to do without it — is simply not how people expect to digest much of anything anymore.”