“The more nuanced environment slowed down drivers, and the intermingling demanded communication using body language and eye contact. Accidents decreased, traffic moved steadily. The concept — called “naked streets” or “shared space” — has been expanding across Europe, and is slowly, tentatively, making its way to American shores. It’s like 1910 all over again.”
Tag: 05.15.13
Amazon Pushing Boundaries To Evade UK Taxes: Investigation
“MPs are ready to haul Amazon back to parliament to answer new questions about its tax status in Britain after a Guardian investigation … found Amazon pushing definitions close to breaking point; and tax authorities unable, or unwilling, to prevent the imposition of aggressive tax avoidance structures.”
Unknown Dalí Watercolors Come To Light
“At a glance they seem like familiar 19th-century botanical lithographs, the type you see on endless hotel room walls. But look closer and the plum appears to be running away, the raspberries look embarrassed and the grapefruit … well, it’s enough to make the viewer blush.”
US E-Book Sales Nearly Doubled In 2012
“The total revenue generated by e-book sales in the U.S. in 2012 was $3.04 billion, a 44.2% increase over the year before. … And the increase in e-book sales did not take a bite out of print books – at least, not in the aggregate. Print sales were $12 billion in 2012; they were $12 billion in 2011, too.”
Theatre Industry Views Choreographers As ‘Intellectually Inferior’, Complains Choreographer
Javier de Frutos: “The enjoyment in finding a partner with whom we [choreographers] can have a dialogue ends very much the minute you cross the door to the outside world because in this hierarchy you [choreographers] are not equals. Theatres do not consider you equals and the payment is not equal.”
Disney Yanks Glammed-Up Brave Heroine Following Backlash
“After facing criticism for its redesign of Brave‘s Merida – including by Brenda Chapman, the former director of the film – Disney has apparently pulled the new look of the character from its princess website.”
Broadway Vet Named President Of Lincoln Center
“Jed Bernstein, who for more than a decade led the Broadway League, the industry’s national trade association, and has produced Broadway shows himself, was named on Wednesday as the successor to Reynold Levy, who is stepping down in January after 11 years as Lincoln Center’s president.”
TV Crack – How Producers Make Their New Shows Addictive
“Talk to the people behind Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and so on, and it soon becomes clear that they’ve designed these shows to be more bingeable–more propulsive and page-turning–than anything the networks ever pushed on us in the past. How We Watch may be changing. But it’s changing What We Watch as well.”
Audience Member Takes Cellphone Use During Performance Into His Own Hands (Literally)
“I asked her whether I had missed something during the very pointed announcements to please turn off your phones, perhaps a special exemption granted for her. She suggested that I should mind my own business.”
Minnesota Orchestra Contract Talks Unlikely
“The lack of transparency from management is troubling to the Musicians, the public, and Minnesota’s legislative auditor, Basic artistic and financial information about the Orchestra is being withheld to seemingly to stall negotiations.”