“It’s the first time the Smithsonian name has appeared in a title produced for theatrical distribution– not just any movie, of course, but the sequel to “Night at the Museum,” which made $250 million when it came out two years ago. The studio approached the Smithsonian about setting the film in D.C., and officials spent six months reading scripts until approving the final version last month.”
Tag: 05.19.08
Flood Closes Canadian Archives
A broken water pipe flooded the main building of Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa early Tuesday morning, closing the building and causing a small amount of damage to some books.
Ground-Zero Arts Center In Jeopardy
“Fundraising for the center, which would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, hasn’t begun. Ongoing construction of other buildings at the site — including an office tower, a transit hub and a Sept. 11 memorial — have complicated building prospects. State and city officials are now considering moving the center off the site, on top of a nearby subway station.”
The Networks’ New Take On New TV Shows
“The 2008-09 season is going to be experimental in a way the caution-bound TV industry has never before seen. That’s because for the first time, because of the writers strike and changing attitudes among the network brass. The networks will be flying, if you will, even more blindly than usual.”
The Art Of Sound
Bruce Odland is a longtime composer and “sonic thinker” and he “wants people to question their audible world – and perhaps even enjoy some of those accidental sounds transformed into a type of music. The unintentional noises – the motors, ventilators, disc drives – have meaning, he says. But to absorb that meaning, we have to learn again to listen.”
Iraq Artifacts Being Stripped And Looted
“The looting not only funds unscrupulous dealers of artifacts, but also elements of the Iraqi insurgency. Experts say it has dwarfed the high-profile looting of Iraq’s National Museum shortly after the US took Baghdad in 2003.”
A Portrait Of Denver Arts Lovers
“Fifty-eight percent reported attending live theater during the past 12 months, 41 percent a performing-arts festival, and 34 percent a live concert. Of those who claimed a theater preference, 29 percent favor musicals, 19 percent each said dramas and comedies, and 6 percent opera.”
One Night Wonder – Behind The Flop Of Glory Days
“If you look at it from the outside, these guys were in a fast situation, moved a show that wasn’t ready, it flopped and they’re a failure; I could see how you would think that would not be worth anyone’s time. But from our perspective, we got a chance to learn everything about what it takes to put on a Broadway show.”
von Trapp Home A Hotel? Neighbors Say No
“Plans to run a hotel out of a former home of the von Trapp family immortalized in the movie The Sound of Music have triggered fierce resistance from neighbors who fear tourists will tie up traffic and make a nuisance of themselves.”
Sweating To The Oldies (London Theatre Made Unbearable)
Do theatres do enough to make the hot weather bearable for audiences? Or is it something we just need to put up with? Can it even, in the right situations, be a dramatic asset?