“Despite its vaunted reputation as a juggernaut of American culture, McDonald’s has come to function as an ecumenical refuge for travelers of all stripes. This is not because McDonald’s creates an American sense of place and culture, but because it creates a smoothly standardized absence of place and culture — a neutral environment that allows travelers to take a psychic time-out from the din of their real surroundings. This phenomenon is roundly international.”
Tag: 06.05.06
Wales Center Resists Demands To Cancel Springer Opera
The Wales Millennium Centre says it won’t bow to demands from religious leaders to cancel performances of “Jerry Springer, The Opera.” “Monday’s letter, signed by representatives of more than 100 churches in Cardiff and across south Wales, called on the venue to cancel the show. ‘Christians in Cardiff and south Wales are deeply offended that a national venue paid for by our tax money is being used to mock God and his son, Jesus Christ, in the most vulgar way’.”
Is A Rounder Soccer Ball A Better Soccer Ball?
Adidas has spent millions trying to build a better, rounder soccer ball. “By reducing the number of places where panels touch each other, the ball reacts three times more accurately when kicked, according to Adidas, which tested the ball by having a robotic kicking machine whack it against a wall a few thousand times.”
The Problem With Books
“Efforts to update the book are hampered because, culturally, we give extreme reverence to the form for the form’s sake. We hold books holy: children are taught there is no better use of time than reading a book. Academics perish if they do not publish. We tolerate censors regulating and snipping television but would never allow them to black out books. We even ignore the undeniable truth that too many books, and far too many bestsellers, are pap or crap. All this might seem to be the medium’s greatest advantage: respect. But that is what is holding books back from the progress that could save and spread the gospel of the written word.”
Remaking Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera is trying to revive itself after a series of financial setbacks. “I don’t see it as a need to ‘rebuild’ audiences, more a need to ‘reconnect’ with them. The issue is not that we haven’t connected with Scotland, we just haven’t been noticed.”
Pondering The Allure Of Opera
A gala at the Metropolitan Opera has Alex Ross thinking about the attraction of opera. “For a long while, during the macho decades of rock and rap, it seemed as though vocal floridity had been drummed out of pop music. But it turns out that there is an abiding hunger in the heartland for high notes, melisma, fioritura, and the rest. So why don’t more people warm to the grand original? One problem is that there is no way of capturing opera’s elemental thrill on television, or even on a recording.”
A New Push For British Culture
The British government has invested heavily in the arts in recent years. Now it’s time to go to the next level, writes Nicholas Serota. “We are confident we are attracting a growing audience, and can make a significant contribution to the success of the 2012 Olympics, when the eyes of the world will be on us. We want to show what the cultural sector has achieved in the past 10 years – and what it could achieve if the sort of investment it has received under this government is sustained. We want to get across our values, and our vision – and make sure they really are part of the government’s, and the country’s, core script.”
Julia Roberts’ Broadway Turn – Not Selling
Julia Roberts’ star turn in “Three Days of Rain” was the talk of the city when it opened in April, but with two weeks left in the play’s run, ticket brokers say they are finding themselves stuck with hundreds of seats — and are now selling ducats below face value…
Da Vinci Code racks Up Record International Box Office
The Da Vinci Code has passed $400 million at the box office overseas. “Sony forecast the film version of Dan Brown’s best-selling novel will “in the next couple of days” surpass 2002’s “Spider-Man” (overseas gross of $417.9 million) and 2004’s “Spider-Man 2″ ($410.5 million) to become the studio’s biggest international hit ever.”
The Author And The Heine Prize
“Austrian author Peter Handke was informed last week that he would receive the Heinrich Heine Prize of the City of Düsseldorf. After an outburst of public indignation and counter-indignation, the decision was blocked this week by the Düsseldorf City Council.”