Computer-generated animation has become increasingly central to filmmaking in recent years – and cheaper, faster digital technology techniques are now making it easier for animation artists to create lifelike three-dimensional worlds on film. – New York Times 06/13/00
Tag: 06.13.00
RADIO RIGHTS
New Zealand’s Maori tribes are trying to stop an upcoming government auction of the radio spectrum. “The Maori argued that ownership of the spectrum was their right as granted under the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document. The Treaty, signed in 1840 by Maori and the British government, promises to protect taonga, the Maori term for resources considered valuable by New Zealand’s indigenous people. At the time of the Treaty signing, such resources included land, forests and fisheries. Maori believe the concept of taonga also extends to radio spectrum.” – Wired 06/13/00
WE’RE IN THE MONEY
Advertising money is coming in so fast to the cable networks, execs can hardly believe their eyes. Cable ad revenues will soar by 22%, from $8.3 billion in 1999 to $10.2 billion in 2000. Will we see some of that money in better programming? – Variety 06/13/00
THE STRIKE DRAGS ON
“Despite the ad industry’s claim of ‘business as usual,’ it’s not. Agencies are struggling to find the talent they need, and it’s getting more difficult to produce commercials. Some are scouting multiple locations to throw picket organizers off and, fearing demonstrations in New York and Los Angeles, taking their jobs to smaller U.S. cities. Others are simply taking their work out of the country.” – Adweek
MAYBE MOVEMENT? Nine hours of negotiations Tuesday hold some hope in strike. – Variety
THE ART OF REVIVAL
Veteran playwright Peter Nichols, whose 1981 “Passion Play” is currently enjoying a revival at London’s Donmar Warehouse, reflects on what kept him going during the decades when his writing fell out of favor with producers. “Unlike films, plays only survive by revival, like cryogenic subjects stunned into life by electrodes: “stand clear, thump, well done, chaps”, or “good try, sorry, cheers”.” – The Telegraph (UK)
THE REAL POST-MODERNISM?
Is post-modern fiction a fiction itself? After all, it is a “form of writing that defeats readers’ expectations of coherence, as experimental narrative that plays with generic conventions, as fiction that dwells on ambiguity and uncertainty.” Who’s to know what the right answer is? – National Post (Canada)
TAKING IT TO THE NET
Sixty-six American orchestras make a net deal. “Under the tentative agreement announced Tuesday, orchestras would make two kinds of performances available on the Internet: live and unrecordable streaming audio or prerecorded music to be downloaded. It would be up to a local committee of musicians and managers from each orchestra to decide what concerts to put online and whether to make them available as live webcasts or as online recordings that listeners can download.” – MSNBC (AP)
AGAINST ARCHETYPE
Why are there so few women conductors? “Why has no woman secured a major principal’s post in the UK? Why have only Anne Manson and Marin Alsop achieved this with minor orchestras in America? Is the persistent, archetypal image of the controlling male power figure really too strong for managements to cast aside?” Says Alsop: “Gestures are interpreted differently – if a man is delicate, he’s sensitive. If I’m delicate, I’m too girly.” – The Times (UK)
THE REAL POST-MODERNISM?
Is post-modern fiction a fiction itself? After all, it is a “form of writing that defeats readers’ expectations of coherence, as experimental narrative that plays with generic conventions, as fiction that dwells on ambiguity and uncertainty.” Who’s to know what the right answer is? – National Post (Canada)
RADIO RIGHTS
New Zealand’s Maori tribes are trying to stop an upcoming government auction of the radio spectrum. “The Maori argued that ownership of the spectrum was their right as granted under the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document. The Treaty, signed in 1840 by Maori and the British government, promises to protect taonga, the Maori term for resources considered valuable by New Zealand’s indigenous people. At the time of the Treaty signing, such resources included land, forests and fisheries. Maori believe the concept of taonga also extends to radio spectrum.” – Wired