The film version of the stage version of the music of ABBA is set to hit movie theaters next week, and everyone involved is hoping that Mama Mia becomes the breakout hit of the summer. But more than just lining a studio’s pockets, the film has the potential to seriously boost the profile, and tourism industry, of the tiny Greek island where it was filmed.
Tag: 07.09.08
Senate Passes Immunity For Telecoms Who Broke The Law
“The Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama (D-Illinois) voted for the final bill, despite intense lobbying by supporters who used Obama’s own online organizing technology to try to hold him to his promise to fight any bill that included amnesty.”
Museum Association Questions Denver Art Deal
“Two committees of the Association of Art Museum Directors are looking into ethical issues surrounding the Denver Art Museum’s April purchase of an 1892 painting by famed American painter Thomas Eakins. To fund the acquisition, the museum struck an unorthodox deal with billionaire Denver collector Philip Anschutz. In return for a financial donation, he received 50 percent ownership in the painting as well as 50 percent ownership in a major work already in the institution’s collection.”
Ok, So Literary Criticism Is Done…
“The UK has always had the world’s liveliest and most expansive lit-crit pages. A new book over here can hope for reviews in a dozen or more places in its first couple of weeks. But this traditionally vibrant sector, with its myriad outlets, is on the wane. Terminally, it would seem. Pages are falling away, like leaves in autumn.”
UK Publishers Try To Reassure Authors On Children’s Books
“Plans were announced earlier this summer for new titles and reprints to feature a graphic on the back cover indicating “suitable” ages of 5+, 7+, 9+, 11+ and 13+/teen. Due to be implemented this autumn, the scheme has provoked widespread opposition from some of the biggest names in children’s writing including JK Rowling and all four children’s laureates.”
Does US Military Owe Royalties For Music Used In Torture?
“If US interrogators have been using pop songs as torture, as has been reported, then they may owe the songwriters performance royalties. Howard Knopf, a Canadian lawyer specialising in intellectual property, was first to raise the question.”
The Greatest Museum In The World?
Signs point to London’s British Museum. “When Neil MacGregor moved from the National Gallery to Bloomsbury in 2002 the museum had a dusty image, was carrying a £5 million deficit and unhappy staff had gone on strike for the first time over proposed cuts. MacGregor had to make the redundancies, then set about restoring morale.”
The Soprano Who “Got Rid” Of Her High Notes
“Every singer I have ever known works like crazy to get as high as they can and, once there, to polish the notes like brass knockers and use them as a juggernaut. That, however, is not what Natalie Dessay is about.”
Books On The Brink?
“I love books. Admire and appreciate and adore… And yet, if I’m painfully honest, I have to admit it: I barely read books anymore. Not nearly the way I used to, anyway. Not for a long, long time. And chances are, if you’re at all drawn to the new media vortex, neither do you.”
Art That Crosses Borders
An innovative Chicago exhibition is using superhero imagery to challenge American attitudes and policies on immigrants. “The approximately 100 paintings, photographs, sculptures, quilts and artifacts cover a range of immigrant experiences.”