Journalists are having a bad time in the movies these days. “The media’s image has taken a long downward slide from the 1976 film “All the President’s Men,” which (even more than the book) lionized Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and, by extension, all of journalism. The heroic reporters that followed, in movies like “The Killing Fields” (1984), now seem quaint. If a film depicts a serious reporter today, he is likely to be as ineffectual as the cameraman played by Joaquin Phoenix in “Hotel Rwanda,” desolate about his inability to draw attention to the genocide. It isn’t hard to spot what’s behind this erosion of the journalist’s image.”
Tag: 07.19.05
The Zen Of The Celbrity Swag Bag
Want to invite a celebrity to your next party? Better pony up the presents (or should we call them bribes?) and we’re talking big-ticket items. “Instead of a small token of appreciation given to celebrities at parties, now it’s a ‘swag suite’ full of long tables of iPods, digital cameras and designer clothes, which VIPs stuff into luggage. The practice has become so excessive, so key to luring stars to awards shows and parties, that there’s now a college class devoted to it.”
Are Audiences Retreating From Movie Theatres Because Of Ads?
“Advertising increased on the principle of creeping tolerance. If we put up with two commercials for a while, why not give us three? If we kept coming, try four. After the hissing in the theatres stopped, owners assumed that we had adapted to the new order. We hadn’t. We had simply fallen into a sullen silence. After all these years, some, like me, still grit our teeth and acknowledge that we’re so desperate to see movies on a big screen with an audience that we’ll tolerate almost any indignity. Other patrons apparently decided that enough was enough. They began staying home. Even if they saw movies on commercial TV, they at least had a mute button to protect themselves.”
Newfoundland Gallery Director Firing Roils Community
Newfoundland’s arts community has been shocked by the sudden dismissal of Gordon Laurin as director of the provincial art gallery just two weeks after the gallery officially opened the doors of its new home. “Speculation is rampant that Laurin’s departure is linked to disagreements over what art the new gallery should show. Said one observer of the local scene: “One of the problems the art gallery has had in general is a lack of understanding by the government and others about the nature of contemporary art spaces, which are by definition vibrant, vocal, ever-changing places.”
How The Post Office Threatens To Kill Rural Canadian Libraries
“Since 1939, Canada Post has offered libraries across the country a subsidized shipping rate of less than $1 per book when sending books back and forth for inter-library loan programs. Under a new plan proposed to take effect April 1, 2006, libraries will be charged commercial rates, which can be as much as $14 per book. If this change goes ahead, many rural libraries won’t be able to afford to take part in the service and many Canadian readers will have access to fewer books.”
A Decision For The Baltimore Symphony Today?
The mess surrounding the appointment of a new music director for the Baltimore Symphony comes to a head today as the orchestra’s board meets to decide whether to hire Marin Alsop. “The hard-to-define chemistry between musicians and conductor that produces and sustains a long-term relationship is difficult to predict, let alone guarantee. Whether Alsop and the BSO could achieve such a connection is a question that the orchestra’s board may consider this morning.”
Orchestra For Rent
Some Australian orchestras are earning a nice side income hiring themselves out. “Want an ensemble for your next corporate do, musicians for a film soundtrack, a backing band for a pop diva? Your state orchestra will be happy to oblige – and no wonder. Despite union claims that it’s been stripped of more than $2.2 million in government funding in real terms over the past five years, the Sydney Symphony has notched up a surplus every year since being corporatised in 1996. Driving this is the money that has been coming in from hiring out the orchestra for commercial events. Last year was the fourth consecutive year that income from this sector has grown.”
Why So Few Women Conductors?
“In an era when women commonly run everything from universities to Fortune 500 companies to entire countries, why has it taken so long for a single leading orchestra to take the step? The fact is, classical music has been extraordinarily hidebound when it comes to gender issues. American orchestras have been far ahead of many of their European counterparts on this front, with women making up a third or more of the membership of several leading ensembles and regularly dominating the string section. But things have been just as hard for female conductors in the United States as they are across the Atlantic.”
In Baltimore: Musicians Object To Music Director Choice
Musicians of the Baltimore Symphony have strongly objected to the orchestra’s search committee choice of Marin Alsop as the next music director. “The turmoil at the Baltimore Symphony is part of a long history of orchestra players’ seeking a greater say in the choice of the man or woman who stands before them day after day, leading rehearsals, conducting concerts and strongly affecting their musical and even personal lives.”
Beecroft Accuses Italy’s “Most Successful” Artist Of Stealing Ideas
“Maurizio Cattelan is Italy’s most successful contemporary artist. In 2004 after his sculpture of a hanging horse, The Ballad of Trotsky, was auctioned for $1.2m (now £686,000), ArtReview magazine put him at number four on a list of the art world’s VIPs. It was the highest ranking for any artist. But the Genoa-born artist Vanessa Beecroft – best known for her disturbing installations of living, almost nude, models – said she had had an affair with Cattelan before either became famous and that she was the source for many of his ideas.”