“Because the press elite generally acted as the high priests of orthodoxy in the holy temple of blue, its decline and fall marks a political as well as an economic transition. Power is passing from institutions that play by the old rules and uphold the old ideas to new kinds of organizations operating on different assumptions.”
Tag: 08.04.13
If The Ballad Of John Henry Became A Hollywood Blockbuster
“Well, I think the first thing that would happen is you would say the fundamental, most important part of the story is that he dies – [and that] he is victorious, he beats the machine. It’s the triumph of the human spirit over technology. But with that comes a price. And all the studio execs would say, ‘Absolutely. That’s what we love about this story.’ Two drafts later somebody would say, ‘Does he have to die?'” Screenwriter Damon Lindelof walks us through the studios’ likely development process.
87-Year-Old Elmore Leonard Recovering From Stroke
“He’s doing better and better every day,” Sutter said, noting that he and members of Leonard’s family hope to have good news to share soon.
Kongar-ol Ondar, 51, Superstar Of Tuvan Throat-Singing
He traveled the globe introducing audiences to his people’s art of overtone singing (producing two or more notes at once), becoming an audience favorite on the world-music circuit. In Tuva, a republic within the Russian Federation, he was “like John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley and Michael Jordan kind of rolled into one.”
When Writers Change Languages
“The experience is nothing short of life-threatening. Not only do you have to start everything again from scratch, but you also have to undo what you have been doing for almost as long as you have been around. … Painful as it can be at a strictly human level, the experience can also be philosophically fascinating. Rarely do we get the chance to observe a more dramatic re-making of oneself.”
The Oscars Of Water Ballet?
“Sink or Swim, a four-minute water ballet about love, marriage and pool fights, swept the awards Saturday at SynchroSwim 2013, a quasi-annual spectacle organized by the Washington Project for the Arts. About 400 people gathered around the Capitol Skyline Hotel pool, curious to see what this year’s coterie of competitive performance artists, dancers and swimmers would do.”
Why Tom Hanks Just Loves Old Typewriters
In an Op-Ed for the Sunday New York Times, the actor writes, “Computer keyboards make a mousy tappy tap tappy tap like ones you hear in a Starbucks – work may be getting done but it sounds cozy and small, like knitting needles creating a pair of socks. Everything you type on a typewriter sounds grand, the words forming in mini-explosions of SHOOK SHOOK SHOOK. A thank-you note resonates with the same heft as a literary masterpiece.”
How Personalized Media Is Breaking Down Community
“We’re not just interacting in an individualistic way with smartphones and tablets and the Netflix-style personalization systems attached to them. We’re also using these tools to displace two of the rare communal media spaces to rise during the electronic era: family televisions and movie theaters.”
Twilight Of The Gods Indeed (Time For Bayreuth To Take A Break?)
“The new Bayreuth Ring is not just a scandal, and not only a musical triumph. It is a crisis of content for the Wagner Festival, and calls into question the future of the genre.”
Want To Be A Street Performer In LA? It Takes Lots Of Planning
“Traditional street shows can be a tough sell in today’s era of mystifying televised performances by high-profile illusionists and endurance artists such as David Blaine and Criss Angel.”