With satellite radio still struggling to attract a mass audience, Sirius chief Mel Karmazin is taking direct aim at terrestrial radio, saying it “sucks” as an investment compared with satellite. The CEO’s message, delivered at a Merrill Lynch conference, seemed to fall on deaf ears Tuesday, though, and Sirius XM stock sank to a price not seen in more than five years.
Tag: 09.10.08
How Will Sendak Be Remembered?
Maurice Sendak has had a rough year, and at 80, seems to be considering what could be called the Norman Rockwell legacy question: “was he a great artist or a mere illustrator? …That Mr. Sendak fears that his work is inadequate, that he is racked with insecurity and anxiety, is no surprise. For more than 50 years that has been the hallmark of his art.”
New Met Chief Popular In The Ranks
“The name Thomas P. Campbell probably won’t ring many bells with the public. Inside the Metropolitan Museum, though, the news of his ascension to director is likely to be greeted by many colleagues with pleasure and relief.”
Morton Blasts Laureate Gig
The UK’s poet laureate says he wouldn’t wish the job on anyone, and that writing poetry for the royal family gave him a case of writer’s block. “I dried up completely about five years ago and can’t write anything except to commission.”
Texas Ballet To Open On Schedule
“With only one day remaining until its self-imposed deadline, Texas Ballet Theater has raised the $500,000 in cash that officials had said was needed to open the 2008-09 season and remain fully operational at least through mid-October.”
The Trouble With Messaien
Norman Lebrecht acknowledges that everyone else seems to get something out of Messaien’s music that eludes him. “I listen without prejudice to music by misogynists, racialists, one wife-murderer and at least two paedophiles. But with Messiaen, for all his ingenuity, my gorge rises and my tolerance fails.”
Study: Gender Differences Greater As Rolesa Get More Equal
“It looks as if personality differences between men and women are smaller in traditional cultures like India’s or Zimbabwe’s than in the Netherlands or the United States. A husband and a stay-at-home wife in a patriarchal Botswanan clan seem to be more alike than a working couple in Denmark or France. The more Venus and Mars have equal rights and similar jobs, the more their personalities seem to diverge.”
Independent Movies Having A Tough Slog
“The factors that were meant to boost independents – including new private equity investment, the relative accessibility of digital filmmaking and studio investment through specialty arms – have done nothing of the sort. The festival circuit this year has yet to identify an art-house or independent break-out hit.”