Want people to come to your (rather expensive) show? Start them out with a warm welcome from staff, a clean bar – and soap in the toilets.
Tag: 09.19.12
Does Norway – Which Sidesteps Literary Agents – Have Publishing Right?
“Norway buys 1000 copies of every book a Norwegian author publishes. It provides a $19,000 annual subsidy to every author who is a member of the Authors’ Union. The Association of Bookstores is allowed to have a monopoly on the sale of books–but is prohibited by law from engaging in price competition.”
After Big Job Losses In Hollywood, Employment Stabilizes
“An analysis by Entertainment Partners, the largest payroll provider in Hollywood, shows the entertainment industry shed 90,000 jobs between 2004 and 2011. That translates into some $3 billion in lost wages, according to the findings.”
Florida’s Broward Center To Introduce Stadium-Style Luxury Boxes
“Club Level [will be] a VIP area with wider seats inside the hall, and private access to a soundproof lounge with flat screen TVs, a full bar and food service – reminiscent of the luxury boxes fans pay top dollar for at sports venues.” The amenities are meant to appeal to “drag-alongs” – e.g., the bored spouse who gets dragged along to the opera or ballet.
Mandy Patinkin Tells You How You Should Watch His Series
“[Homeland] is a true serial, not a procedural. It’s cumulative, and you will negatively impact your experience if you cheat [by watching episodes out of order]. People who sell it, they don’t give a shit how you watch, but I do give a shit, and I want you to watch it the way that it was designed.”
Is The Internet Now More Complex Than The Human Brain?
“Take the number of computers on the planet–several billion–and multiply by the number of transistors in each machine–hundreds of millions–and you get about a billion billion, written more elegantly as 1018. That’s a thousand times larger than the number of synapses in the human brain (about 1015).”
Philip Roth Versus Wikipedia – What It Says About Authority
“Wikipedians not only have no way of deciding whether Philip Roth is an authority on Philip Roth, but even if they decided that he was, they have no way of knowing that the person claiming to be Philip Roth really is Philip Roth.”
Montgomery (Alabama) Ballet Director Resigns
“Priscilla Crommelin-Ball has resigned as executive director of the Montgomery Ballet, effective immediately. … ‘After careful consideration, I feel compelled to separate from the Montgomery Ballet. … Frankly, balancing the demands of the ballet with my obligations to my family business has become unfair to both’.”
L.A. Gets A Cross Between Banksy And The Guerrilla Girls
“A mystery street artist with a sense of humor has turned parts of downtown L.A. into a guerrilla art installation. Eight neighborhood landmarks or areas have been marked with official-looking city placards that offer what appear to be background information about the location. One, for instance, says that a downtown dumpster was designed by Andy Warhol.”
Canadian Ambassador Writes New Ending To Hollywood Movie About Iran Hostages
“After [Argo] was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, friends and supporters of former ambassador Ken Taylor expressed dismay that [the movie] had minimized the Canadian role. In response, director Ben Affleck picked up the phone to speak to Taylor and asked how to make things right. As a result there’s a new postscript to the film, drafted by Taylor himself.”