20th Century Fox has launched an offshoot studio which will release Christian-themed films both in cinemas and on DVD. FoxFaith will attempt to capitalize on America’s growing evangelical demographic, which it calls “underserved.”
Tag: 09.20.06
Is NPR $225 Million Better?
Alex Beam remembers that National Public Radio got $255 million from Joan Kroc’s estate. “So what has changed? Two hundred twenty-five million dollars later, public radio certainly hasn’t gotten worse. But I don’t hear that it has gotten any better.”
Trockaderos – In On The Joke
The Trockaderos have enthusiastic audiences in the US and UK. But “even when audiences know and love the Trocks, different countries look for different things, and react in different ways. London and New York are the easiest audiences, spanning gay and straight punters, dedicated dance fans and ordinary theatre-goers; among them all, every joke and nuance gets appreciated. In dance-obsessed Japan, however, where the group are a national cult, enthusiasm is much more muted.”
On The Hunt For Talent
“Where does talent come from? Talent is kissed by God, who remains perversely democratic about it. He bestows talent without moral judgment on both the good and the bad. Poor old Salieri! That upright patron saint of the mediocre could never accept the capricious injustice of it all. Why not him? Why did God choose an idiot savant named Mozart? On the other hand, talent needs luck, the helping hand of Fate.”
How Do We Reclaim Real Public Discourse? (And Get Away From Talking Points)
“We are witnessing a palpable decline in the public’s appetite for nuance, complexity and critical thinking, which in turn has spawned a virulent secular dogmatism and an alarming devolution in both the substance and style of public discourse.”
Family Decries Memoir As Fraud
“The family of a bestselling author whose vivid memoir claims to document a ‘hell’ of sexual abuse inside a Catholic institution for fallen women denounced the book as a work of fiction yesterday.”
Canadian Opera – Victim Of “Ring” Curse?
“Could it be that the Canadian Opera Company’s opera house-opening production of the 16-hour epic has its own curse — a medical one? A rising casualty count makes it easy to think so.”
Kary Schulman, SF’s Grant Goddess
“For the past quarter century, no other person has meant more to the vitality of the arts in San Francisco, to the amplitude and richness of culture itself here, than this longtime and fondly cherished director of the city’s Grants for the Arts program. In a feat of sustained and museum-quality finesse, Schulman has turned City Hall bureaucracy into her own kind of art form.”
PBS Struggles With FCC Censorship Focus
“These days, the FCC’s sterner enforcement policy makes it risky for a PBS station even to rerun a classic documentary such as the forthcoming Eyes on the Prize without purging it of potentially offensive language.”
Philadelphia Theatre Company Aims For Flash In New Theatre Design
“Ever since Bertolt Brecht denounced stage gimmickry in the 1920s, many new theaters have been designed to downplay the make-believe. Stages became open platforms, leaving actors without the refuge of the wings or a curtain. Theater hardware was exposed, so that patrons saw exactly how all the tricks were done. By contrast, the PTC stage includes 20-foot wings. By cocooning its main theater in voluptuous colors and fabrics, the PTC is signaling that it wants patrons to sink into their plush seats and suspend disbelief for the length of the performance.”