Books by bloggers haven’t sold well despite considerable hype. “I think that (publishing bloggers) is something you have to scrutinize very carefully. If a blog gets the attention of the public, then we are at the point knowing that we really have to look at it and determine if there’s something beyond it. Having a popular blog isn’t enough to get a book deal anymore.”
Tag: 09.23.06
Exploring Michael Frayn
“He made a starry reputation first as a satirist, writing a bracingly funny column for the Guardian in the early 1960s. His first novels, all five of them comedies, none of which sold well, won critical plaudits (The Russian Interpreter scooped the Hawthornden Prize in 1967), while his philosophy tome, Constructions, a series of 309 numbered thoughts (‘you can’t live in the present any more than you can live in the border between Kent and Sussex’), set him in territory occupied by the century’s greatest thinkers (Frayn read moral sciences at Cambridge).”
Taking Stock Of Gunther Grass’s Book
“As a moral reckoning with the Nazi past, however, Peeling the Onion is a failure – and not even an honourable one. For a writer who has built his entire reputation on his indictment of an older generation for supposedly evading responsibility, Grass shows little awareness of his own bad faith in concealing the shameful facts about himself. Though he constantly interrogates his younger self in a rhetorical manner, the older Grass does his best to avoid confronting the awful truth.”
As It Turns Out, It Is Possible To Ignore America
Now that Toronto finally has a proper opera house, William Littler says that it’s about time the city’s opera company expanded its repertoire to include American works. “Although Canada’s largest opera company already boasts the country’s broadest operatic repertoire, one important part of the literature remains almost completely ignored — that emanating from south of the border.”
Dance On Paper
Creating a historical record of dance is one of the greatest challenges in the arts world, but a few dedicated souls are stepping up to the task. “Dance archives are not just a librarian’s or a historian’s resource. Dance companies and choreographers rely on a lot of these materials to reconstruct dances of the past. Traditionally, ballet has always been passed on anecdotally, from dancer to dancer. Modern dance has only recently been documented.”
The Multiplex As All-Purpose Entertainment Center
There was a time when all a movie theater had to do to make money was to run a few ads and show a few movies. But those days are long gone, and increasingly, cinema owners are turning to unconventional events to put butts in the seats. “The future of movie theatres, in fact, seems to have less and less to do with movies as new technology allows cinemas to telecast everything from hockey, wrestling, opera and HBO comedy specials to hosting children’s birthday parties, church services and interactive video games.”
Beating The Kids At Their Own Game
“[Ronald] Harwood, 71, has reached an age when even the most successful screenwriters are usually relegated to living off royalties and rehashing their past triumphs over long lunches at the Grill… Producers and executives are well aware of his age yet have included him in a small but highly valued group of senior players — like the 79-year-old Spider-Man writer Alvin Sargent, or the prolific 81-year-old writer-director Robert Altman — who have defied the film industry’s frank preference for youth.”
The Christians, The Talking Vegetables, And Madonna
Accusations of censorship have a long and mostly undistinguished history in the world of television, and two recent controversies have placed religious conservative activists in an odd situation. “The disputes, over [NBC’s] proposed broadcast of a Madonna concert that includes a crucifixion scene and over its cutting religious references from the animated children’s show ‘VeggieTales,’ have some critics charging that NBC maintains a double standard toward Christianity.”
Paris Opens A New (Old) Concert Hall
“This month, [Paris’s] Salle Pleyel reopened after its most radical renovation to date, a $36 million makeover that involved gutting and redesigning its main auditorium. And along with the infamous echo, all traces of its past, except for its finely restored Art Deco foyer, have vanished. Put simply, 79 years after its inauguration, the Salle Pleyel is once again a new concert hall.”
The Friendly Neighborhood Met?
New York’s Metropolitan Opera has a well-earned reputation as a tradition-bound, buttoned-up organization. So for the Met to throw open its doors to allow the public to spend an afternoon behind the scenes qualifies as legitimate news. “The event was part of a carefully calibrated buildup of publicity set in motion by Peter Gelb, the new general manager, in the days leading up to Monday’s opening night.”