“The second-highest-paid actor in Asia is a balding, middle-aged man with a paunch, hailing from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and sporting the kind of moustache that went out of style in 1986.” He is Rajinikanth. “Or, as his films are contractually obligated to credit him, ‘SUPERSTAR Rajinikanth!'”
Tag: 09.27.10
Bad News: Digital Music Sales Flat In 2010
“According to analytics company Nielsen, digital music sales in the United States were flat during the first half of 2010; showing no positive growth from 2009. The data should be concerning to record labels as digital music sales rose 28% from 2007 to 2008 and 13% from 2008 to 2009.”
Urban Intellectual Fodder – The New Middle-Brow
“Neither original nor path-breaking, this art is derivative hommage; postmodern commentary around the edges of art. It is art born of attitude, not passion. It is art that postures but doesn’t grip. It is art created by those who are more passionate about a career in art than about art itself.”
How To Listen To Music (And Why)
“I would argue that paying attention to others rather than yourself, which focused listening makes possible, is music’s ultimate use. And if music exists in your life solely as an accompaniment for other activities, then you are not really listening to it.”
So Who’s the Ballerina of the Decade? (There Are Four of Them)
At the “Stars of the 21st Century” ballet gala, a Canadian event held this year, for the first time, at the Moscow Kremlin, four stars got the Ballerina-of-the-Decade honorific: Diana Vishneva, Svetlana Lunkina, Alina Cojocaru and Lucia Lacarra.
The Messy Backstory to the VQR Tragedy
“The suicide of [the Virginia Quarterly Review‘s] managing editor has been blamed on workplace bullying. New details suggest the real story is much more complicated.”
Shel Silverstein’s (Very) Grown-Up Side
We know about all the children’s poems that made him famous, and the Top 40 tunes he wrote (“A Boy Named Sue,” “The Cover of the Rolling Stone“). But what about albums like Freakin’ at the Freakers’ Ball? Or such tunes as “Masochistic Baby,” “Sausalito Witch,” and a few others whose titles wouldn’t get past our spam filter …
Placido Domingo Stepping Down From Washington Nat’l Opera
The great jack-of-all-operatic-trades “will not renew his contract as general director of the Washington National Opera when it expires in June, 2011. His departure is not entirely a surprise – Domingo has long been thought to be chronically overextended. But it also means that the company is left without a marquee leader, its most recognizable brand.”
Why Science Doesn’t – Can’t – Support ‘The New Atheism’
The recent books by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris et al. “sometimes feed a widespread misconception that scientists don’t have the capacity to gambol around beyond the available data. … But good science is always open-minded, and the history of science is one of surprises and overturnings.”
Irish Actors’ Equity Wins Right to Negotiate Pay Scales
“As part of a national industrial relations agreement with trade unions, the government has undertaken to amend competition law, which currently prevents Irish Equity negotiating payment on behalf of its members on issues such as voice-overs for radio and TV advertisements, an important source of revenue for the profession.”