The entertainment industry claims that piracy has cost the US economy 750,000 jobs and $200 to $250 billion. “These statistics are brandished like a talisman each time Congress is asked to step up enforcement to protect the ever-beleaguered U.S. content industry. And both, as far as an extended investigation by Ars Technica has been able to determine, are utterly bogus.”
Tag: 10.07.08
Ten Things Theaters Need to Do Right Now to Save Themselves
Brendan Kiley has a list of urgent suggestions to save the art form from its imminent doom – from the inventive (provide child care, letting the kids play theater games in a rehearsal room while the parents groove to Pinter) to the risky (provide lots of cheap alcohol) to the unlikely (no more Shakespeare). Money quote: “Fringe theater shouldn’t be in the game of ennobling, it should be in the game of debasement.”
Star-Ledger Saved (For Now)
“The Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey, the 15th largest U.S. newspaper by circulation, will not be sold after one of its unions agreed to concessions that the paper said will allow it to stay in business.”
This Election Would Make A Great Book. But Who’d Read It?
“Are the editors and agents who said it would be impossible to write or publish a worthwhile postgame recap of the 2008 election having second thoughts now that the race has turned out to be so much fun?” Some are, or there’d be no story to tell, but most maintain the saturation coverage makes election books a tough sell.
LA Phil Establishes Comissioning Fund
“The Los Angeles Philharmonic has created a special new-music fund in honor of Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, who steps down after 17 years at the end of the season. The fund will support the commissioning of new work, something Salonen increasingly has brought to the orchestra’s repertoire through the years.”
So It’s Like Arts Journal?
“The Daily Beast, Tina Brown’s culture and news website, went up Monday, and in case any puzzlement remains about what she’s up to, there’s a long Q&A with Brown herself laying it out. The site, she says, is not an ‘aggregator,’ […] but will ‘sift, sort and curate’ the Web every day.” (So why should we visit? “Sensibility, darling.”)
Dracula to Rise Again
“Drawing from handwritten notes by Bram Stoker, the horror author’s great-grandnephew is set to pen a Dracula sequel entitled Dracula: The Un-Dead. The new project is the first story authorized by the Stoker family and estate since the 1931 film starring Bela Lugosi.”
The Largest Collection of Russian Icons Outside Russia (And It’s Where?)
The Museum of Russian Icons, tucked away in an old Massachusetts mill town, is doubling its exhibition space and preparing to host a show featuring rare loans from the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
Quadrophenia The Musical?
“Roger Daltrey wants to turn his cult movie Quadrophenia into a West End musical – and would love Carl Barat and Amy Winehouse to star in it.”
Observers Left Breathless as 2008 Giller Prize Finalists Revealed
“Gasps of surprise were heard all-round as Margaret Atwood, a past Giller winner and three-time jury member, stood next to former Ontario premier Bob Rae and revealed the names of the five nominees at a morning press conference.”