“It may be too soon to define his signature steps or say what is unmistakably the Wheeldon aesthetic–and it is certainly too soon to say whether his company will meet the critic Arlene Croce’s definition of a great dance company: ‘a vision of the universe and the individual’s place in it.’ But to sit in an audience waiting for the curtain to go up on a Wheeldon premiere is to feel that uncommon crackle of anticipation.”
Tag: 10.15.07
India To Withdraw Oscar Nomination?
“India may be forced to withdraw its Oscar entry in the foreign film category because of alleged bias in the selection process.”
Dance Ambassador To The World (Yeah, Who?)
“There are reasons why dancers don’t go around grabbing as much attention as other media and theatre people. Beyond the fact that dance still counts as a minority art form, most of its practitioners are so exhausted by the daily routine of class, rehearsal and performance that they don’t have time for extracurricular activities. Most of them also leave the profession so young. Even so, if we were to go looking for an ambassador for British dance, the list is dispiritingly short.”
Look! It’s A CD! It’s An LP!
“Rock band Fightstar is releasing its next single on a disc that is vinyl on one side and a CD on the other. Its record company Gut admits the vinyl-disc is a gimmick but hopes it will capture fans’ imagination.”
After 2,500 Centuries, Acropolis Art On The Move
Greece starts (carefully) removing scultures from the Acropolis to a new museum. “Yesterday’s meticulously choreographed operation will be repeated 153 times during the coming months as an estimated 4,500 antiquities are moved from the Acropolis to the new museum.”
Hollywood’s Email Protocol
“Today, thanks to Hollywood’s crack-like obsession with gadgets, certain protocol persists when navigating our brave, new, cursor-blinking world. Consider yourself cc’d: Breaking rank is taboo, even over the Internet.”
Ticketmaster Wins Against Mass Ticket-Buying Software
“Amid an uproar over the huge demand for seats to pop idol Hannah Montana’s tour, a U.S. federal judge on Monday barred the use of automated software to make mass ticket purchases from the leading box-office service Ticketmaster.”
The No-Name Movie Critics And Their 5 Seconds Of Fame
Desperate for praise, movie studios often make blurb-stars out of local movie critics. “The studios typically scour critics’ published work for favorable comments, and often seek permission to use a snippet or two in an ad. Some movie representatives ask critics for blurb-ready comments in the lobby of a theater immediately after a screening, long before the critics have published or aired their reviews.”
The Endangered TV Critic
‘Mass-circulation newspapers are experiencing hard financial times, prompting many to reduce arts coverage. The result is an unsettling debate about eliminating local movie and television critics, as publishers allocate limited resources elsewhere. And TV critics find themselves evaluating shows most of their readers haven’t seen, thanks to increasingly fragmented viewing.”
Led Zeppelin Goes Online
The band was a holdout, not releasing its songs for downloading. “Led Zeppelin’s decision to sell its music online coincides with the end of a fierce bidding war over the rights to administer the band’s catalog of songs.”