“Spanglish, the chaotic collision between the two most widely spoken western languages, is in part an “intra-ethnic” dialect designed to allow its users to communicate with each other in a sometimes hostile dominant culture. In that sense, as Ilan Stavans points out in this engaging book, Spanglish is akin to Yiddish, the mixture of Hebrew and German that evolved into the tongue of eastern European Jewry. But, Spanglish is also a transitional stage in the integration of Latinos into mainstream American culture. Since there are now 37m Latinos in the United States, Spanglish is also a fashion and, the implication is, a powerful linguistic force which will alter English and Spanish alike.”
Tag: 10.30.03
Culture Of Sweets
“This year, confectioners expect to generate Halloween sales of $2 billion in America alone. Last year, the country’s total confectionery sales were $24 billion—the highest anywhere. Behind all the fun, the business is fiercely competitive—and consolidating fast. Worldwide sales of confectionery and chewing gum in 2003 are estimated to reach $112 billion, according to Euromonitor. The industry is led by Nestlé, Cadbury Schweppes, M&M/Mars, and Hershey.”
Single-Minded – Recording Business Changing Priorities
The economics of the recording industry are changing. “The success of iTunes has made clear to the music industry an uncomfortable truth: many people want to buy single tracks, not albums. Apple’s data show that its customers bought 12 singles for every one album at iTunes. That compares with 0.02 singles per album in American stores, according to research by Sanford Bernstein. The best artists may tempt people to buy a whole album. But the industry can no longer rely on getting the price of an album as a reward for backing a band.”
A Record Year At The Movie Box Office
Movie fans spent $20.4 billion on movie tickets last year – a record amount. “The average ticket in the UK cost $6.45 (£4.29) in 2002, compared with $5.81 in the US. Film fans in Russia have had to stomach a 138% rise over the past two years, rising to $1.72 in 2002. But the cheapest cinema tickets were in Romania (39 cents) and India, where each ticket cost 21 cents.”
The Debate Beyond Po-Mo
9/11 was the final nail in the coffin of post-modernism, writes Michael Barnes. “No matter which side one takes in these post 9/11 conflicts – which could make the culture wars of the 1980s and ’90s look like child’s play – the rantings of late 20th-century postmodern relativists seem as quaint and distant today as the prattlings of Victorian sentimentalists. The absence of a seductive replacement for postmodernism has left public intellectuals – can we use that word in a daily newspaper these days without smirking? – with a renewed respect and affection for the paramount movement of the 20th century: modernism.”
Canadian Copyright Bill Clears A Hurdle
A controversial piece of legislation which would extend the rights of Canadian copyright holders well into the 21st century has passed a vote in the House of Commons. Until the late 1990s, Canadian copyrights had no expiration date, but a 1997 overhaul allowed thousands of old documents and images to enter the public domain. The new bill is a partial rollback of that 1997 legislation, and is also being carefully watched by observers on all sides of the ongoing evolution of copyright law.
The World’s Most Overprotected Hunk Of Wood
19th-century violin virtuoso Nicolo Paganini had quite a life story, full of gambling, carousing, and concertizing, but the life of his instrument is nearly as fascinating on its own. The 260-year-old Guarneri, which is kept under heavy guard in Genoa and overseen by a committee, has been played by only a few select musicians since the death of Paganini, and when jazz fiddler Regina Carter was invited to try it out two years ago, purists threw a fit. Carter recorded an album on the famous violin, and this weekend, she’ll get a chance to perform on it live in New York. But only for 45 minutes. Because the commitee says so.
Tough Times In The Northland
The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is reporting a deficit for the just-concluded fiscal year of nearly $800,000, its first in a decade. The announcement comes on the heels of the signing of the SPCO’s new contract with its musicians, which trimmed six weeks from the orchestra’s season and slashed salaries by nearly 20%. The SPCO also laid off a third of its administrative staff last spring in a cost-cutting move, and has significantly scaled back or replaced some of the larger productions it had scheduled for this season.
Riopelle Sale Worries Historians
The estate of the late artist Jean-Paul Riopelle is “putting 40 of the abstract painter’s works up for sale at an auction in Montreal in November, and some art historians are concerned about the impact of the sale on the international reputation of the Montreal painter.”
Churching Up The Chick Lit
It’s no secret that evangelical Christianity has a strong hold on America these days, and religion in general is said to be of great importance to most Americans. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the publishing industry is looking for new ways to tap the market. One of the more successful strategies thus far has been the combining of tangentially religious subject matter with existing literary sub-genres, such as the post-feminist grouping known as “chick lit.” Think Bridget Jones without all the drinking and carousing.