Tag: 12.04.02

Theatre Drain

Is it just coincidence or is something deeper going on here? Many of Scotland’s best theatre and artistic directors are leaving their jobs. “Within the next few months, every rep theatre in Scotland save the Byre in St Andrews will have a new artistic director.”

The Miracle-Of-Technology Problem

“As moviemaking becomes increasingly high-tech, Hollywood film crews are finding themselves at odds with the technology that permeates everyday life. They sit on the cutting edge of a global laboratory in which millions of computer chips, hordes of wireless devices and even ordinary contraptions can wreak havoc on their productions.” But it’s not like the old days when if a mechanical camera broke, you got inside and fixed it…

Royal Art Replacement (Are They Fakes?)

Is a senior member of England’s royal family selling off art masterpieces and replacing them with fakes? A report claims that “the female royal, who was not named, is said to have sold two watercolours by Thomas Gainsborough to an antique dealer for £100,000. The paintings were said to have been replaced in their original frames by photographs of the watercolours, specially aged to look like old masterpieces.”

Big Publisher Settles With Upstart Internet Publisher

Publishing giant Random House and online publisher RosettaBooks have settled RH’s lawsuit against the upstart internet publisher. Rosetta has been selling electronic versions of books that predate the internet by authors such as Kurt Vonnegut and William Styron. Rosetta claimed its editions as new publications and made deals with the authors and not the original publishers. “But the settlement announced Wednesday leaves the issue unresolved. The two sides essentially agreed it was better to work together than to fight.”

“The Arts” – A Meaningless Banal Phrase

The etymology of the phrase “the arts” is fascinating. ” ‘The arts’ has also become one of those irritating modern pieties, like ‘community’, ‘compassion’ or ‘ excellence’, which have people crossing themselves. All too often, ‘supporting the arts’ is little more than a badge of gentility. It doesn’t imply a real discriminating passion for music, painting or the theatre, let alone any sense of how they might inform your life or change society. It doesn’t even imply paying a fair price for the work of an artist. It is simply part of the cement in the thin wall that separates the respectable from the barbaric.”

Festival Of Brains

“Coming soon: A big-brained summit featuring some of the world’s foremost scientists, artists, businesspeople, media figures, writers and all-around cultural visionaries… It’s the Toronto International Marshall McLuhan Festival of the Future,” and it’s being launched by the man behind the very successful Toronto International Film Festival. A skeptic might point out that Toronto already has an “ideas” festival, a 4-year-old gathering known as ideaCity, but McLuhan organizers say their event will be broader in scope.

Kennedy Center Looks To Dance Patrons To Help

The Kennedy Center has been looking for ways to shore up its dance offerings ever since Michael Kaiser took over as director, and now, even as fundraising by arts organizations nationwide is suffering the effects of the stagnant economy, the Kennedy hopes that its patrons will help foot the bill. “In a letter this week, the center is asking patrons to join the Kennedy Center Ballet Circle by making contributions of $1,000 to $250,000. The money will support the annual season of ballet, and donors will receive ticket privileges as well as invitations to special receptions, rehearsals and discussions.”

Stories No One Wants To See Now

How did a movie adaptation of a 1955 Graham Greene story go from being touted as Oscar-worthy before its planned September 2001 release to being all-but unreleaseable? September 11. “What freaked me out after the 10th was the 11th. I showed the film to some people and staff, and they said: ‘Are you out of your mind? You can’t release this now; it’s unpatriotic. America has to be cohesive, and band together.’ We were worried that nobody had the stomach for a movie about bad Americans anymore.”

Recovery In the UK

The British film industry appears to be on the road to recovery after a dismal year in which investment fell off, writers and actors strikes (or the threat thereof) stalled production, and producers took their projects elsewhere. But things are definitely looking up: “More than £280m has been invested in the UK by foreign film companies so far this year compared to £230.4m in 2001, according to the Film Council, the government body which promotes the industry.”