The writer behind the hottest indie film of the season (“Juno”) is a 29-year-old former stripper and phone sex operator from Minneapolis. Somewhere along the line, Diablo Cody started to blog about her unusual life, and in the kind of rags-to-riches story that isn’t supposed to happen in real life, a Hollywood producer happened across the blog and asked Cody to write a movie.
Tag: 12.09.07
Art As Charity
A Nova Scotia artist is painting a series of canvases focused on the Vatican in an effort to save a Halifax church. The church in question needs to raise $300,000 by next summer in order to avoid being folded into a larger diocese. The artist intends to paint 20 to 25 works in his charitable series.
TV Is About To Get A Lot Crappier
Think the writers’ strike hasn’t really damaged your TV viewing all that much? Just wait – January is going to be brutal. “Almost none of the most popular shows on prime time television will be offering new episodes to viewers after the first of the year,” and a flood of quick-and-dirty reality shows will likely test viewer patience.
New Prokofiev Score Coming To Covent Garden
“After being hidden from the world for 70 years, an unfinished film score by Sergei Prokofiev, the Russian composer, is to be performed as a ballet at Covent Garden in London. The work, which Prokofiev was commissioned to write but did not complete because the film was cancelled, has been finished by Michael Berkeley, a British composer.”
A Desert Turnaround In The Making?
The Phoenix Symphony has seemed to be perpetually on the edge of crisis for as long as anyone can remember, battling deficits and small crowds to stay afloat. But there are signs that things are finally turning around: the endowment has doubled in the last eight years, and music director Michael Christie has been introducing new ways of connecting the orchestra with its audience.
The Ever-Evolving Elliott Carter
There has been no shortage of paeans to composer Elliott Carter over the last few years. But what is it that makes the 99-year-old composer so fascinating to so many? Perhaps it’s the remarkable fact that Carter has never settled comfortably into a single style or groove, and has instead continued to audibly evolve in his work when most composers would have long since settled for consistency.
Dumbing Down The BBC (Will All The UK Follow?)
Is the embrace of tacky pop culture killing the BBC and, by extension, hurting Britain’s cultural integrity? “When Britain is plummeting down the international reading rankings, possibly because children have too many tests and too little time to learn, it is fair to question whether the BBC is fulfilling its public purpose.”
Dangerous Clothing
Elaborate costumes are always a risky proposition for dancers, and the horrible accident in Atlanta last weekend has thrown the spotlight on those who design such things. Balancing safety with the desire to impress audiences is tricky, and the dangers are lurking in every seam.