Actor Morgan Freeman says the concept of a month dedicated to black history is “ridiculous.” “You’re going to relegate my history to a month?” the 68-year-old actor says in an interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes” to air Sunday”I don’t want a black history month. Black history is American history.”
Tag: 12.15.05
Goodspeed Puts Theatre Project On Idle
After finding it difficult to raise money, Goodspeed Musicals’ plan to build a new theatre complex in East Haddam, Connecticut, to complement its work at the historic Goodspeed Opera House, is on the back burner.
John Denver Show Bombs, Closes
The John Denver jukebox show “Rocky Mountain High” is closing. “The musical entertainment using the songs of the late blond-mopped, boyish singer-songwriter is adapted from the John Denver autobiography ‘Take Me Home.’ It opened Nov. 9. By close, it will have played 12 previews and 61 regular performances.
Movies Have a Bad Theatre Year
The movie theatre business has had a bad year. “Domestic revenues at movie theaters may fall below $9 billion for the first time since 2001 after averaging $9.3 billion over the last three years. Factoring in higher admission prices, the number of tickets sold is expected to finish at about 1.4 billion, the lowest since 1997.”
New Zealand Cashes In On Fantasy Films
New Zealand has become the center of the world’s fantasy film business. “New Zealand’s growing reputation as a go-to place for state-of-the-art visual effects is almost entirely because of Peter Jackson. He has come a long way since starting his career in the mid-eighties with a no-budget horror-science-fiction flick filmed during weekends with friends. The most sophisticated props were the foam masks he made in his mother’s oven.”
Washington Ballet Cancels Nutcracker
Washington Ballet has canceled its performance of Nutcracker tonight because of a labor dispute. “Further performances of the holiday ballet — as well as the rest of the company’s season — are in question after management decided yesterday evening to cancel tonight’s show. Executive Director Jason Palmquist said he was forced to do so because the dancers’ union called a strike. The union denied this.”
Will Tech Save The Book Biz?
The low-tech business of books is looking to some digital strategies for help. “Technology, often declared the enemy of literacy, has been called upon to save it. With hints of optimism and anxiety, publishers are counting on the digital text and digital channels to win over a public drawn to other media.”
Help! All My Packages Are Blinking At Me!
“Electronics maker Siemens is readying a paper-thin electronic-display technology so cheap it could replace conventional labels on disposable packaging, from milk cartons to boxes of Cheerios. In less than two years, Siemens says, the technology could transform consumer-goods packaging from the fixed, ink-printed images of today to a digital medium of flashing graphics and text that displays prices, special offers or alluring photos, all blinking on miniature flat screens.”
Trove Of Nazi Images Now Online
A Nazi archive of 60,000 digital colour images of wall and ceiling paintings in German buildings has been put online. The pictures were taken for the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda and the Department of Buildings and Monuments between 1943 and 1945, and show the interiors of 480 buildings—churches, monasteries, castles and palaces, dating from the 10th to the end of the 19th centuries—in what was the ‘Greater German Reich’.”
World’s Top Museums Vie For Hong Kong Project
Some of the world’s top museums are competing to be part of the world’s biggest arts project, the multi-billion-dollar Kowloon Cultural District. “Last month it emerged that two former rivals—the Guggenheim and the Pompidou Centre—have joined forces to increase their chances of securing the lucrative deal. It also appears that other museums angling to get in the frame include the Art Institute of Chicago and Asia Society in New York, the Royal Academy of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Musée d’Orsay and Musée Guimet in Paris, and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.”