“Originality – or the ability to think up novel ideas that don’t occur to many other people – is a key aspect of creativity. But researchers are struggling to pin down where the gift comes from.”
Tag: 12.20.10
Taking Stock Of Stephen Sondheim
“The biggest misapprehension about Sondheim – that he puts intellect above feeling, as if the two aren’t connected – rests, as he sees it, on a wrong-headed understanding of art; that it is driven by something imprecise and mystical, rather than hard, fast rules.”
UK Media Regulator Okays TV Product Placement
The media regulator said the new rules governing product placement – which is where companies can pay to have their product placed in a show – would allow broadcasters to “access new sources of revenue”, while protecting audiences.
An Opera Boom In China
“After years spent building spectacular, state-of-the art opera houses in major metropolises and unheralded backwaters, China is experiencing a boom in opera production, opera education and original opera creation.”
Study: Weather’s Effects On Our Moods
“The first myth to die is the idea that everyone feels bad when the weather gets foul. It turns out that most people might fall into one of four categories when it comes to their moods and weather, say researchers.”
Five Music Websites Protest Their Shutdown By The Government
“The sites were shut over the Thanksgiving weekend as part of ‘Operation In Our Sites,’ a crackdown on 82 domains, or Web addresses, suspected of copyright infringement and selling counterfeit handbags, sunglasses and other consumer goods. The investigation is continuing. Unlike most previous similar government crackdowns, the domains were seized with no warning.”
AP’s Top Ten Entertainment Stories Of 2010
The dramatic upheaval of late-night at NBC was chosen as 2010’s entertainment story of the year, as voted on by Associated Press members.
Panto Becomes Big Business (How’d That Happen?)
In 2010 “the experience is almost unrecognisable – slick, high-budget productions with international stars delivering genuinely funny lines. The Great British Pantomime has become an industry, with spectators numbering in the millions and revenues growing steadily.”