“The film made £34.27 million in ticket sales this year to claim the top spot at the British box office, beating runner-up The Inbetweeners 2 by over £1 million in takings.”
Tag: 12.30.14
Another Theatre Agrees To Pay Living Wage To Its Workers
“We think it’s a good thing to aspire to, and we’re able to pay that. Our staff work long hours, often unsociable hours, and they work very hard. They’ve been key to the success of the Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall in recent years, and we think it’s only right that is recognised.”
The Medical Costs Of Loneliness
“The range of harmful neural and behavioural effects of perceived isolation documented in adults include increased anxiety, hostility and social withdrawal; fragmented sleep and daytime fatigue; increased vascular resistance and altered gene expression and immunity; decreased impulse control; increased negativity and depressive symptoms; and increased age-related cognitive decline and risk of dementia.”
Annie Proulx Wishes She’d Never Written “Brokeback Mountain”
“I wish I’d never written the story. It’s just been the cause of hassle and problems and irritation since the film came out. … One of the reasons we keep the gates locked here is that a lot of men have decided that the story should have had a happy ending. They can’t bear the way it ends – they just can’t stand it.”
“Creative Entrepreneur” Or No, The Artist Is Definitely Not Dead Yet
Robinson Meyer hits back at William Deresiewicz’s jeremiad: “His reading suffers a tremendous flaw: Deresiewicz cannot discriminate the substantial from the faddish. What’s more, his historical work is incomplete – he mistakes a very new idea for a very old one. Deresiewicz’s artistic philosophy aspires to timelessness, but it’s younger than most of his Millennial subjects.”
Is Social Media Killing The Professional Critic?
Mmmm-maybe …
Milan’s Symphony Orchestra Saved For Another Year As Italian Government Finally Guarantees 2015 Funding
Since the fall, the management and supporters of the Orchestra “Giuseppe Verdi” have been warning that, because €3 million in promised government funding since 2013 had still not arrived and no subsidy for 2015 had been allocated, the ensemble could be forced to shut down. With less than 48 hours remaining until the new year, Italy’s culture minister at last came through. (in Italian)
The Strange Connections Between What We’re Hearing And How Things Taste
Turns out there is actually a science to the music or background noise in restaurants, cafes and grocery stores – and to why airline food tastes bland.
Hong Kong’s Oldest TV Station Near Collapse
Asia Television Ltd. (universally called ATV) hasn’t been able to pay its employees for December, and only this week gave them half of their November salaries; its broadcast license could be cancelled in the new year. “Yet there are no sympathetic calls among the city’s public to help save the local institution, which in recent years has lost most of its programming power and cultural cache, as it instead targets mainland Chinese viewers.”
The Apartment Building That’s Been Home To Broadway Types Since The Days Nobody Else Would Rent To Them
“For all the changes that have come to Broadway, where the only thing more drastic than the astronomical ticket prices are the astronomical rents for apartments in the area, the Whitby has largely remained a bastion for performers and their patrons. But rather than being a haven for struggling artists, the building is now much more a home for successful ones.”