They’re worth thinking about as America’s star conductors go down for the count. Let’s see, there was Lully who jammed a stick down on his foot and died a few weeks later from gangrene…
Month: March 2006
Aussie Wins Commonwealth Prize
Australian writer Kate Grenville has won this year’s Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. “Grenville’s winning book is a historical novel looking at the competing claims of Aborigines and settlers in 19th Century Australia. The award comes five years after Grenville won the Orange Prize for Fiction for The Idea of Perfection.”
The Cure For Bad Handwriting?
“We have a national affliction, and it’s called cacography – that means illegible handwriting. That’s why we’re a ‘Please print’ nation. Nobody says, ‘Please write in your lovely cursive handwriting’. At a time when the computer is king and toddlers type, some educators believe it’s even more imperative to teach a speedy handwriting technique that others can read.’
Wanted – Boys To Dance
Two years ago, Liverpool dance schools got a big boost when Strictly Come Dancing landed on TV. But the new recruits were girls rather than boys. Now they’re looking for some girls. “Out of 84 students, we have only got 18 male students and they are getting a bit worn out dancing and lifting all the girls. They are very macho boys but there just aren’t enough of them to go round.”
Harold Pinter On Whether He’ll Write More Plays:
“I’ve been writing poetry since my youth and I’m sure I’ll keep on writing it till I conk out. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I’ve written 29 damn plays. Isn’t that enough?”
Computers That Play Hunches
Computers aren’t good at making intuitive choices. But a new “hunch engine” promises to improve things. “When the user starts the hunch engine he is presented with a seed — a starting point — and a set of mutations. The user selects mutations that look promising in his eyes, and the application uses that selection to generate another set of mutations, continuing in that fashion until the user is satisfied with what he sees. Call it guided natural selection, where the selector for fitness is what looks good to the human in front of the monitor.”
UK Group: Ban TV Product Placement
A UK consumer group has argued against allowing product placement in TV programs, saying it would undermine viewers confidence. “Commercial broadcasters want new ways to raise money as audiences fragment and it becomes easier to skip adverts.”
2005 Movie Numbers Are In (And Down)
The final American movie box office numbers are in, and they confirm a down year. Ticket sales were down 6% in 2005. “Cinema ticket revenues amounted to $9bn (£5.2bn), while total attendance fell by 9% to 1.4bn people. Some 240m fewer tickets were sold in 2005 compared with the previous year.
Are Non-Fiction Scandals Hurting Fiction?
“Is all this fretting over lies in nonfiction giving fiction a bad name? I fear it is. And I’m afraid that our lack of regard for fiction actually may be hindering us from sorting out what is true and what is a lie. Fiction, after all, is the one lie that can tell us a truth. Unlike nonfiction — memoirs included — fiction makes no claim to reality. Works of the imagination — better known as literature — are totally unfettered from what actually has happened.”
The Broadway Wrapped In Failure
A new book chronicles the backstage perils and failures of Broadway bombs. “Dramas are hard enough. Musicals, to judge by the on-the-scene accounts by several critics and journalists assembled here, seem particularly fraught with a special kind of peril. ‘When disparate elements don’t gel, panic sets in. With the clock running out, and the bankroll running low, and superegos running amuck, strange things can happen’.”