Author: Douglas McLennan

NEW ART OR MORE OF SAME?

The hottest thing in Hollywood right now is the internet. “The lures are obvious: Internet greed, and the chance to pioneer a whole new art form, to be both D.W. Griffith and Louis B. Mayer. It’s an all-star game. The world’s best pitchers, catchers and home-run hitters, people like Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard, want in. The only problem is, no one has invented baseball yet.” – LA Weekly

SUIT OVER ARTS FUNDING

“The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, founded in 1988 to support illegal aliens and homosexuals, established an arts program in 1990. It is suing the city because it claims the city council’s decision in 1997 to eliminate taxpayer funding for its arts program was political.” – Newsmax 08/23/00

AMERICAN BULLDOZER

It’s hardly been a summer to remember at the movie box office in America. Nonetheless, American movies have clobbered French films in French theatres. “After eight weeks, the battlefield is strewn with corpses, le Parisien said yesterday. Only one film – Destinées Sentimentales is expected to survive the season.” – The Times (UK)

CYBER-ACTING

  • The technology is here to allow producers to use digital actors instead of live ones. Does that mean real actors will be out of work? “Producers and directors who think virtual actors will be easier to work with than their human counterparts are also deluding themselves. The truth is that instead of one creative temperament or sensibility to deal with, you have 50. It’s simply better and cheaper to use a real actor.” – Backstage

MARKING TIME

It’s looking like a large new monument marking World War II will be built on the the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. “Tearing down part of an existing, widely beloved national memorial and building a new one on the ashes of the old raises an obvious question. What does this project mean for the future of historic preservation in our nation’s capital?” – Los Angeles Times

ACTIVE CRITIC

Portland theatre critic not only wrote critical reviews of a theatre company’s shows but went to funders to ask why they gave money to the theatre. “It appears to me through it all he’s trying to close us down. If he gets away with it, guess who’s next? I don’t mind being blasted, that’s part of it. But this goes over the line.” – Portland Business Journal

BORN TO LEAD

Where are all the great conductors? “Why has the field become so mundane? Perhaps the cult of the conductor is essentially a 19th-century phenomenon; perhaps post-war Western society, no longer able to believe in benevolent political dictatorship, has become wary of its musical counterpart, too.” – National Post (Canada)

ACTIVE CRITIC

Portland theatre critic not only wrote critical reviews of a theatre company’s shows but went to funders to ask why they gave money to the theatre. “It appears to me through it all he’s trying to close us down. If he gets away with it, guess who’s next? I don’t mind being blasted, that’s part of it. But this goes over the line.” – Portland Business Journal 08/22/00