“The production company that made The Cosby Show has sued the BBC over a documentary the British network aired about the rape allegations against Bill Cosby. Carsey-Werner, the production company that is the plaintiff in the case, says that the documentary is infringing its copyright because it uses eight audiovisual clips and two musical cues from The Cosby Show.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
What Kind Of Music Director Should The San Francisco Symphony Hire To Replace MTT?
“The roster of tasks facing the next San Francisco Symphony music director will be daunting and varied. It includes finding new ways of making the standard repertoire speak directly to a younger and more diverse audience, including many for whom the music of Mozart or Brahms is terra incognita. It includes embracing a broader range of contemporary music — including works by women and composers of color, a point on which this orchestra has lagged woefully behind organizations like the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Music Director Gustavo Dudamel.”
Study: Why We Love Sad Music
“When listening to sad (as opposed to) happy music, people withdraw their attention inwards, and engage in spontaneous, self-referential cognitive processes,” reports a research team led by Liila Taruffi of the Free University of Berlin. “Our study suggests that the multifaceted emotional experience underlying sad music, often described by listeners as melancholic yet pleasant, shapes mind-wandering in a unique way.”
Our Interactions With Computers Will Soon Be Screenless. That Will Change How We Communicate
“Gartner estimates that by the end of the decade at least 30 percent of human-computer interaction will be screenless—activated by voice or location—and the coupling of S3+A combined with the rise of smart speakers will be a big part of how this prediction comes to life in the real world. It is hard to overstate how big this change will be for marketers. Just as the industry has begun to figure out how to bring mobile, social, and search together to be effective in digital, the game is poised to change yet again.”
Movie Critics Associations Banish Disney Films From Awards Consideration Because Of Disney’s Ban Of LA Times Critics
“It is admittedly extraordinary for a critics’ group, let alone four critics’ groups, to take any action that might penalize film artists for decisions beyond their control. But Disney brought forth this action when it chose to punish The Times’ journalists rather than express its disagreement with a business story via ongoing public discussion. Disney’s response should gravely concern all who believe in the importance of a free press, artists included.”
Oh, It’s So Much Fun To Bash Music Critics. But Really?
The audience laughed and cheered. It was an odd feeling sitting in that concert hall with a press ticket in my pocket and knowing that nearly everybody around me was laughing at a critic’s alleged narrow-mindedness. (Aside: Is something bad but historically “relevant” worth performing?)
Writing Versus The Writer
“What writers don’t realise is that people don’t buy the writing, they buy the writer. Writing is not about finding your voice, but finding your persona. You can’t just cloister yourself away and expect to become famous unless you’ve a backstory of dodgy health and dying relatives as big as Emily Dickinson’s.”
Blockbusted: Is Directing A Marvel Superhero Movie Good For Your Career?
“It’s actually hard to detect much of a career bump for filmmakers who have enjoyed success with the studio in the past—which is puzzling, considering the sheer volume of popular and profitable films Marvel has made. Nine years after the studio launched its “cinematic universe,” directing a Marvel movie still mostly seems to set you up to make more Marvel movies, or other franchise entries like them. It’s a far cry from the older blockbuster model.”
Cultural Appropriation Versus Censorship
“The accusation that ‘society tends to favor privileged voices’ is, according to some, not only a political analysis but an economic one. “The fear,” one literary agent told me, “is that if a publisher takes on a book written by a successful white male writer about a disabled Native American lesbian, a real disabled Native American lesbian might have trouble placing a book about the same subject at the same house; the publisher already has one.” What this suggests is that books are being categorized—and judged—less on their literary merits than on the identity of their authors. This is particularly true with young adult fiction, whose readers are presumed to be more readily influenced by what they read.”
Diversity On The Theatre Spectrum
“To anyone who ever had any concerns or doubts or wondered, ‘Could an actor with autism play this role? Would an actor who falls on the spectrum be overwhelmed by this production?’ the answer is definitively no. Not if you’re Mickey Rowe.”