“The movie world has been fretting for years about the collapse of stardom. Now there are growing fears that another chunk of film architecture is looking wobbly: the story. In league with a handful of former Hollywood executives, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory plans to do something about that on Tuesday, with the creation of a new Center for Future Storytelling.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
A President Who Reads? What Does That Mean For Sales?
“When President-elect Barack Obama appeared on ’60 Minutes’ on CBS on Sunday in his first interview since winning the election, he mentioned having read ‘a new book out about F .D. R.’s first 100 days’ without specifically naming a title or author. … The publishers and authors of at least three such books that could fit Mr. Obama’s description each spent much of Monday wondering whether they had just gotten a plug from the soon-to-be leader of the free world.”
U Of Cincinnati’s Tall Order (Maybe): 165 Steinways
“A vast fleet of pianos is expected to arrive in Cincinnati next month, part of the largest order — by number of instruments — ever filled by the Steinway & Sons piano company. The College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati said it is plunking down $4.1 million for 165 pianos, to be delivered over the course of the academic year.”
Royal Opera House: If No State Funding, No Manchester
“London’s Royal Opera House, which seeks to open a branch in Manchester that would cost 60 million pounds to 80 million pounds ($90 million to $120 million), said the project would be dropped if it failed to receive state money.”
Prop. 8 Opponents Target Sundance
“With activists against Proposition 8 — California’s ban on same-sex marriage — turning to threats of boycotts, attention is focusing on a surprising target: The Sundance Film Festival. The festival has been fielding calls and emails from activists calling for Sundance to pull its films from a Park City fourplex operated by Cinemark Theaters…. Other activists have called on a boycott of Sundance altogether, merely because of its ties to Utah, where the Mormon Church is headquartered.”
Ab-Ex Painter Grace Hartigan Dies At 86
“Her bold canvases made her a bright star in the 1950s New York art world, but she ‘sank from view faster than the Titanic’ when she moved to Baltimore, The New York Times said. Grace Hartigan, who ultimately found a second career offering her wisdom and advice to generations of young painters at the Maryland Institute College of Art, died of liver failure today at the a Lorien Mays Chapel in Timonium nursing home.”
Kulik Photos Seized As Porn In Paris
“French police seized a number of works by the Ukrainian performance artist Oleg Kulik on the stand of Moscow’s XL gallery during Fiac (Foire international d’art contemporain)…. The police were acting on a complaint of pornography brought by the French customs against photographs from the 1990s depicting Kulik performances, sometimes naked and sometimes simulating sexual acts with animals.”
Great News! Wii Won’t Turn Your Kid Into A Killer!
“A new study suggests that games that feature motion-controlled violent actions, like the Wii version of Manhunt 2 …, don’t affect players any differently than traditional violent games. Phew!” Critics had claimed “that young children would be rehearsing violent moves, and converting them into real physical violence.”
The World’s First Superscraper (Final Height Unknown)
“When you stand under the Burj Tower it doesn’t look that tall at all. Bizarre. Alone on the flat desert landscape of Dubai, apart from the generic glitzy towers of the Sheikh Zayed Road, it seems slightly abstract, with nothing for your eye to compare it with.” Nonetheless: “This is literally a step change in the future of skyscrapers. Welcome to the world’s first superscraper.”
About Those Sign-Language Interpreters On TV …
“So, there I was, idling late at night in front of the telly, when on came the late film: John Schlesinger’s 1967 work, Far from the Madding Crowd.” Then up popped the on-screen sign-language interpreter, inescapably covering a substantial chunk of the picture. “Please, someone, answer me this: what the hell is wrong with subtitles?”