No, machines aren’t writing usable scripts. (Yet.) But we all know about projects that seemed terrific on paper but turned out to be disastrous bombs — and about sleeper hits that seemed very niche but caught on. Now companies like Cinelytic and ScriptBook say that their AI software can analyze the qualities of a script and cast, compare them with large quantities of data on what films have and haven’t attracted a sizable audience, and predict how well a given project will do. And these companies claim far higher accuracy rates than those of human studio execs. Journalist Steve Rise investigates. – The Guardian
Author: Matthew Westphal
Nobel Committee Fought Tooth And Nail Over Whether To Give Prize To Samuel Beckett
“Fifty years after Samuel Beckett won the Nobel prize for literature, newly opened archives reveal the serious doubts the committee had over giving the award to an author they felt held a ‘bottomless contempt for the human condition’.” – The Guardian
These Musicians Moved To A Dying Village, Hoping To Revive It. They Got Caught In The Culture Wars Instead.
“In 1997, a group of German classical musicians moved to the village of Klein Jasedow, a tiny, nearly abandoned hamlet close to the Baltic Sea. The performers were looking to escape the careerist rat race, and hoped to find a place that united community, art, and nature — which they found, along with suspicion, fierce resistance from the locals, and even accusations of witchcraft. Can music bridge the divides between people? A report from an ongoing cultural experiment.” – VAN
UK Funding Cuts Are Hurting Organizations’ Basic Operations, Warns Arts Council
“Funding cuts over the past 10 years are impacting cultural organisations ability to deliver non-artistic operations, such as site maintenance and recruitment, Arts Council England has warned. According to ACE, other areas that are affected outside arts organisations’ main programming, include investment in future technologies and staff training.” – The Stage
So What Is This ‘Festival Of Brexit’ Going To Be, Anyway? Here’s What Its Director Says
“It has been mocked and pilloried as a ‘festival of Brexit‘, but the newly appointed boss of the £120m nationwide celebration planned for 2022 has said he is going to embrace the cynics – and prove them wrong. In his first interview as the director of Festival 2022, Martin Green said the aims would be to bring the nation together, showcase British creativity, and on a basic level bring some ‘joy, hope and happiness’.” – The Guardian
Large Incan Idol That Pizarro Claimed He Destroyed Has Survived
“A basketball-player-size wooden idol that allegedly escaped destruction by the Spanish conquistadors is real — but it may not be quite what people suspected. The statue is even older than thought, and may have been worshipped by the people who came before the Inca. And belying the grisly lore that surrounds it, the so-called Pachacamac idol was painted with cinnabar, not drenched in blood, the researchers found.” – Live Science
Christopher Tolkien, JRR’s Son And Collaborator, Dead At 95
While his father was alive, he drew many of the maps of Middle-earth in the original edition of The Lord of the Rings; after JRR’s death, “his son was left to sift through the files and notebooks, and over the [next] two decades … he published The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Beren And Lúthien and The History of Middle-earth, which fleshed out the complex world of elves and dwarves created by his father.” – The Guardian
Just Days Before Grammy Awards, Recording Academy’s New CEO Suspended
“Deborah Dugan, who took over as Recording Academy president/CEO on Aug. 1, has been placed on administrative leave just over a week before the 2020 Grammy Awards due to ‘serious concerns’ brought to the board of trustees’ attention.” Those “concerns” include “including a formal allegation of misconduct by a senior female member of the Recording Academy team.” – Billboard
Maryland Governor Blocks Legislature’s $1.6 Million Grant To Baltimore Symphony (Again)
“Gov. Larry Hogan has asked the Maryland General Assembly to rescind a promised $1.6 million for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra — the second time in two years the governor has attempted to block emergency bridge funding aimed at stabilizing Maryland’s largest cultural institution.” – The Baltimore Sun
Barry Tuckwell, Perhaps The World’s Most Prominent French Horn Player, Dead At 88
He started playing the horn at age 13 and within two years landed a position in the Melbourne Symphony; by age 19, he had gone to Britain and played in orchestras there; at age 24, he was appointed first horn in the London Symphony. After 13 years, he left the LSO for a full-time career as a soloist (then, as now, very rare for his instrument), making more than 50 recordings, and developed an additional career as a conductor. – Gramophone