“Police seized 330 pounds of cocaine hidden in ballet shoes in an eastern Paris apartment today. … The ballet shoes arrived at the Charles de Gaulle airport last week, and four Dominicans were arrested on sight after receiving a tip about the shipment’s arrival.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Kentucky Opera Spurns Offer From Louisville Symphony Musicians’ Group
“The Kentucky Opera rebuffed an offer by the musicians from the Louisville Orchestra to play for the opera’s upcoming performances of Carmen at the Brown Theater, which comes during ongoing dispute between the orchestra’s management and the musicians in negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement.”
Half Of BBC Cuts To Come From Programming/Content Budget
“Around half the savings being made as part of the BBC’s Delivering Quality First cost-cutting exercise will come from budgets for programming and other content.” BBC executives say that 16% must be cut from the corporation’s overall budget, with 8% coming from “scope” (as they call content).
Can Government Subsidy Help Save Print Media?
A study from the Reuters Institute at Oxford compares per capita public funding of print journalism in Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US, along with market penetration and copy sales. The results might surprise.
Is There Ever Such A Thing As Too Much Rehearsal?
In Britain, a professional theatre production generally gets four weeks’ rehearsal (or six, at best), a few previews, then press night and that’s it. A few directors – Katie Mitchell and Deborah Warner, for instance – will watch performances during the run and give actors’ notes or even convene a rehearsal. At what point do diminishing returns set in?
New York City’s Graffiti Mecca Likely To Be Torn Down
5Pointz – you may not know the name, but if you’ve ever ridden the no. 7 subway line into Queens, you’ve seen it through the windows: a set of building walls covered with unusually high-quality graffiti street art. But the buildings themselves are derelict, and the owner wants to replace them with apartment towers.
Wanna Feel Safer? Dump Your Facebook Friends
“Worried about loose-tongued friends sharing your private details with the world? Culling the least discreet members of your social network will help you feel more secure, but it’s not a perfect solution. What if your best friend is an offender?” An Arizona researcher “has a technique for working out which friends are most likely to leak private information.”
Astro Boy Ballet? Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Next Work Is Based On Manga
Fantastical comic images appear on scrolls onstage; the dancers mimic the shapes … The Belgian choreographer and and composer Nitin Sawhney are making a new piece based on the work of Japanese manga visionary Osamu Tezuka.
Steve Jobs’s Greatest Legacy: Persuading The World To Pay For Content
“Ten years ago, if you wanted to download some music, your best bet was Napster or one of the filesharing systems such as LimeWire or KaZaA.” Then along came iTunes and its 99-cent songs. “Nowadays Apple sells TV shows, films, books, apps, as well as music. We take the explosion in available content for granted. But without Jobs, it’s likely we wouldn’t be here at all.”
Yahoo! To Produce Original Web Video Series
“The beleaguered online giant will launch its first-ever slate of original series beginning in October. While Yahoo isn’t about to overtake Fox or CBS as those nets launch their fall schedules, the company will mix some traditional TV programming tactics with its own new-media savvy.”