“Disney and Pixar are to make eight new 3D animated films over the next four years, Walt Disney has announced… They include newly converted 3D versions of the hit movies Toy Story and Toy Story 2, out in 2009 and 2010.” In fact, six of the eight films will be in digital 3D – the remaining two will be hand-drawn.
Author: sbergman
First Proms Schedule Under New Boss Released
“With Roger Wright taking charge of the BBC Proms planning only from last September, this year’s programme was always going to be a bit of a transitional one… Yet closer inspection reveals a few things that perhaps hint at the direction the season might take once Wright gets into his stride.”
Utzon Feted By Sydney On His 90th Birthday
“He has never actually laid eyes on the finished product, but the creator of the Sydney Opera House has been serenaded in Australia on his 90th birthday.” Jorn Utzon quit the Sydney project 8 years in over budget disputes. The birthday serenade took place beneath one of the opera house’s famous white sails.
Arkansas Symphony Losing Long-Time Director
“David Itkin, the music director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra since 1993, is leaving to become director of orchestral studies at the University of North Texas in Denton… Under Itkin, symphony ticket sales have climbed 340 percent and contributions are up 282 percent.”
Museums Embracing Green Technology
“Forget Corinthian columns: Today’s museums have features like green roofs – such as on the new wing at the Institute of Fine Arts in Chicago – or goats as part of the maintenance team, as at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.” In fact, going green is the hot new thing for museums, and we all know how the arts love the hot new thing.
CanCon Tax Changes Bring Protests
“Some of the biggest guns in Canada’s creative community… are heading to Ottawa tomorrow to protest against a controversial provision on film and TV tax credits now before the Senate banking committee.” According to critics, the bill could cripple the country’s homegrown film and TV industry.
So, There Are Now Two Herb Alpert Schools In LA?
“Eight-time Grammy winner and Los Angeles native Herb Alpert, who in November pledged $30 million to UCLA to establish the cross-disciplinary UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, has now given $15 million to the School of Music at the California Institute of the Arts. In recognition of the gift, to be announced today, the school will be renamed the Herb Alpert School of Music.”
Country Girl, Abridged (But Why?)
A revival of Clifford Odets’ “riveting 1950 backstage melodrama,” The Country Girl is currently in previews on Broadway. But something seems to be missing: “an entire six-page scene was dropped from Act 1… Internet theater sites were buzzing that several cast members were stumbling around, unsure not only of their lines but of their blocking.”
Study: Keep TV Out Of Your Kids’ Bedrooms
“Teenagers with televisions in their bedrooms eat more fast food, consume more sweetened drinks, read or study less and are less engaged with their families than those who don’t have a TV where they sleep… A national Kaiser Family Foundation study in 2005 of children aged 8 to 18 found that 68 percent had TVs in their bedrooms.”
Toronto Flop Jumping To Broadway
A Toronto-born musical called The Story Of My Life has earned a slot on Broadway, beginning in early 2009. Interestingly, the show didn’t impress Canadian critics when it premiered in 2006, but a couple of years worth of revision were enough to impress Broadway insiders.