“Word of mouth has always been the ideal. But the Internet has provided a new and, some say, vastly improved set of tools to generate it: not just e-mail blasts but also Web sites, banner ads, search-engine pop-ups and blog coverage. In the last few years these tools have reshaped the way the theater reaches its audience.”
Blog
Do We Fetishize Endings?
“The ending of a film, or any narrative, bears a disproportionate amount of the artistic weight. Endings are the last thing we see, and the thing most likely to stay in the memory. And there’s a natural inclination, in any long and complex work, to focus on the ending: Art, like life, often passes by in a state of semi-confusion, but a solid ending proves to the audience that the director had control all along. And the power of a good ending has particular resonance in a ‘closure’ society, a society that strives for finality in things of the heart (closure after grief) and clairvoyance in most everything else (how’s this going to turn out?).”
Hyping Movies -It’s All About The Bling
The growing business of licensing is fundamentally changing both the way people interact with entertainment and the face of entertainment itself…
The Man Who’s Changing Ballet
“Often billed as ‘the greatest male dancer of his generation’, Carlos Acosta has become almost as busy behind the scenes as he is on stage. This summer he’s producing and directing two London seasons. The first, at Sadler’s Wells, features him and various Royal Ballet colleagues in a week of choreography both contemporary and classical. The second, at the Coliseum, is a revival of Tocororo, the Cuban-flavoured show he created in 2003.”
Rhode Island = Hollywood East?
Rhode Island is the latest American state to jump on the tax subsidy wagon for movie poductions. After the state passed incentives last year, there has been a steady stream of movies coming to film. An they spend real money, which boosts the local economy.
Joyce Heirs Fight Hard For Copyright Retention
“A lawsuit filed on June 16 by an American scholar alleges that Stephen Joyce, grandson of the writer James Joyce, along with estate trustee Sean Sweeney, improperly withheld access to materials and attempted to intimidate academics… In the struggle to define copyright as it applies to literary rights, web rights and the extent of time a work is withheld from public domain, the Joyce estate’s fearsome vigilance stands out.”
Judge: Cleaning Up Movies Not Legal
A federal appeals court has ruled that companies which market “sanitized” versions of Hollywood films to consumers who wish to skip the sex, violence, and profanity are violating U.S. copyright law. The companies have been ordered to stop selling the edited titles, and to turn over their entire inventory to the original production studios immediately.
Guggenheim Coming To The Mideast
Frank Gehry will design a new Guggenheim outpost in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. Gehry, who also designed the Guggenheim’s much-vaunted museum in Bilbao, Spain, expects ground to be broken shortly in the city’s new cultural district, with completion slated for 2011.
Music Downloads Continue To Soar
Music downloading hit new highs in the first half of 2006, with more than 14 million full albums downloaded (legally) by consumers, a 77% increase over the same period last year. Sales of traditional albums fell by 4.2%. “Although digital sales are growing, music fans are eschewing the more profitable full-album downloads in favour of cherry-picking a few songs.”
Will Islamic Law Trump Artistic Quality?
The UAE Guggenheim “could present a headache for curators – how to balance artistic expression and Islamic cultural sensitivities?” For instance, nudes would likely be forbidden, as would any other depictions that might offend ultra-conservative Islamic sensibilities. And with that kind of self-censorship a necessity, the new Guggenheim might be dooming itself to irrelevance before it even opens.