Some big media companies want to start prioritizing the way information is handled on the internet, charging more for some kinds of data. Consumer advocates are howling. “Whether they tier their service, telecommunications companies need to expand capacity. To do so costs money, and the telecoms argue that internet users will have to pay, one way or another. They say it’s preferable that the money come from those who need and are willing to pay for better service, rather than spreading the cost out over all users.”
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Europe’s Islam On Screen
Islam is changing Europe. And filmmakers are starting to explore how. “With dramas, comedies and documentaries, directors are seeking to go beyond head scarves and aperitifs to prick a European conscience increasingly insecure about multiculturalism. And it is no small irony that these filmmakers are exploring the effect of Islam at a time when Christian Europe is happily adrift in secularism.”
How The Music Is Changing In New Orleans
Music changes when circumstances change. That’s certainly proving true in New Orleans. “They’re still playing New Orleans standards as the drinks flow. But there’s a changed spirit: the tenacity of holding together bands whose members have been scattered and the determination to maintain the New Orleans style. And in new songs, an open anger coexists with the old good-time New Orleans tone.”
UK Culture Minister Implicated In Bribe
“An investigation by The Sunday Times has established that UK Culture Minister Tessa Jowell signed a mortgage document that enabled her husband to bring an alleged bribe of £350,000 into Britain. Italian prosecutors claim the money was paid by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, for help from Jowell’s husband in two corruption hearings against the politician.”
How An Orchestra Is Changing Its Concert Model
“Traditionally, orchestras organize seasons horizontally because attendance is built on season subscriptions. Seasons often have themes that develop across the entire year, not quite as cohesively as an episodic TV show like “Lost” but designed to have some connection between concerts or to build up to key soloists or symphony works. But the recent explosion in entertainment has challenged that approach. Today’s world is driven by the event; live music must compete with a host of options from Netflix to sports to touring shows.”
Who’s Who Behind Broadway
It takes a lot of people to mount a Broadway show – not just actors. So who makes the industry work?
How To Reform The Getty?
As embattled Getty president Barry Munitz leaves the Trust, the Getty needs to reinvent. “In weighing what to do, the trustees must acknowledge that although the Getty Trust is a multiheaded beast — museum, grant-making foundation, research institute and conservation institute — art is what holds its programs together. Equally important, they must work to restore public confidence in the Getty, not just because it’s the United States’ largest art foundation, but because it’s the nation’s third-largest private foundation overall.”
Some Thoughts On Growing Dance In A City That Needs It
“What would raise the vitality quotient of ballet in San Diego? The knee-jerk response: Have one ballet company instead of three. Certainly there’d be some benefits if a single company had a budget the size of all three combined. The deeper question, however, involves not money but vision.”
ABC To Take “Housewives” International
Trying to capitalize on the US success of “Desperate Housewives,” Disney “plans to produce four local Latin American editions, each with its own cast and cultural flavor. Spanish versions of the show will in Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador, and a Portuguese version will air in Brazil.”
So Will You Produce My Suicide Note?
Can’t get your play produced? Allan Katz tried a suicide note. “The few theaters willing to read my suicide note had all too familiar reasons for passing: it wasn’t dramatic enough; it was too dramatic; it was similar to something they had just produced; it was dissimilar from something they had just produced; they liked everything but the ending; they liked the ending, but nothing before it; they liked the middle, but wished it had come first — or at the end — or both.”