The BBC is making thousands of historic video clips available on the web. “The scheme allows people within the UK to watch, download, edit and mix the clips and programming for non-commercial programming. The release of these reports, offered as The Open News Archive, means the BBC has now doubled the number of programme extracts it originally made available through an initial trial with Radio 1 Interactive.”
Blog
Center For Arts And Culture Closes
The center had an 11-year run. “The continuously declining availability of general operating support in the current funding climate is a common plight and growing threat to the long-term sustainability of the arts and the nonprofit sector at large. Unfortunately, the Center has proven not to be immune to it this year.”
Pumped On Swan Lake
Acrobat shows in China have been on the decline. By contrast, “Swan Lake” is hugely popular there. Now an acrobatic troupe has produced a version of the ballet classic, and it’s a hit. “Surprisingly, its acrobatic version of “Swan Lake” has taken China by storm, filling houses in more than half a dozen cities, including more than 30 sold-out performances at the Shanghai Grand Theater, where it premiered last March.”
Publishers Reject Classics In Test
London’s Sunday Times submitted two classic Booker-winning books to publishers as the work of newcomers and they were rejected. “One of the books considered unworthy by the publishing industry was by V S Naipaul, one of Britain’s greatest living writers, who won the Nobel prize for literature. The exercise by The Sunday Times draws attention to concerns that the industry has become incapable of spotting genuine literary talent.”
The Big Business Of Art theft
The Art Loss Register lists 160,000 stolen works of art. “Art theft is big business. Interpol reckons that it ranks fourth among the highest-value criminal activities, after drugs, arms smuggling and money laundering. The FBI puts its value at $5 billion a year.”
Ears In The Seats
“We think of concerts as fixed entities. In our age of mechanical reproduction, live performance has become – like a book, a movie, a painting – an object that can be recorded, examined and stamped with approval (or disapproval). So we tend to think that everyone who attends the same performance is hearing the same thing. But that’s not true, and not only because of vagaries of taste or hearing. It makes a big difference where you sit.”
Starz To Offer Downloadable Movies
The premium cable channel Starz is offering movies for download on demand. “The service, dubbed “Vongo,” is available for a monthly subscription of $9.99 and will eventually include more than 1,000 movies, short films and other programs. The films will be available at the same time they are offered on the Starz premium movie cable channel, about five to six months after they are released on DVD.”
Does On-Demand Signal End Of Prime Time?
When any programming is available whenever the viewer wants it, what does that portend for those carefully strategized prime-time lineups?
Lost Everywhere
“This season, “Lost” is the fourth-ranked show in total viewers and the all-important 18- to 49-year-old demographic. But “Lost” has become something more, a model for a new media age, one that has far-reaching financial implications for artists and producers as new technology almost demands that they produce original content for Internet sites and blogs, DVDs, podcasts and books.”
Will “Bubble” Change The Movies?
The movie industry is anxiously watching the release of Steven Soderbergh’s “Bubble” later this month. It could change how we see movies. “Bubble will be the first feature released simultaneously in cinemas, on pay-per-view television and on DVD. As such, it is widely being seen as a portent of things to come.”