Pittsburgh’s non-commercial classical music station, WQED, just wrapped up its winter fund drive, with seriously disappointing results. The station is one of the few remaining in the U.S. to program its own classical music without the use of a satellite-based voice tracking service. Some observers suggest that ‘QED listeners were angry over the recent dismissal of two popular announcers, but station officials have a gloomier perspective, pointing out that almost no one is making any money playing classical music on the radio these days.
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Oscar As A Marketing Tool For Outrage
There is no shortage of “message movies” in Hollywood these days, but even films which were designed to be apolitical have been getting the polemical treatment in the highly competitive run-up to Oscar night. In fact, screenings of such highly regarded films as Hotel Rwanda and Vera Drake have been sponsored by activist groups hoping that an Academy Award could bring new attention to their favorite causes.
No Broadway For Hurlyburly
The New York revival of Hurlyburly, starring Ethan Hawke and Parker Posey, has decided to skip its turn on Broadway, opting instead for a run at a high-profile off-Broadway theater. The producers say that the decision was largely a financial one.
The Unknown Stuntmen Would Like A Trophy
There is no Academy Award for stuntmen, largely because Hollywood and its stars want to preserve the widely-believed myth that big stars do their own stunts. But this year, the industry’s stunt professionals are demanding that Oscar recognize their considerable contributions. Why not, says Jack Mathews, especially if it means the possibility of getting to watch some of these specialists perform their stunts live on Oscar night?
A Calculated Move
The Denver International Film Festival is tired of trying to score quality premieres and attract attention just as every other city in North America fires up its own filmfest, so the well-regarded Colorado festival is moving from October to November in an effort to have the spotlight to itself. “Festival organizers also believe they can use the November date to host sales from filmmakers to distributors. Two movies from last fall’s festival won deals during Denver talks, Erickson said, and moving to November, away from more traditional sales markets in other cities, may help increase that number.”
Can’t TiVo A Movie Theater, Can You?
“While cinema ads have been around since the 1980s, in the last few years they have become more widespread — and more sophisticated. The Cinema Advertising Council estimates that cinema advertising revenues have been expanding by more than 30 percent annually. Nationally, about 26,000 of the roughly 30,000 movie screens show commercials.” But why run the ads, when consumers are so clearly annoyed by them? Simply put, advertisers are desperate, and the emergence of TiVo and other digital television manipulators has made it ever harder to get advertising messages across. Movies provide a captive audience that can’t fast-forward the commercials. But there’s backfire potential…
News Flash: President Bush Has An iPod
Okay, he may not have the pop cultural clout of MTV or, um, Paris Hilton, but the President Of The United States actually has a fairly weighty impact on national culture – when he cares to, anyway. “There are certain colorful aspects of the [current] president’s life that have not been much explored, understandably overshadowed by war and a hard-fought election. That he listens to Creedence Clearwater Revival on his iPod, for instance. That he loves biographies and has recently dipped into Tom Wolfe’s latest take on American culture. That he and his wife are enthusiastic art collectors. That he has no idea what’s happening on Wisteria Lane.”
Blogs Snuff Words? LOL! ROTFL! Not A Chance!
We’ve all heard the argument: e-mail, instant messaging, and the online universe in general are killing the written word, and producing a generation of multitaskers who can’t put a simple, well-crafted, correctly punctuated sentence together. But as one linguist points out, what the internet has actually done is to get more people reading and writing than ever before, and the strange informal quirks of much of that writing are not a harbinger of literary doom. “The prophets of doom emerge every time a new technology influences language, of course — they gathered when printing was introduced in the 15th century.”
Edinburgh Film Chief Blasts Renovation Proposal
“The head of the Edinburgh International Film Festival today hit out at the proposed redevelopment of one of the city’s most famous cinemas. Only the art deco facade of the former Odeon in Clerk Street will be retained under plans to demolish the historic building to make way for a restaurant and bar and a 240-room student housing complex. The controversial proposal has disappointed film chiefs and heritage watchdogs, who have called for the cinema to be saved from the bulldozer.”
A Resignation at Scottish Arts Council
The head of music for the Scottish Arts Council has resigned to take a position as chief executive of England’s Bath Festivals Trust. The SAC has been under fire in recent months for its lack of support for Scottish art and music, particularly in the wake of the government’s temporary shutdown plan for Scottish Opera, but Nod Knowles was reportedly highly respected in musical circles.