Norman Lebrecht doesn’t think much of the modern BBC. “Do not mistake the BBC for what was once the British Broadcasting Corporation. It has become an uncontrollable conglomerate whose activities extend from urban regeneration to webcasting in America. These enterprises were never envisaged in its limited public licence. The BBC is an organisation that has lost its sense of direction, stumbling hopefully into virtual incoherence.”
Blog
Growing Hearing Loss In Performers
Audiologists are “seeing a growing number of musicians, singers, and even audience members who report ringing or buzzing in their ears — called ‘tinnitus’ — and duller hearing following a theatre performance, rock concert, or movie, with its blasting previews of upcoming features.”
TV Networks Drop Reruns
“As they try to stave off fierce cable competition and chase the young adults prized by advertisers, networks are loading up on high-concept reality shows and rejiggering lineups at the last minute. As a result, they’re using reruns more sparingly than ever or, in many cases, banishing them entirely. Admittedly, this is one funeral that might not attract many mourners.”
The Hot Latin Cinema
Where’s the juice in today’s cinema? “You have today in Latin America a generation of directors and actors who grew up after the redemocratization of the continent. That makes a dramatic difference. They are not only talented but socially and politically conscious, and this combination is nurturing a different kind of cinema. The films have a desire for new stories, often stories of identity. We are a young continent, and the countries are in movement, in the process of defining ourselves, and this process creates extraordinary cinematic possibilities.”
Channel Surfing (But Only The Ones You Buy)
Should TV customers be allowed to buy only the channels they want from their cable and satellite companies? That’s what Congress wants to know. TV execs say it’s not a good idea – that popular channels subsidize less popular channels.
Theatre Up In Italy But Not Audiences
The number of theatre offerings in Italy increased by 10 percent in 2001. But audiences didn’t increase to keep up. In 2001, 26 percent of the country’s residents attended the theatre.
Keep It Simple
“There is too much needless complexity in the world. Technology, which was supposed to make our lives easier, has taken a wrong turn. In 20 years we’ve gone from the simplicity of MacPaint to Photoshop. While the first fostered a creative explosion, the second gave birth to an industry of how-to books and classes. And such complexity is commonplace. Despite the lip service paid to “ease of use,” “plug and play,” and “one-click shopping,” simplicity is an endangered quality in the digital world, and it is time to break free from technology’s intimidating complexity.”
Does Education = Upward Mobility? (Maybe Not)
There is a widely-held assumption that “wider, more universal education will act as a leveller of social opportunities. The assumption has thus far proved wrong. Comprehensive education, which should be considered a success on many other grounds, did not dent relative social immobility. Better-off kids still did better, either within the comprehensives or in the private sector.”
All Politics, All The Time at Cannes
“If there’s been a story that has actually managed to prick the bubble of star-struck and self-absorbed Cannes Film Festival, it’s been politics. Politics of all kinds, local and international, electoral and cultural, screen and off, but especially the war in Iraq. If the premiere on Monday of Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 made the biggest explosion in that regard, further rumblings have been felt just about everywhere.” If film is a reflection of society, there can be no question that the current American government, with its neoconservative bent and aggressive foreign policy, is the hottest cultural topic in the world today, and no one at Cannes seems to be above throwing in his/her two cents.
Picasso Stolen From Workshop
A small Cubist painting by Pablo Picasso has apparently been stolen from a workshop at Paris’s Pompidou Centre, where it was supposed to be restored. The disappearance was only noticed this past week, although no one has seen the painting since January 12. The still-life, entitled Nature morte à la charlotte, is valued at €2.5 million.