“If you want to make your own flop film, it is not simply a case of throwing money at a poor script and hoping no-one will come. Flops can generally be said to misjudge the public mood. A number of big movies have become big flops for very different reasons, however.”
Blog
Better Sport Through Mozart
Forget drugs. “A strong dose of Mozart is more likely to enhance athletic performance. This is the revolutionary theory of a Greek cardiologist who, when not attending to affairs of the heart, busies himself as a composer. He recommends music as the best stimulant for sporting success and claims that a series of studies have shown that, used in combination with the right diet, ‘it can act as an energy supplement in the attempt to reduce the use of pharmaceutical substances by young people involved in sport’.”
Music Sales Turnaround… Why?
Sales of music are up 9 percent in the first three months of 2004 after three years of declines. Yet downloading on the internet is still increasing. So if downloading wasn’t responsible for declines in music sales in recent years, what was? IOndustry watchers say it was a combination of factors…
New NYT Book Review Chief Gets To Work
Sam Tanenhaus began work this week as the new editor of the New York Times Book Review. “Since his appointment a few weeks ago, Tanenhaus’ likes and dislikes, his authorship of a prize-winning biography of anti-Communist icon Whittaker Chambers and an uncompleted one of William F. Buckley — all but his hat size has been parsed and glossed with the earnestness of old-time Kremlinology. Literary insiders have done everything to divine his standards except, typically, to read a whole book Tanenhaus wrote on the subject in 1984.”
American Troops Bring Along The Pop Culture
The modern American soldier carries his/r pop culture along to war, toting, MP3 players, satellite dishes, and DVD players. “When a day’s combat patrol or reconstruction mission is over, the troops join the global consumer culture, retreating into the the privacy of headphones to recapture a bit of territory in the war zone, free from the collective of military life. The new technologies have had a potent impact on the military, ending its monopoly over the supply of news and entertainment for American troops serving in a foreign land whose borders include a language barrier.”
Mancini In The Mail
The US Postal Service has honored Henry Mancini with a postage stamp. “Formal first day of issue ceremonies for the 37-cent stamp were held in Los Angeles. The stamp will be available nationwide Wednesday. Mancini is known for his television theme songs and movie scores. He composed “Moon River” for the film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” as well as the themes for “Peter Gunn” and “Days of Wine and Roses.”
FCC Smut Crackdown Scares Off Victoria’s Secret
The annual Victoria’s Secret televised fashion show has been canceled this year. Why? “The furor over indecency on the air, which has already led to a massive crackdown – including big fines against shock jock Howard Stern – is being blamed in part for the end of the sexy TV fashion show.”
The New Yorker In California
Some like to put down California for a lack of culture. So what to make of the fact that The New Yorker magazine now sells more copies in California than in New York? “For the six-month period that ended Dec. 31, California had a total paid circulation of 167,583, compared with New York’s 166,630. What this will do to the well-worn clichés about California is uncertain. The Atlantic Monthly also has more subscribers here than in any other state.”
The Humiliations Of Being A Writer
Writers are constantly being humiliated. Is it their nature? Take the book tour stop: “Most frequently, though, no one shows up. Carl Hiaasen arrived for a reading in Arkansas and found a chili-cooking class and a University of Arkansas Razorbacks game scheduled in town at the same time. He ended up autographing books for the salesmen. William Trevor drove for hours to a reading and found the place empty. So he read to the cabdriver and two people who wandered in.”
Some Lessons On Memorials From Berlin
Are there lessons to be learned about the WTC Ground Zero project from Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin? Michael Kimmelman observes that: “in Berlin, as at ground zero, the architecture was chosen before a decision was made about how to fill the building. The balance between form and content has been a vexing issue. Neither the Jewish Museum nor ground zero is immune to box office pressure. Both dubiously equate populism with civic duty.”