Movieoke is the latest New York craze. “All you need is a high-quality DVD system with a large screen and decent speakers, a library of films, a gang of friends and you’re off. Slot the disc into the machine and amaze or appal the assembled company with, say, your re-enactment of Robert De Niro’s ‘you looking at me?’ speech in Taxi Driver. An exhaustive knowledge of movies and a lack of inhibitions are helpful but not essential.”
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Here’s A Career Boost – Get Boy George Mad At You
New York Post theatre columnist Michael Riedel is grateful to Boy George. He really is. “By regularly attacking me in print, on TV and even on stage during his show, George has elevated me from obscure theatre reporter to, in the words of the Toronto Star, ‘one of the most influential (and feared) media figures in Manhattan’.”
A Prize To Promote Dance
How to promote contemporary dance? How about a competition? “The idea of the Place prize is that any British professional choreographer, at any stage of their career, may submit an idea via a three-minute video. These will be tested blind by experts, and 20 will be awarded development money so they can be transformed into fully fledged 15-minute works. Then, come the summer, these 20 will be performed and an overall winner chosen. That person will get a whopping £25,000 – that’s five grand more than the Turner prize.”
Damn! – Can You Say That On TV?
There’s no question that language has grown coarser on TV in recent years. And the number of complaints and outrage about swearing seems less. Yet context still matters. “The problem for both broadcasters and moral lobbyists is that, rather like the gap between the rich and the poor, the gulf between liberals and puritans increases annually. A putative radio or television audience will now include some people who are more tolerant than has ever been the case, and some people more sensitive than society has ever contained.”
Broadway – Swimming To Irrelevance
This has not been a good year for Broadway. The closing of Gypsy only underscores the problems. “The murderous economics of Broadway mean that people are prepared to pay high prices only for a copper-bottomed hit and that theatregoing has become an event rather than a habit. But I would go even further and say that Broadway has become a tawdry irrelevance in the larger scheme of American theatre. It is mostly a showcase for imported hits from London or the American non-profit sector.”
The World’s Top Cities – A List
The London-based The Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked 130 cities worldwide for their quality of life, “using 12 factors including housing, education, recreational activities, health, climate and terrorism. The (EIU) survey ranked Melbourne, Vancouver and Vienna as the best cities for expatriates to live, with Perth fourth and Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney equal sixth.”
Chewing Gum Makes You Smarter?
A dentist at NYU devises an experiment, and discovers that students who chew gum while they study, score higher grades in a test than those who don’t chew. “The gum chewers scored, on average, a B-minus on the written component while the abstainers managed only a C-plus.”
The Battle Over Disney
“Michael Eisner’s Disney has been a case study in poor corporate governance. Over the years, the board was disproportionately stocked with insiders, professionals who had dealings with the company, people whose children or relatives worked at the company, and others who were ill-equipped to exercise oversight over Eisner. One of Eisner’s main deficiencies has been an inability to manage key relationships and heed advice.” And now Eisner may be fighting for his job…
English National Ballet Cancels Ballet Because Of Money Problems
The English National Ballet is canceling an ambitious new production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses because of money problems and sinking ticket sales. “A shortfall in revenue from its vital Christmas season is being blamed. December’s takings from a production of The Nutcracker at London’s Hammersmith Apollo fell £500,000 short of what it could have been at the company’s home.”
Ring Fans Pile On Critic
Movie critic David Sterritt did the unexplainable – he panned Lord of the Rings. Ane then the floods of emails began arriving. “Most of the e-mails can be grouped into a few basic categories. Many come from people who feel I’ve hopelessly misunderstood author J.R.R. Tolkien and filmmaker Peter Jackson all my life, and want to set me straight. Others complain I’m just snooty and want to flaunt my supercilious airs. Still others take genuine pity on me, and want to enlighten me so I can love the movies too.”