“There are the so-called ‘widow villages’ throughout the United States, where Korean wives gather to live for their children’s education. Meanwhile, the ‘wild geese dads’ in Korea send all of their paychecks to their families in the ‘widow villages.’ The amount of money that Korean husbands send to America is reportedly astronomical. All of this indicates that something is not quite right in Korea these days.”
Blog
Shocker – Scotland’s 7:84 Loses Government Funding
In a surprise move, one of Scotland’s best-known theatre companies – 7:84 – has lost its core funding from the Scottish government, and its future is in doubt. “It stands to lose about £225,000 a year – half of its annual income – as part of a package of cuts, worth nearly £1m, from nine organisations.”
Luring Musicals To Town
Connecticut’s Goodspeed Musicals has a $45 million theatre it wants to build. Now the theatre is being enticed to Middletown with a package of incentives. “If accepted, the Goodspeed offer would be the cultural crown jewel Middletown is seeking for its downtown development, which includes a newly built hotel, restaurants and cinemas and a tourist-friendly link to its proposed South Cove riverfront development.”
Study: There Are Too Many Humans To Be Sustainable
A new scientific study concludes that there are about 1000 times too many humans on the planet for us to be sustainable as a species. “Our study found that when we compare ourselves to otherwise similar species, usually other mammals of our same body size, for example, we are abnormal and the situation is unsustainable.”
Why EMI Shouldn’t Feel Jilted
EMI had wanted to merger with Warner. But it shouldn’t feel too bad the deal won’t happen. “The truth is that Warner is being bought by a music industry wannabe responsible for one of the worst deals of the 1990s – the sale of Seagram, the Bronfman family’s drinks and entertainment firm, to Jean-Marie Messier’s Vivendi.”
Big Instruments Down
Some of the bigger orchestral instruments are so unpopular with young Britons, that there’s a big shortage of players opening up. “It seems that the tuba, bassoon, double bass and trombone are too ugly and expensive for a new generation of teenagers who, if they like classical music at all, prefer the charms of the flute and clarinet. The result, according to the some of the country’s leading instrumentalists, is that Britain’s bass line is in danger of fading out.”
Beatty: Broadway Needs Actors, Not Stars
Ned Beatty is one of America’s most respected stage actors, currently starring in a Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The production is receiving good reviews, but in an interview, Beatty appears to rip his co-stars, Hollywood darlings Jason Patric and Ashley Judd, for being part of a new theatrical culture which favors celebrity over acting ability. “In theater you want to go from here to there, you want it to be about something… Stage actors learn how to do that. Film actors often don’t even think about it. They do what the director wants them to do, and they never inform their performance with — call it what you wish — through-line, objective.”
India Bans Sales Of Autobiographical Tell-All
“Sales of the latest autobiographical book by the exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin have been blocked in India after a Calcutta poet complained about the depiction of a three night long sexual encounter between the pair.”
Is Corporate Arts Support Evolving?
Corporate giving to the arts may be down in recent years, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that America’s business community is getting out of the culture game. In fact, signs of corporate commitment to the arts are all around, says Kurt Anderson. “By embracing art and artists as small parts of their businesses because they’ve decided that it’s good for their corporate images,” American companies may be showing us the future of private arts support.
Indies Sue Hollywood Over Screeners
Ever since Hollywood banned the use of “screeners” – advance copies of films distributed to critics on DVD – movie folk who make their livings outside the world of big corporate studios have been crying foul. This week, the small-timers fought back, filing a lawsuit to overturn the industry ban. “More than a dozen companies joined in the lawsuit against the movie studios’ trade group in U.S. District Court in Manhattan Monday, saying the partial ban will ‘chill the financing of independent films’ by limiting the awards they can receive.”