“How do we predict what will make us happy or unhappy – and then how do we feel after the actual experience? For example, how do we suppose we’ll feel if our favorite college football team wins or loses, and then how do we really feel a few days after the game? How do we predict we’ll feel about purchasing jewelry, having children, buying a big house or being rich? And then how do we regard the outcomes? According to this small corps of academics, almost all actions — the decision to buy jewelry, have kids, buy the big house or work exhaustively for a fatter paycheck — are based on our predictions of the emotional consequences of these events.”
Blog
The Disposable DVD
Disney is test-selling disposal DVDs. “”They will go on sale in four cities to test whether US film watchers will choose them over rented DVDs. The red DVDs turn an unreadable black 48 hours after their packages are opened, exposing them to oxygen. The oxygen reacts with the disc in a process similar to how Polaroid film develops.”
National Ballet In The Black
As other dance companies struggle, the National Ballet of Canada posts its third balanced budget in three years. “Revenues for the year were $16,529,000, 46 per cent from the box office, 20 per cent from fundraising, 28 per cent from government grants and six per cent from other income. The company now has an accumulated surplus of $98,000.”
Dance Among The Audience
Many German critics consider Sasha Waltz the “most significant German modern-dance choreographer to emerge in the generation after Pina Bausch.” Her new piece involves dancers and audience walking through the performance space. “Twenty dancers and 10 musicians will move within many rooms as well as pose in boxes resembling display cases or cupboards, as 200 audience members also wander through the eccentric theater.”
On The Internet – The End Of Free?
The culture of the internet has been that most things are free. But the music industry lawsuits suggest those days are coming to an end. “These lawsuits certainly tell consumers that `free’ ultimately has a price. Originally, there was this perception that consumers would not pay for content — entertainment or information — over the Internet. But that perception is changing.”
Increase For Canada Council?
The Canada Council is asking for a big increase in its funding. “Over the past three years, artists and arts organizations in 1,000 Canadian communities have received Canada Council funding. In 2002-2003, the Council awarded nearly $142.3-million in grants, prizes and payments to Canadian artists and arts organizations.”
Help For Colorado Ballet
The financially-ailing Colorado Ballet gets the largest grant in its history to help see it through the next season. “The ballet ended its 2002-03 season with a $200,000 deficit, which it is addressing this year with an annual budget cut from $5.6 million to $4.9 million. The reduction also reflects a 34 percent drop in performances, because the company cannot use the Auditorium Theatre, which is closed for renovation.”
Dallas – Sketchy And Conventional For $250 Million
Plans for a new $250 million performing arts center for Dallas have been released. “For a document co-produced by the offices of Rem Koolhaas and Foster and Partners, spirited iconoclasts and high-tech adventurers respectively, it is surprisingly conventional. Leafy boulevards, fountained plazas, long axial vistas, these are the staples of old world urbanism rather than the concussive New American landscape. And for a plan that’s been in the works for a year, it is surprisingly sketchy. The sources of this embryonic condition are various: an inexperienced client, philosophical differences among the planners, an untimely shakeup in Mr. Koolhaas’ Office of Metropolitan Architecture.”
Tourists See Leonardo Thieves
A couple of tourists ran into the men who were stealing a Leonardo painting last week as they were getting away. “We heard the alarm going off and the first man climbed over the wall and said not to worry, ‘Don’t worry love, We’re the police. This is just a practice’ he said. When the second man came over the wall we felt something was going on. The third man over the wall was carrying something under his arm which appeared to be the same size as what we’ve been told about the painting.”
Recording Companies Sue 12-Year-Old
A 12-year-old girl was among those sued by the recoding industry for music file swapping. “I got really scared. My stomach is all turning. I thought it was OK to download music because my mom paid a service fee for it. Out of all people, why did they pick me?”