“The Fox Movie Channel — citing protests about Asian stereotypes and white actors playing a Chinese sleuth — pulled its summer festival of antique Chan mysteries recently for the wrong reasons. Black stereotyping is much more offensive than Charlie in some of the Chan movies that Fox Movie Channel had planned on beaming to the 20 million homes it reaches.”
Blog
A Greek Theatre In America
An American Hellenic group in Connecticut plans to build a replica of the classic theater, “modeled after the theater of ancient Epidauros, where an actor can whisper at center stage and be heard in the last row without a microphone. The first load of black-veined white marble for the new theater has already been shipped from Greece. But residents near the site have taken the decision to court, arguing that the 500-seat theater, to be built into a hillside on Dog Lane, will be too big and noisy and create parking problems. They also believe that the theater will have about twice the seating capacity the society is claiming.”
Not In To The New Twyla
John Parry is disappointed in the new Twyla Tharp. “Post-millenial Twyla Tharp is a reinvention I’m struggling to come to terms with. Her new chamber group, formed in 2000, is different from previous companies, and her latest work seems influenced by her successful Broadway show Movin’ Out. No, she’s not selling out but she is selling her dancers short on content, if not on aerobic workouts.”
Defending BBC Arts
Why is anyone criticizing the BBC’s new arts show? It’s barely got to air. “Having recognised that in recent years we lost our focus with arts programming, the BBC is now injecting new energy and verve, along with extra money, into its cultural output. What makes me proudest of arts on the BBC right now is the increasing richness and diversity of its programmes, which are tailored for a range of channels and their specific audiences.”
A Web Of Movie Success (Or Failure)
The internet is becoming a big force in the success or failure of a movie. “The net has a very big effect on the success of a movie. If you took a journey through all of those sites and read about Hulk for six months, by the time it comes along you’re either excited or not excited. I wasn’t – and that’s due to all the reviews I’ve read and the reviews that have been sent to me.”
Sydney Police Raid Movie Theatre
Police raid a theatre planning to show an American movie that has been banned in Australia. “The crowd was reported to be more than 500-strong with another 100 outside due to overcrowding. Organisers, under the banner of Free Cinema, said last night’s event was not just about one film, but rather a wave of films that had been banned in recent years. ‘Where does it stop? I hate what is happening as far as censorship in this country is concerned. We are not allowed to see a film that millions of people around the world have seen’.”
Is America Ready For Radio Comedy Again?
It’s been 30 years since sketch-comedy has been popular on the radio. Now there’s a plan to try to revive it. “In an age dominated by channel-surfing and accelerated lifestyles, a disparate group of national and Chicago-based writers, performers and programmers are hoping America is ready to sit down and listen, really listen, to something that is, for all intents and purposes, retro radio with a 21st Century sensibility.”
The Largest Jazz Fest On The Planet
The Montreal Jazz Festival has become a monster. “More than 500 concerts featuring 2,000 musicians on 20 stages attracting 1.7 million visitors for 10 days and nights of the biggest and best jazz festival on the planet. As it approaches its 25th anniversary (next year), the Montreal International Jazz Festival – which ends Sunday – has become the model toward which all other world-class jazz soirees aspire, or ought to.”
Australia In Berlin
“Berlin’s poetry fest, put on by the city’s venerable literaturWERKstatt (literary workshop), is one of the world’s most innovative literary festivals and it focused this year on Australia. The 10-day program comprised text-based works by Australian artists and writers, including collaborations with leading German writers.”
Experts Criticize Iraq Exhibition
Last Thursday, American authorities in Baghdad put objects from the Iraq National Museum on display. But only for two hours. “As propaganda stunts go it was not very successful. American archaeologists immediately accused the authorities of putting at risk the fragile 3,000-year-old golden ornaments by rushing them from the vaults of the Central Bank and back again to show that the looting of the museum had not been as bad as first claimed. ‘I think it is an act of propaganda. It is to show that nothing really happened to the museum. No curator in the world would allow this sort of exhibition unless ordered to do so’.”