The pieces are all in place: “Amazon has built a stable of services touching just about every part of the entertainment industry, from film and game development to ebook publishing and video streaming. It’s also built a retail empire on cheap piecemeal labor, free material generated by users, and an arcane system designed to connect people with things they want at the absolute maximum level of efficiency. So it’s not hard to imagine it — or a similarly large competitor — building a miniature film industry that looks a lot like an automated marketplace.”
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Jamestown Slashes Its Library’s Funding, Library Sells Its Valuable Collection Of Art, Protests Ensue
There are protests, of course, but the library in New York says there’s no other way to keep going: “The nine works to be sold Tuesday are an assortment of 19th-century creations by artists like Giovanni Boldini and Emilio Sánchez Perrier that the auction house has estimated could bring in a total of as much as $1.2 million. A sale in October by Sotheby’s, of another six paintings from the library, brought the institution more than $300,000. More are scheduled to be sold in 2018, Sotheby’s said.”
Playwrights Are Finding Money, And Love, On The Small Screen
It’s true: “In years past, this relationship was an illicit tryst, a badge of shame. Today, it is an artistic triumph. Many writers head to theater school with dramatic polygamy in mind, and those already established in theater actively pursue meetings with TV executives.”
Girish Bhargava, The Editor Of ‘Dirty Dancing’ And So, So Many Dance Shows, Has Died At 76
We would know so little of dance without him: “Bhargava edited films that captured the work of Balanchine, Peter Martins, Bob Fosse, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham and many other prominent choreographers, in the process creating an archival record of a genre that had historically been difficult to preserve. And through Dance in America and other television work, he spread the art form to people who might not have been able to get to a theater.”
Last Living Person Linked To Gardner Art Theft Seeks Prison Release On Separate Charge
Robert Gentile’s attorney says he can’t remember pleading guilty on a weapons charge and thus, “the reputed Connecticut mobster, who authorities say is the last surviving person of interest in the largest art heist in U.S. history, wants to await sentencing in an unrelated weapons case at his home.”
Torch Song Trilogy, The Herald Of A New Era, Turns 35
Stuart Emmerich: “My only experiences of gay theater had been plays like The Boys in the Band, Fortune and Men’s Eyes, Tea and Sympathy and Streamers — plays where the gay character was either closeted or bitter or suicidal, and usually all three. It was a shock to see Mr. Fierstein, as Arnold, strutting around his apartment in his floppy rabbit slippers, cracking jokes, sharing affection with both his lover and his foster son, and going ferociously head-to-head with his disapproving mother, played by Estelle Getty, then unknown.”
Dance Has Always Been Political, But This Year … Wow
One choreographer: “We don’t have time to play around anymore.”
It’s Getting Easier To Pirate Movies, And Hollywood Isn’t Pleased
A religious power couple in Atlanta run TickBox TV, and they’re being sued for that because TickBox is a device that allows people to obtain unlicensed (aka stolen) content via technology that scrapes other streaming devices. “Set-top box piracy also tends to attract older users and families, intellectual property experts said. It even looks more legitimate than typical infringing sites, with a user interface that resembles Netflix or Hulu.”
UK Lottery Sales Are Way Down. Arts Funding Is Suffering. Scottish Officials Say Other Arts Funding Is Needed
With National Lottery income making up nearly 40% of Creative Scotland’s and sportscotland’s total income, these reductions are of critical concern and put both jobs and provision at risk. Figures released by National Lottery operator Camelot in June 2017 showed arts funding was down £55m, with expectations that the “disappointing” sales would continue this year. Creative Scotland told AP its lottery income fell by £5.3m in 2016/17, to £29.1m.
The (Considerable) Consequences Of Memoirs
“At one minute past midnight on July 19, 1975, my father was hanged. For twenty-seven years, I told no one about it. Then I published a memoir. I have lived with the aftermath of that decision ever since, as does anyone who has published their own story, who has unwrapped what had previously been concealed: the skinned inner self dragged out and, shrinking in the light, placed beneath the bright hot gaze of strangers.”