“Those data reveal a somewhat surprising pattern: America’s Great Creative Divide isn’t between the coasts and the center, but rather between North and South. Take a look.”
Category: AUDIENCE
What Explains The Long-Term Decline In Reading Literature?
“Since the share of American adults with a bachelor’s degree or more has nearly doubled since 1982, you might expect to see a concomitant rise in literary reading. But that hasn’t happened. Indeed, previous research by the NEA has found that drops in the literary reading rate have happened across the board, among all ages, races and educational levels.”
Prommers Against Brexit: Some Folks Will Be Bringing The EU Flag To The Last Night Of The Proms
“It includes rousing performances of ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, ‘Rule Britannia’ and ‘Jerusalem’ always accompanied by a sea of Union Jacks, but … The Guardian understands activists will be outside the Royal Albert Hall in force on Saturday handing out thousands of EU flags, which they hope audience members will wave instead of, or even along with, the traditional red, white and blue.”
Toronto International Film Festival Starts Demand-Based Ticket-Pricing And Some Fans Object
“I just felt like no movie is worth $58. It’s already a stretch at $49,” said Jaimie Marshall, a Whitby, Ont. paralegal. She made the same decision to sit out American Pastoral, as well as the animated comedy Sing, to which she had hoped to take her 12-year-old daughter. Though she has been a TIFF member for five or six years, paying $450 for the privilege of early access to some TIFF tickets, she said “this has seriously made me question whether I will continue.”
Everyone’s Talking About Virtual Reality. So When Will It Really Be A Mainstream Thing?
“With VR, it feels like early days. It’s powerful, but it still requires standardization. Everyone needs to commit to a format. And there has to be one or two killer pieces of content that people who don’t yet own a device will be so interested in that they feel compelled to get one in order to get engaged. We haven’t seen that yet.”
Culture Is Dead, And Entertainment Killed It, Writes Mario Vargas Llosa
“The great majority of humanity does not engage with, produce or appreciate any form of culture other than what used to be considered by cultured people, disparagingly, as mere popular pastimes, with no links to the intellectual, artistic, and literary activities that were once at the heart of culture. This former culture is now dead, although it still survives in small social enclaves, without any influence on the mainstream.”
Signifying Nothing And Everything: How Harambe The Gorilla Became The Perfect Meme
“Over the summer, Harambe evolved from ordinary tragedy to perfect meme: defined only by its ability to replicate … In a reversal of Marshall McLuhan’s classic dictum, Harambe is the message that became a medium, capable of carrying any signal, without becoming identified with any of them.”
Does The Glamor-Driven Music Business Work Anymore?
“Consider this fact: more people watched The Great British Bake Off the previous week. Online streams for the MTV show were up, but that offers little consolation to promoters who depend on TV advertising to fund their gala events. Those golden days when Miley Cyrus twerked her way to MTV rating success now seem a blurred, distant memory.”
Yeah, Critics Hate Kevin Smith Movies – So What? He’s Made Himself Critic-Proof
“After horrible failures such as Jersey Girl and Cop Out, Smith retreated from Hollywood – not only because he had to, but because he could. His loyal fans, willing to follow him anywhere he commands, fund his work. … What Smith knew … was that the film is less important than the intellectual property and the fanbase that will gladly hand over their money for the right to own a piece of it.”
Chinese Communist Party Turns ‘Core Socialist Values’ Into Songs For Nation’s Dancing Grannies
“The 12 ‘core socialist values’ are memorized by schoolchildren, featured in college entrance exams, printed on stamps and lanterns, and splashed on walls across China. Now they have made their way into 20 song-and-dance routines that the authorities in Hunan Province plan to promote to the country’s millions of ‘square dancers,’ the mostly middle-aged and older women who gather in public squares to perform in unison.”