Category: issues

The story of the device that changed ideas about home exercise, pioneered the use of hot shirtless guys in print advertising, and prompted the invention of the TV infomercial.

His closing quip was, “And thank you, God, for making me an atheist.” Says one network exec: “But only a Brit would be naive enough … no, arrogant and stiff-necked enough, to flip off God in a family-oriented TV show that is going into the American heartland on the sabbath. We did not think we had to tell Ricky that.”

“Artists basing work on real people and events is hardly a new phenomenon. Even so, there has been a shift in recent years away from works of pure imagination towards ones that combine fact and fiction. This has been the case in every story-based medium.”

“We’re actually living in a Golden Age of Film Criticism. More filmgoers are reading more good writing about more films, new and old, than ever before. They are also reading more bad writing, but there you go. Having lost the ability to speak, I’ve adopted the Internet as my own social network and am amazed almost daily by yet another extraordinary film critic.”

“When your audience includes 300 mayors (in town for the U.S. Conference of Mayors) and 90-some members of the Kennedy family; when your emcees include Terrence McNally, Diane Sawyer and Mike Nichols; and when your performers include Yo-Yo Ma, Herbie Hancock and Paul Simon, the actual art tends to get pushed aside, served up in snippets the size of variety-show acts.”

The crime is lack of discrimination. Magpies need a good eye for jewels, and plagiarists thrive best when the booty passes through the brain, not just the laptop.

“Lois Weisberg will end her long tenure as one of the most influential women to ever serve in local government when she leaves her position as the city’s commissioner of cultural affairs at the end of this month. The end is being accompanied by fireworks, which appear to have been sparked by Mayor Richard M. Daley.”

“[When a] young artist (or writer or actor) is a suicide, the quality of the material [he or she made] is often overlooked because it is immediately more valuable. The lurching randomness of existence suddenly has a steady meaning. Everything done or said by the deceased seems to be a clue that will explain why someone would choose to die rather than live.”

“Broad swaths of the entertainment business declined in 2010. DVD sales were off 13%. Music CD purchases plummeted 19%. Video game sales as well as concert and theater attendance also fell. Even the turnout for America’s favorite pastimes — baseball and NASCAR — was down. And swift changes in technology will make it difficult for Hollywood to capture pre-recession levels of revenue.”

“The Washington Post announced beginning January 23 it will expand coverage of arts and popular culture in the Sunday newspaper, creating separate Arts and Sunday Style sections.”