So where did multi-media come from? A new website charts the evolution of the discipline through “the aspirations of artists, scientists, writers, musicians, and cultural renegades. The website presents a historical timeline, an overview of themes, and a comprehensive list of multimedia pioneers.” – Wired 06/19/00
Category: media
WHAT’S THE 411?
Everyone talks about the overload of information, the swamp of media overload we find ourselves in the middle of as we enter the 21st Century. “I would like to dispute this view, to argue that every age was an age of information, each in its own way, and that communication systems have always shaped events.” – New York Review of Books 06/29/00
THE LAND OF DISBELIEF
Who can believe anything you see in movies anymore? Special effects rendered by computer fill in any and all things needed for a scene. But it gets increasingly difficult to believe what you see, or – ominously – suspend belief. – Hartford Courant 06/18/00
MOVIE KILLER
The movie “Jaws” came out 25 years ago. “A myth has grown up around it as disturbing and predatory as that of the shark – the myth of Jaws’s lethal effect on modern film. Jaws is no longer just the movie that killed bathing. It has become the movie that killed movies.” – The Telegraph (UK) 06/18/00
RAISE THE RED CURTAIN
Chinese director Zhang Yimou (“Raise the Red Lantern,” “Ju Dou,” “To Live”) is considered one of the world’s greatest filmmakers. At age 48, with nearly a decade under his belt of clashing with Chinese authorities over the politically explicit nature of his work, his renown even more startling considering he’s been banned from all international coproductions for the last six years. “He was cut off from the foreign finance, technology and even film stock that enabled him to create his indelible images. A man who may be the world’s greatest active filmmaker thus spent the second half of the 1990s cut off from world cinema, busying himself with cheap domestic productions and directing operas.” – The Telegraph (UK) 06/16/00
BANNED IN ONTARIO
The Ontario Film Review Board has banned a poster for an Israeli art film because it contains some nudity (though not enough to prevent the poster image to be printed in the newspaper). The film’s distributor calls for the dismantling of the review board. ”I’ve come to a point where I think this is completely archaic. This kind of control does not make any sense in this day and age.” – National Post (Canada) 06/16/00
MOVIE RIPOFF
Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Time Warner and Twentieth Century Fox, are among seven companies taking legal action against RecordTV.com. alleging that the internet site has been recording their films and TV shows and illegally retransmitting them over the web. – BBC 06/16/00
NO, NO I-FILMS
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences decides that no film shown on the internet before playing in theaters will be eligible for an Oscar next year. – CBC 06/16/00
THE DVD DANCE
Are DVD’s a threat to the movie industry because of piracy? The movie industry has certainly said so. But Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of America wouldn’t say anything against them during a deposition in a DVD piracy case. During his testimony, Valenti said “I don’t know” 62 times, “I don’t recall” 29 times, and “I’m not aware” 16 times, according to a transcript of the deposition. – Wired 06/14/00
HOPING FOR HOMEGROWN
Australia’s public broadcaster needs to improve its ratings, says the ABC’s new managing director. But the highest rated shows are imports. “We’re all for building audience for Australian content, but the fact is we haven’t got the money to do it,” say the critics. – The Age (Melbourne) 06/14/00