Category: media

“After attending several screenings of Tabloid, sometimes in disguise, to denounce what she says is misrepresentation of her and her life story, [Joyce] McKinney has filed suit against its filmmakers, saying she was tricked into appearing in the movie.”

“The much-ballyhooed expansion of nominees in the best-picture category to 10, in place for two years, has been retired. Limits also have been placed on campaigning – the age-old process where studios throw lavish parties and work the media in an attempt to gin up buzz for their nominees – during the period after the nominees are announced in late January.”

“The BBC has pulled out of re-broadcasting Dennis Potter’s landmark drama series The Singing Detective in its 25th anniversary year because managers were not willing to pay an extra £5,000.”

“The Federal Communications Commission is launching a $4-billion program to narrow the digital divide by making high-speed Internet access and computers more affordable for more than 25 million mainly low-income Americans.”

“As script-writer, director, producer, cameraman and projectionist, the grandfatherly 70-year-old [Daniel] Burmeister has carved out a unique niche … He shows up in small towns on this vast, lonely [Argentine] plain offering local leaders a deal: if they’ll give him a month’s room and board, he’ll make a picture that will offer townsfolk a taste of big-screen stardom.”

“Today, Second Life limps along. In the first half of 2011, the company reported that an average of about 1 million users logged in every month–which, you have to admit, is about 999,990 more than you expected. But during this same period, Facebook averaged roughly 500 million logins per month.”

“You think they’re fretting in the TV racket? Ha bloody ha. Recently the CRTC released figures about the commercial Canadian TV racket showing that its operating revenues in broadcasting came to $2.15-billion in 2010. That’s an increase of 9 per cent from 2009.”

“Licensing deals signal a new era of cooperation between Internet music services and record labels and artists agencies, who, in most cases, no longer view sites like Pandora as a threat to the bottom line.”

“NBC is averaging 6.9 million viewers in prime time this season, fourth behind CBS, Fox and ABC – nearly 2 million behind third-place ABC, the Nielsen Co. said. That’s down 32 percent from NBC’s average five years ago and a whopping 55 percent off the 15.4 million people who watched NBC on a typical evening during the must-see TV era in 1996-97.”

Want to see “A Trip to the Moon,” the 1902 16-minute silent film classic by Georges Melies, in color? Now you can. And it just might blow your mind.