Category: media

“TV theme songs, once a vibrant piece of pop culture, have been on the wane for years as networks experimented with ways to keep viewers from switching channels.Their mission? Get into and out of shows as quickly as possible and create a seamless blend of programming. (Oh, and cram as many commercials in there while you’re at it).”

“Foreign-language films represent less than 1 percent of the domestic box office at a time when Hollywood movies account for 63 percent of the global box office.”

The oft-mocked genre, which has given the world such memorable fare as “Witches of Breastwick” and “Tarzeena: Jiggle in the Jungle,” is more visible — and valuable — than ever, even at a time when hard-core adult entertainment is easily accessible on every media device.

“In Cannes this year, the chasm between mainstream cinema and art-house festival fare is more gaping than ever. The outside world enjoys the diversion of Cannes. Whatever Europe’s economic or political woes, Cannes is a fixed point in the calendar.”

“Sales of DVDs dropped 13% from 2008 to 2009 while digital alternatives, such as video streaming and on-demand movie sites, grew significantly. In a bid to arrest the decline, the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), has been set by a US consortium of entertainment firms, wants to transform how consumers buy, access and play digital content.”

“Federal regulators have granted a controversial waiver to the Hollywood studios that clears the way for them to show first-run movies in the home shortly after — or even during — their release in theaters.”

“At first sight, this year’s selection seems muted, but Cannes has so established its lead over rival festivals Berlin (worthy and drab) and Venice (glamorous but patchy) that it can afford not to go all out on crowd-pleasers.”

“[F]or the first time in a long time, in a once-grand theater almost filled to its capacity of 1,800 seats, Iraqis watched themselves and their postwar experiences portrayed in film by another Iraqi.”

“New research … finds that the amount of television watched has little discernible impact on young children’s (age 5-10) academic achievement.”

“If the Hollywood studio assembly line is high school in a John Hughes movie, superhero films are the jocks — benighted beneficiaries of grade inflation and reflexive fan boosterism.”