Monday December 31 THE LOWLY WRITER: So TV writers’ pay is getting cut because the American networks are losing money? No one’s getting rich here, certainly not writers. “There are about 150 series per year with about an average of 10 staffers each, or about 1,500 staff writer/writer-producer, prime-time jobs per year. There are a required … Continue reading “Media: December 2001”
Monday July 30 LONGEST FILM: A Scottish artist has taken John Wayne’s film The Searchers and slowed it down so it will take five years – the length of time the film’s story covers. It has been “digitally slowed, real-time version, which runs at one frame every 24 minutes rather than 24 frames a second.” Sunday Times (UK) 07/29/01 … Continue reading “Media: July 2001”
Friday March 30 GORE VIDAL ON CENSORSHIP: In a Prague Writers’ Festival Interview, Gore Vidal spoke out against a host of American ills, not the least of which in his mind is the silencing of its freest thinkers. “For instance, throughout the 50s into the 80s, I was a fixture on national television. Now I … Continue reading “People: March 2001”
Wednesday February 28 MAD FOR MOVIES: The audience for movies in Korea grew by 12 percent last year. But that audience wasn’t wild about the home team. “The audience share of Korean films decreased 3.2 percent to 32.6 percent, with foreign films attracting 67.4 percent of the audience.” Korea Times 02/28/01 WHERE CREDIT IS DUE: One of the … Continue reading “Media: February 2001”
Despite ongoing government surveillance, new music is flowing more freely in China due in large part to the internet. Piracy is rampant, but some say illegal copies are the only way around decades of censorship. “Even today, anyone who records a CD has to submit its lyrics on paper to state censors for their approval. … Continue reading “BETTER TO PIRATE THAN KEEP SINGING ABOUT MAO?”
The musicians’ coalition Artists Against Piracy kicked off its national campaign against copyright infringement with full-page ads in five major U.S. newspapers. “If A Song Means A Lot To You, Imagine What It Means To Us” read the headline, above a list of 68 musicians in favor of protecting their music through stricter copyright-law enforcement. – … Continue reading “GOING PUBLIC”
Theatre impresario Garth Drabinsky might be under indictment in the US and generally disgraced everywhere after bankrupting the Livent empire. But yesterday he rose from the dead to announce he’ll bring an Athol Fugard play to Toronto. – The Globe and Mail (Canada) Despite the 16 felony counts of fraud and conspiracy waiting for him in the … Continue reading “HE’S BACK”
Napster and piracy issues aside, on-line music companies are trying to doll themselves up to make themselves attractive to music fans. – Wired
Napster, the music-share program is considered by the music industry the greatest threat its ever faced. “In recent weeks, piracy using his Napster software program has reached such an unprecedented scale that many industry analysts believe that it marks the beginning of the end of paying for recorded music. To virtually every American under the age … Continue reading “KILLER (N)AP”
Metal band Metallica has been suing universities (for $10 million) for allowing students to pirate the band’s music off the internet with the Napster program. Now a website has been set up that allows fans to donate money to Metallica to compensate the band for its monetary losses from digital piracy. Just in case you … Continue reading “A WAY TO EASE YOUR GUILT FOR STEALING”
