“In 2012, Ronald McDonald is essentially a clown without a country. McDonald’s is in the midst of an ambitious, multi-billion-dollar global makeover” – upgrading its food, furnishings and fixtures to become more like Starbucks than Burger King – “[and] its middle-aged mascot has no place in it.”
Tag: 01.09.12
Everything Is Disrupted, And boyd Knows What To Do: Change
danah boyd: “Any time there’s a radical disruption, everyone rushes to reform a new power structure, to restabilize things. Some people win in this process and some people lose. Tech forces a disruption, but who gets to win?”
Hollywood’s Professional Laughers
“The humor stakes are so high around here that live-audience sitcoms are turning to laughter ringers, folks so good at guffawing they’re planted the audience and get everyone else cackling at the right moment.”
The New London Home Of The RSC? Why Not The Portable Stage They Used In New York?
Outgoing company director Michael Boyd, on the 975-seat replica of the RSC’s Stratford auditorium which the company set up in the Park Avenue Armory last summer: “It is perfectly positioned to be placed within some large four walls [in London] and be a temporary theatre that lasts for a hundred years.”
Chinua Achebe Leads Nigerian Authors In Protesting Fuel Subsidy Cuts
The award-winning novelist “is heading a group of 38 Nigerian authors who are throwing their weight behind mass protests in the country at the government’s withdrawal of the state fuel subsidy.”
How Can We Cultivate Originality?
“Of course being too original is a common problem only for geniuses … For the rest of us, the challenge is reversed: how can we be sufficiently novel? One approach is to combine many old thoughts in a new melting pot. With patience, it’s then possible to be reasonably systematic about allowing new ideas to form.”
In Taiwan, The Garbage Trucks Play Classical Music
“On the tightly packed East Asian island nation, garbage trucks, like ice cream vans, are equipped with speakers that play music – popular tunes include Beethoven’s ‘Für Elise’ and Tekla Badarzewska-Baranowska’s ‘A Maiden’s Prayer’ – alerting citizens that trash time est arrivé.”
Heirs To Musical Royalty Make The Decisions (Before Copyright Expires)
“Few recent Broadway seasons have had as much estate-driven handiwork as this one, a reflection of the rising entrepreneurship of heirs and the affection of audiences for song standards. Heirs are increasingly hands-on in trying to wrest moneymaking shows out of their ancestral trunks.”
Arts Funding Gone Big, And Big (Community) Picture, In Connecticut
“The Connecticut Office of the Arts will consolidate four of its local arts funding programs into one initiative; double total funding to $3.1 million; hand out fewer but larger grants; and focus on recipients’ place-making.”
Moore On Those Oscars Documentary Changes (He Thinks They’re Great)
“The process will be more transparent and more democratic than it’s been in two decades,” said [Michael] Moore, who was a driving force behind the changes. “The idea is to get this thing fixed.”