Disney is expected to close its animation studios in Orlando this week, cutting loose 260 workers. “Under pressure to reduce overhead and consolidate production, Disney already has shuttered animation studios in Paris and Tokyo. In all, the studio has cut more than 700 jobs in recent years — including 50 animators in Orlando last year — and trimmed animators’ salaries as much as 50 percent. The most recent cuts would leave Disney’s animation division with a core staff of 600 to 700.”
Tag: 01.10.04
The World’s Largest Book
The world’s largest book has been published. It’s a book of photographs of the kingdom of Bhutan. “Opening to 1.5 by 2 metres and weighing more than 60 kilograms, the book is so big it needs its own Sherpa. The price? A cool $10,000 (U.S.), 17 times what the average Bhutanese earns in a year, although the books only cost $1,000 each to produce, with the remaining $9,000 benefiting the Bhutanese ministry of education as a charitable donation.”
Careful Of That Cough – The Musicians Might Attack!
Cellist Stephen Isserlis is fed up with audience members who snooze, cough, or forget to turn their pagers, watches or cell phones off. “I do believe that the first step has to be taken by the audience – or rather, by that usually tiny minority who believe that, contained within the right to free speech, is the right to ruin concerts. I should advise them that, if they continue to ignore the warning signals, it is only a matter of time before a musician turns truly violent; and a cello spike or a piccolo placed in an inappropriate orifice could prove to be really quite uncomfortable…”
New Start In Minnesota
The Minnesota Orchestra declared a $2.4 million deficit last month, but there’s no need to panic. The orchestra has a popular new music director and a new executive director who arrives with new ideas and a forthrightness that impresses those who have worked with him. Of course, there’s a new musicians’ contract to be negotiated…