iPod As Learning Machine

Apple is teaming up with universities to offer college lectures for iPods. “Internet access to college lectures is nothing new, but listening to them on portable gadgets is a more recent phenomenon of the digital age, spurred in part by the popularity of podcasts, or downloadable audio files.”

Oscars – Year Of The Gays?

Several of the leading movies for Oscar honors this year have gay themes. “It could end up being the all-gay Oscars. We could have every major category won by gay-themed pictures. Needless to say, that would be a first. No gay-themed film has ever been named best picture. For all the right wing’s blather about Hollywood’s liberal agenda, the big studios are actually conservative, concerned not so much about politics as about their bottom line.”

Grumbling Over Oscar’s Documentary Taste

As usual, there’s grumbling about documentaries that are left out of Oscar contention. “There’s an inherent conflict between how the academy determines eligibility and how most documentary filmmakers make money. Because European television has government money and spends it on films that tackle controversial subjects, American documentarians often look there for financing, in exchange for the chance to show the film on the air. To be considered for an Oscar, however, a documentary must have made its debut in theaters and played for at least a week in New York or Los Angeles, and films that appeared only on television – or even those that appeared on television before moving to theaters – are disqualified.”

Can You Copyright Stage Direction?

An ongoing legal dispute between a New York director and the theatre he was working for could wind up having wide implications for the theatre world at large. The director, who was fired after disputes with the producer and the playwright, “claims in his complaint that his staging contributions… constitute a copyrighted work of intellectual property, owned by him, and that the defendants must therefore pay for infringing the copyright,” since the show went on after the director was let go.

Art & Commerce: An Unholy Alliance?

Frank Gehry’s much-praised concert hall in Los Angeles is about to become the focal point of a promotional campaign for vodka, and it is hardly the first L.A. structure to have its facade hijacked for commercial purposes. Gehry insists that he’s vaguely flattered by the spirit company’s interest, but the architect’s aquiescence doesn’t really alter the larger question: “When a prominent work becomes a backdrop for blouses or set decoration for soda, does commerce dishonor art or can both come out ahead?”

Anybody Want Their Name On A Bathroom?

As backers of Miami’s new $450 million performing arts center make their final funding push, the time has come to decide on a name for the place, and as has become commonplace, the naming rights are being offered to anyone willing to pony up a cool $30 million. “If [that] seems a little steep, the PAC Foundation is offering more modest sponsorship opportunities, including the Ballet Opera House stage. A glossy brochure labeled ‘Legacy: Yours & Ours’ lists dozens of building parts that could be yours for the branding, ranging from the powder room and lavatory in the Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House ($100,000) to the projection booth in the Carnival Symphony Hall ($250,000).”

The Financial Aid Shuffle

Even for relatively well-to-do families, the cost of higher education in America has become prohibitive, and while there exists a plethora of grants, scholarships, and other financial aid options, seeking access to that assistance can quickly become a full-time job. “The level of detail is excruciating, the exposure humiliating, the work exhausting,” and at the end of all the work, many scholarships may not be the financial solution they first appear.