Mel Brooks – Of Comedy And Music

Mel Brooks has a musical ear. “Brooks writes the lyric and melody, leaving harmony and orchestration to others. He is too much a Broadway guy to be deemed an original composer, but he has an unerring ear for speech rhythms that translate into melody, a gift shared with the likes of Schubert, Janacek and Noel Coward. The comedy comes from close acquaintance with human frailty. The youngest of four boys, his father died when he was two and his mother raised the family sewing sashes for swimsuit straps and sequins onto frocks.”

File-Swapping: Who’s Responsible?

“A federal appeals judge on Tuesday questioned whether distributors of online file-sharing software should be held responsible for copyright infringement just because some people use the programs to swap copyright music and movies.” The entertainment industry estimates that 90% of the content flowing through file-swapping sites is illegal, and argues that the company’s that make the software count on pirates for most of their business revenue. “The case’s outcome could determine whether music and film companies can hold distributors of file-sharing software liable for illegally swapped music and movies online.”

A New Dance Building That Dances

Three years ago, a man looking for a dance school for his daughter, offered the University of Arizona in Tucson funds to build a new home for its dance program. “This story sounds like something out of an old Fred Astaire movie, and why not? Just looking at the Eller Theatre, designed by Gould Evans Associates in Phoenix, makes you want to tap your feet. The finely proportioned rectangular glass volume that hosts the dance studios seems to pirouette above a lush green lawn.”

A Big New Movie Museum For LA?

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is considering building a new “world-class” motion-picture museum in Los Angeles.
“Academy executives said they wanted the museum to be a ‘major statement’ comparable to such recently built Los Angeles cultural landmarks as the $274-million Walt Disney Concert Hall or even the $1.3-billion J. Paul Getty Museum.”

US Congress Looks At Content Crackdown For TV, Radio

“Republicans and Democrats alike are forming alliances and proposing laws to crack down on growing smut on television and radio. It seems certain that an energized Congress and president will greatly increase fines for indecency on the air, especially in the wake of Janet Jackson’s exposure during the Super Bowl halftime show. This could bring a new era of activism to the Federal Communications Commission, which has found almost no time to monitor or punish broadcasters, even while under Republican control.”

Leonardo – Father Of Plastic?

Did Leonardo invent the first plastics back in the 15th Century? “Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Museo Ideale in the Tuscan town of Vinci, where the artist was born the illegitimate child of a Florentine notary and a peasant girl in 1452, found Leonardo’s recipe for artificial materials in several pages of drawings and notes.”