“Only now in the bright light of the Google Era do we see how dim and gloomy was our pregooglian world. In the distant future, historians will have a common term for the period prior to the appearance of Google: the Dark Ages.”
Tag: 02.15.04
The Battle Over Your DVD Player
The struggle for what will be the next generation of DVD is underway. “The DVD is one of the success stories of the electronics industry of recent years. In the US alone, more than half of all homes have a DVD player. And it is now rare to find a computer that does not come with a DVD drive. The successor to the current discs are unlikely to be in the shops before 2005 but the tussle to become the standard for a multimillion dollar industry is already well under way.”
City Ballet’s Star In The Making
New York City Ballet has a new star in the making – 20-year-old Megan Fairchild, who made her debut last week in Coppélia. She’s only been at City Ballet for less than a year-and-a-half. “Once in the company, she stood out almost immediately for her appeal and her technical prowess; she’s extraordinarily swift, strong, clear, and daring.”
EMI Blocks Beatles Remix From Being Sold
Recording giant EMI is preventing a remix that includes songs from the Beatles’ White Album from being sold. “DJ Danger Mouse created The Grey Album using Jay-Z’s vocals and beats made by sampling music on The White Album. EMI, which releases Beatles records, has served cease and desist orders to the DJ and record shops stocking it.”
The Slide Of The Playbox Theatre
“Why has Melbourne’s Playbox, which was founded in 1976, seen such a slide in its fortunes recently? There are lots of theories – from inappropriate programming to poor production values, soaring ticket prices to careless marketing. These are real problems, but they are not the origin of the dilemma, only symptoms of it. The answer lies far deeper. Mainstream theatre has, lately, been swamped by competing interests.”
Who Will Succeed Wolfe At Public Theatre?
“Will the board stick with a New Yorker, or will it look around the country? (Oskar Eustis at Trinity Rep in Providence has the dynamic personality of a Joseph Papp, a commitment to new work and even a strong Kushner connection to boot.) Will the board look to England? (Not likely given the urban-driven identity of the Public.) It’s been fairly quiet in the world of artistic-director job searches.”
Berlin’s Window On Film
The Berlinale Film Festival is a workhorse festival. “Attracting an audience this year of more than 60,000, the Berlinale conjures up neither the glitz nor the summer sun of the more celebrated Cannes and Venice festivals. But, as it has increasingly done since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the festival is spiced with independent films and disheveled directors from countries such as Argentina, South Africa, Cuba and Slovenia.”
Do Arts Taxes Help The Local Economy?
“Does spending tax dollars on the arts give the local economy any more of a boost? Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) residents will vote in March on Issue 31, a property-tax levy that would raise nearly $21 million annually to help local industries, including the arts. If it passes, what can the voters expect in exchange for their higher property tax?”
How To Save The NEA? Privatize!
Tony Brown writes that it’s all well and good for George Bush to propose budget increases for the National Endowment for the Arts. But if he really wanted to do something, he should privatize the agency and give it a real endowment that could sustain its funding for years to come.
Of Religion And Art – Scandals For The Centuries
“In Western culture the question of how to picture divinity has a history longer than Christianity’s. Plato chewed on it while his Greek contemporaries had no qualms about personifying deities in statuary and vase painting. Eventually Christianity, Judaism and Islam all codified their own prohibitions against imaging divinity, though all tolerated breaches of the rules at various times for various reasons. Over the centuries disputants in the matter filled libraries with esoteric arguments for and against likenesses of deity.”