“How much fictionalization should be tolerated before the designation ‘based on a true story’ becomes both a liability and a lie? The harm or benefit to society is debatable, but in examining these specimens of reality-based myth, a barometer of America emerges: Namely, they reveal the political climate in which we live and the sort of comforting untruths we crave at the movie theater.”
Tag: 03.14.04
FCC To Stations: Go To Your Room!
The media “indecency” debate in the US is a classic parent/child conflict. “For our purposes, the role of the parents in this indecency script is played by the Federal Communications Commission. The kids are radio and TV stations. And for the past 15-20 years, the FCC has largely trusted them to keep the house of broadcasting orderly. The outcome, critics say, is a disaster, with food on the ceiling, busted china and God knows what going on in the basement.”
Twin Talent Towers
Manhattan Plaza is a subsidized apartment complex for artists in New York. “The complex’s two towers consume the entire block bordered by Ninth and 10th avenues and 42nd and 43rd streets. Inside is the most talent-laden village in New York, its residents packed in as tightly as a pastrami on rye in a profoundly delicious deal subsidized by federal, state and city housing programs.” Rent is based on a percentage of your income.
Pas de Pregnancy
Choreographer Sarah Morrison decided that pregnancy wouldn’t slow her down. So she’s choreographed a piece for herself now that she’s pregnant. Is it a pas de deux? “The improvisation is based on the idea of the psyche popularized by Carl Jung. The psyche is generated in the mind. The baby is developing in the body.”
Joan Kroc – Supersized Philanthropy
Joan Kroc was a dream philanthropist. “The maverick salvationist proved to be a maverick philanthropist, too. She gave away money the way the non-rich fantasize it should be done: no fanfare or foundations, no red tape or robber baron formality. Just the unexpected personal proffer of $1 million to prevent nuclear war, $3 million for a homeless shelter, $100 tips to the immigrants at the drive-through inquiring if she’d like fries with that . . . All the better if the lady in the blue Mercedes got away with her Filet-O-Fish (and a burger for her King Charles spaniel) without being identified.”
How The Internet Is Changing Popular Culture
“More and more people are consuming their popular culture on the internet, particularly as faster connections become more widely available.” In the process, the business and creative sides of our creative industries are being transformed.
Pavarotti’s Final Opera Curtain
Luciano Pavarotti’s final Metropolitan Opera performance Saturday night was his last opera performance anywhere, he says. “At the end, there was an 11-minute ovation that featured four solo curtain calls as everyone from the orchestra to the standing room section applauded and yelled ‘Bravo’.”
Dyer: The Meaning Of Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti sang his last performances in opera at the Metropolitan this week. Richard Dyer: “This is not the occasion to survey Pavarotti’s nonoperatic career in concert, arena events, on film and television, with the Three Tenors, and as a newsworthy talk show celebrity; all of that continues. What is important is that Pavarotti let all of his outside activities feed back into opera. He could have left the opera house decades ago and made even more money than he has, but he chose not to. The musical world needs its celebrities because they vouch for the validity of the art.”
Pacific Northwest Ballet – What Next?
Pacific Northwest Ballet directors Francia Russell and Kent Stowell are leaving the company after 28 years. In that time they built a struggling regional ballet into one of the country’s best. So what happens when the guiding forces of one of Seattle’s primary arts institutions move on?
Back To The 50s: Renegades Of Cool As Pitchmen
Fifties icons of cool such as Miles Davis, James Dean and Jack Kerouac are being used in commercials to promote various products. “Sure, nothing’s sacred. And certainly there’s more to the enduring appeal of ‘cool’ – an attitude that says, ‘I know who I am, whether you know it or not, and I really don’t care if you do’ – than the marketing strategies that threaten to cheapen its legacy. But there’s a bitter irony in the fact that Davis, Dean and Kerouac were anything but unquestioning, lock-step consumers.”