Liverpool’s Capital Culture Plan – Too Many Outsiders?

Lots of money is flowing into Liverpool for its Capital of Culture year. But some of the local artists are complaining: “It’s as if the people running 2008 have no confidence in what’s already here. There are lots of government agendas being worked out. People are getting grants because they are good at filling in forms. But money isn’t coming into the music scene: it’s going to consultants. The clubs that really fuel the music are unfunded and almost off the radar as far as the official bodies are concerned.”

FCC Launches Flurry Of Indecency Fines

America’s FCC has proposed “$3.9 million in fines against scores of television broadcasters for violating federal decency limits, including a record $3.6 million for stations that aired a show depicting group sex. The agency also upheld its decision to fine 20 CBS stations $550,000 for a stunt in which pop singer Janet Jackson exposed her breast during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.”

Polygamy Before HBO

HBO’s new show featuring a polygamous family has a downside: “By default, it perpetuates the common notion that the Mormon polygamy was a unique mutation in the history of Christianity. On the contrary, the practice goes back very nearly to the beginning of the church — and it has popped up again, from time to time, sometimes finding the most surprising advocates.”

Wanted – New Media Plan To Pay Actors

The advertising industry is looking for a new formula for paying actors. “The payment structures in the current collective bargaining agreements with SAG/AFTRA were originally developed to meet the needs and problems of the early 1950s. As different means of broadcasting were developed, new payment streams were added on to the contract, creating enormous administrative complexity, distortions in the allocation of compensation, and the potential for out-of-control costs. For example, talent payments for broadcasts that reach very small audiences can today exceed the actual cost of the media.”

The Case Of The Melting Orchestra

An orchestra playing instruments made out of ice has to stop their performance when one of the flutes melted. “Instrument maker Tim Linharts has been able to transform frozen water into functioning flutes, violins, and a double bass out of ice. The instruments were played for the first time at a concert in a gigantic igloo that was deemed a complete success aside from the early melting of the flute.”

Brown: I drew On Many Sources For Da Vinci

Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown spends a third day in court defending himself against plagiarism charges. “Brown’s cross-examination has been dominated by detailed questions about punctuation, spelling, and to what extent the language and ideas of The Da Vinci Code mirror those of the Holy Blood. At times showing signs of impatience, Brown sighed, shook his head and joked that his eyesight had deteriorated during the case as a result of the minutiae he had been forced to study.”

Brown Defense: Your Book Was Only One Of Many

Dan Brown continued to insist in court, defending himself against plagiarism charges, that he and his wife, Blythe, had not bought or even read a copy of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail until a late stage of the research, long after he had submitted the synopsis for his own proposed book. He said the “clear point of evidence” was he had not included HBHG in the bibliography in his synopsis for the publishers. “I was very eager to impress my publishers with a longer list of bibliography … if I had read it I would have included it.”