“Much has been made of how declining movie admissions and box-office grosses have clipped the earnings of movie studios and film exhibitors. But audience apathy also is taking a bite out of the oft-overlooked concession business. Particularly hard hit are those companies that rely on movie theaters for the bulk of their sales.”
Tag: 03.18.06
Subway Series – London And Shanghai
Shanghai and London are exchanging subway poetry. “Under the deal, which took years to thrash out, the London Underground – which has displayed poems for 20 years – is displaying lines from some of China’s great wordsmiths: Li Bai, Du Pu and Po Chu-i. Next month the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, will launch a similar programme in Shanghai with Wordsworth’s Daffodils, Blake’s Auguries of Innocence, Jamie’s The Blue Boat and Bullock’s Butterfly.”
Putting Teeth Behind A Definition Of Indecency
So the FCC has fined CBS $3.6 million for “obscene” scenes in “Without a Trace.” “For reasons that baffle the rest of the world (in this case, they don’t hate us, they pity us), the United States is far more prudish about sex than violence on television. But as long as sexually explicit material is officially taboo, then the episode did seem to meet the test: the scene of teenagers holding an orgy in a suburban house was quite blue. The camera lingered on writhing bodies and sweaty threesomes just a little longer than was strictly necessary to make the point that sexually transmitted diseases are a growing problem in high school.”
Picasso’s Daughter: They’re Fake
Maya Widmaier-Picasso, the artist’s daughter, who autheticates his work, says that drawings sold on Costco are not by him. “Those two works, photographs of which were shown to her by The New York Times, were offered by the dealer with certificates in French saying that Ms. Widmaier-Picasso had authenticated them. Pointing to anomalies in the certificates — grammatical errors, wording that departed from her style, handwriting that did not match hers and the placement of words on the page — the artist’s daughter said both documents were forgeries.”