How will movie houses survive? “First TV, then the VCR had struck major blows to the viability of large cinemas, and by the early ’90s it was clear that if cinemas were to be viable they were going to have to change.” But there’s a sameness to the big mega-screen complexes today that makes one long for the individuality of yesteryear. – The Age (Melbourne) 05/14/00
Tag: 05.14.00
WHAT’S THE ENDING?
The latest digital movie producers have a new way of involving their audience – as collaborators. “So far, only the first five minutes of Running Time – an “edgy, contemporary thriller” – have been shot. What happens next in the 10-week series is up to the viewer. After the first broadcast on Wednesday, they will have 48 hours to make their decisions known.” – The Independent (UK) 05/14/00
INVENTING A PHENOMENON
It’s “Sound of Music” meets “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and it’s the hottest new thing in high camp at the movies in London. Audiences are massing to sing along with the Von Trapps and dress up for the parts. Meet the man who invented a phenomenon. – Los Angeles Times 05/14/00
HANDS OFF
How about a National Film Registry for films that shouldn’t be remade? Some movies should just never be touched after the original, but they need protection from producers looking to make a buck off their names. Herewith, some nominations for such a list. – Boston Globe 05/14/00
COME DANCE WITH ME
Ballet almost never makes it to the big screen these days. So the dance known as “Baby Baryshnikov” is happy for the new dance-centric “Center Stage.” – Boston Herald 05/14/00
PERILS OF THE AMAZON
Amazon.com provides sales statistics and reader reviews of the books it sells. But so much information isn’t necessarily a good thing for authors. “On a bad day, you’ll invariably find that none of Amazon’s customers has bothered to review your book since the last time you looked, and that, furthermore, the masterpiece over which you sweated blood for 18 months is languishing in 3,000,012th place in the Amazon sales charts. On an even worse one, you’ll discover that some tasteless imbecile who wouldn’t know what great art was if it bit him on the nose has given you a real stinker, and that your book has dropped to 3,000,013.” – The Telegraph (UK)
ET TU KRZYSZTOF?
Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki was one of the more adventurous and radical composers of the 20th Century. Now he’s written a piece that sounds like it could be Mahler or Brahms. “It is, though, a curious state of affairs when the composer who, more than any other, was identified with that scandalous way of writing should become the one who most saliently repudiates it.” – Sunday Times (London)
BRAGGING RIGHTS
- International tours are expensive for orchestras. Though they may seem glamorous, there’s some serious business going on. “International, highly rated orchestras travel and play in great halls and great places. If you are playing in Musikverein [in Vienna] or Amsterdam [Het Concertgebouw], this is the cream of the music world. If the orchestra is invited, it speaks that the orchestra is of great quality, because a not-great orchestra wouldn’t play in the Musikverein.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
DIGITAL RETREAT
In the face of court challenges over copyright, Napster and MP3.com take a step back. The battle’s just beginning over the future of selling recorded music. – Philadelphia Inquirer (Bloomberg)
WHEN MARY SUED SALLE
In January New York art dealer Mary Boone signed David Salle to her stable. Now she’s suing him for $1 million. Evidently “Boone promised to advance Salle $500,000, in return for which he would consign work worth at least $850,000 to her gallery. She’d pay all the promotional costs, and they’d split the sales, 60-40 in his favor.” Boone says Salle failed to deliver on the promised work. – New York Daily News