“For decades, the movie business has followed an inflexible formula: Produce features, show them first in theaters, release them on video, then broadcast them on television.” But a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll shows that young people, though still hungry for films, aren’t interested in following the old rules about how and when they see them. “If teens and young adults are steering clear of movie theaters, where are they going? If you’re reading this story online, you’re staring at the answer: a personal computer.”
Tag: 08.08.06
Director Daniel Schmid, 64
“Daniel Schmid, one of Switzerland’s best-known film and opera directors, died on Saturday in his hometown, Flims, in eastern Switzerland. He was 64.”
Taxidermy Enjoys A New Chic
“For generations, the art of preserving dead creatures has been considered at worst barbaric and at best a relic of 19th-century colonialism. Now, however, a new breed of artists and collectors are discovering taxidermy. A manky hoof or a moth-eaten fox head that once adorned your granny’s spare room is probably propped on the wall of an expensive restaurant. A new shop selling taxidermy is opening next year in London’s achingly fashionable Shoreditch. Kate Moss has just spent several thousand pounds on a piece of taxidermy sculpture – a dead bluetit on a prayer book – by the east London-based artist Polly Morgan.”
In Defense Of Ballet (Sorta)
John Rockwell responds to Lewis Segals’s rant against ballet in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times. “Although I disagree with him on almost every count, there is something salutary about his position. There are so many ballet magazines and ballet Web sites out there now that simply assume the superiority of ballet to all other forms of dance that it is nice to have a corrective.”
New Orleans Rebuilds Locally
“Ever since a botched attempt to develop a comprehensive plan for New Orleans fell apart last winter, city and state officials have been straining to avoid the sticky racial and social questions that are central to any effort to rebuild and recover after Hurricane Katrina. Their solution, hammered out in July, was to turn the planning process over to a local charity, the Greater New Orleans Foundation.”
A Fringe Dance Festival Reaches For The Big Time
“Can a dance fringe festival morph itself into a curated big-ticket item and succeed? The newly transformed Toronto International Dance Festival (TIDF) opens Tuesday with Montreal’s legendary Margie Gillis and only at the end of its 12-day run will artistic director Michael Menegon know whether his gamble has paid off.”
That Music And Sex Thing (Yes! There’s A Link!)
“Teenagers who listen to songs with raunchy lyrics start having sex earlier than those who listen to other types of music, according to a new study in the US.”