“Cell phones are quickly becoming 24-7 entertainment companions. The current generation of cell phones can take pictures, record video, download MP3s, play games, text message, surf the Web and play video clips. The third generation of cell phones, already available in Asia and becoming more widespread in America in the next year, can do all those things, better and faster, and do more. The world that exists on the TV and your video game console is now alive on your phone.”
Tag: 08.24.05
Has Mark Morris Peaked?
“If “L’Allegro,” which was created in Brussels in 1988 and concluded its fifth New York run since 1990 at the New York State Theater on Saturday, is Mr. Morris’s masterpiece, what’s he done since? Should we, as dance lovers and Morris admirers, be concerned that a choreographer still in his prime – he’s just shy of 49 – and celebrating the 25th anniversary of his company has not produced a comparable triumph in the last 18 years? And if not, why not? Here is a list of possible reasons…”
Video Nation (Our Video Universe Transformed)
There are 31 million hours of video programming produced each year. And the ways we’re going to access it are changing rapidly. “Every major cable company is making investments to allow TV to be distributed over the Internet, giving you access to each one of those 31 million hours. And then there’s this year’s 36-fold explosion in consumer-generated video on the Internet. This onslaught is already turning the entertainment business inside out. More music videos are being watched on AOL than on MTV. Procter & Gamble is cutting down on pricey 30-second TV spots to beef up the online presence of its packaged goods. TV Guide announced in July that it would drastically cut the amount of space it devotes to listings, an acknowledgment that viewers now turn to the Internet and onscreen programming guides.”
Donating (Partially) For Dollars
Not ready to give that expensive painting to a museum but need the tax break? Give away part of it and collect your writeoff. “Museums ask donors to pledge the remainder of the work as a promised gift, though that can be done years or even decades into the future. A donor who gives 25 percent of a $1 million painting to a museum is entitled to a $250,000 tax deduction, and the museum has the right to show the work three months a year. Should a donor wish to give another quarter of a painting three years after an original gift, it will be re-appraised and the tax deduction will reflect the current fair market value of the work, which may have appreciated.”
Mayor: Kill Richmond Performing Arts Center Plans
Richmond, Virginia mayor Douglas Wilder wants the foundation charged with building a new performing arts center in his city to drop their plans and renovate an existing facility. Doing so would “eliminate a new music hall, community playhouse and jazz club that are envisioned by the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation. Wilder said he is tired of waiting for foundation officials to respond to his concerns that they can’t raise the money to pay for the $112 million project. He said he is also concerned that the foundation may have misused the $7.6 million of city funds it has received so far.”
Down Box Office – The New Reality?
Hollywood realizes that the big drop in box office this summer is perhaps not a blip. Is the downturn the new reality? “The drop in ticket sales from last summer to this summer, the most important moviegoing season, is projected to be 9 percent by Labor Day, and the drop in attendance is expected to be even deeper, 11.5 percent, according to Exhibitor Relations, which tracks the box office.”
Pop Art – Past Its Sell-By Date
“I suppose this happens to all art after a while, but now that Pop Art has been going for more than 30 years — Peter Blake keeps the flag flying for Britain, but it’s an increasingly lonely task — I’ve grown tired of its blandishments, its exhortation of the temporary, the cheaply made, the gleeful interest in extreme fame or utter ordinariness. The bigger problem is that while Pop Art originally turned the tables on high art, making the banal significant and the ugly sort of beautiful, the rest of the world has not only since caught up but left it far behind.”
Borrow This, Pass It On
The first online library is an enormous chain letter of books. “After choosing a book, each reader sends a stamped addressed envelope to whoever owns the volume. The owner posts the book and the reader is allowed to keep it for up to five weeks before passing it on to the next person in the chain. After beginning its journey from reader to reader, each book is destined to remain in circulation indefinitely. Anyone failing to keep the chain in motion will have membership frozen, although there are no plans to introduce library fines.”
Can Music Soothe the Middle East?
Daniel Barenboim’s orchestra made up of young Israelis and Arabs offers some hope for peace. “In a week that had seen the occupied territories once again hitting global headlines, as 8,000 Jewish settlers finally withdrew from appropriated land in the Gaza strip, the arrival in the West Bank city of an orchestra that was founded to promote the principles of peace and reconciliation seemed to offer some faint hope of normality and harmony. The town’s ‘cultural palace’, built last year, was full to bursting, its capacity of 800 boosted by at least another 300 people sitting in the aisles and standing at the back of the hall, and the concert was broadcast live on television in Israel and through much of Europe.” But can music make a lasting difference?