Iran’s Movie Theatres Thriving

Iranian movie theatres are enjoying a boom, “fueled largely by a greater number of homegrown romantic comedies, which have lured people back to the big screen. Movie theaters took in more than $2 million between March and May this year, up 100 percent from the same period last year, the state cinema authority Farabi reported.” (the tickets cost only $1).

Juilliard Names A New Dean

Ara Guzelimian has been named new dean of Juilliard. Guzelimian comes from Carnegie Hall. “At Juilliard, he said, his emphasis would center on the role of the artist in society, or “the subject of how do you engage in the society around you in the broadest and most unexpected ways, rather than the narrow definition of success for a young dancer, actor or musician.”

Dylan: CDs Are Crap

Bob Dylan complains that modern CD sound quality is terrible. “His main criticism of contemporary CDs is the lack of sound clarity arising when producers try to make each strand of a recording as uniformly loud as possible. ‘You listen to these modern records, they’re atrocious, they have sound all over them. There’s no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just, like … static’.”