The Los Angeles Times has a new books editor. He’s David Ulin, 44, a longtime champion of West Coast writers. He’s “written for numerous publications, including The Times, and served for three years as book editor of the Los Angeles Reader. John Montorio, the top editor of The Times’ feature sections, said that Ulin would be empowered to accomplish a complete makeover of book coverage when he starts in October. “I think that the review will remain urbane and sophisticated, but we want it to be far more accessible and far more attuned to what is really hot in the book world.”
Tag: 08.25.05
Boston Film Festival Shrinks By Half
The Boston Film Festival, which opens in two weeks, is being cut to half its usual length. “Festival organizers say the abbreviated schedule will be a one-year phenomenon — a nod to the nationwide decline in box office receipts, and an acknowledgment that the festival itself is in transition. Mark Diamond and Susan Fraine, former Loews executives who had run the festival since 1993, handed over the duties this year to Robin Dawson, executive director of the independent Massachusetts Film Bureau.”
Smithsonian’s Falling Down
The Smithsonian is falling apart. And building maintenance is so bad that some of the institutions areb being damaged. “While Congress and Smithsonian officials debate who is responsible for what, some treasures have been lost for good. Among them is the collection of snapping lids and tools developed in the 1940’s by Earl Tupper as the earliest prototypes of the now ubiquitous Tupperware.”
The Mystery Play That Sold Out Before It Opened
Ticket-buyers don’t know what Mike Leigh’s new play is about (or even the title) but it’s sold out its run at London’s National Theatre. “The truth is that no one but Mike Leigh and his actors know what his first stage play for 12 years is about. But that has not hindered its performance at the box office. The new production, which is currently going by the intuitive title of A New Play by Mike Leigh, has already sold out after theatregoers snapped up more than 16,000 advance tickets. The only clue is the play’s publicity poster, a black-and-white shot of a solitary palm tree against a backdrop of sand dunes.”