“Disney in 2003 announced that it was abandoning traditional animation in favor of computer-generated imagery, after a string of hand-drawn flops,” but it “didn’t exactly strike pay dirt with its new all-computers, all-the-time approach.” Now the cofounders of Pixar are overseeing Disney’s return to the technique.
Tag: 11.02.09
Why DVRs Have Helped, Not Harmed, TV Revenues
Turns out TV viewers, DVR owners included, want to lounge, not expend precious energy skipping commercials. “Against almost every expectation, nearly half of all people watching delayed shows are still slouching on their couches watching messages about movies, cars and beer.”
Stieg Larsson’s Partner, Family Battle Over His Estate
Swedish writer Stieg Larsson, who was “largely unknown before his sudden death at 50, has become one of the most successful writers in the world,” with an estate estimated to exceed £20 million. “But because he and the architect Eva Gabrielsson, his partner of 32 years, never married and he died without making a will, the proceeds have defaulted to his blood relations….”
Puppeteer Ronnie Burkett Wins $75K Siminovitch Prize
“With the prize allocated for a designer this year – it also rewards playwrights and directors on a three-year cycle – Burkett won for crafting marionettes. … In addition to $75,000 for the winning artist, the prize comes with $25,000 for a protégé of their choice.”
Defacing Banksy Mural, Vandals Trump Voters
“Sutton Council asked residents to vote on whether the ‘punk’ mural should stay on its Beddington Farm Road site. More than 93% of the 250 voters urged the council to keep it but as the vote was taking place, the work was defaced by graffiti ‘taggers’.”
Physical Books Are Deeply Rooted In Our Emotional Selves
“A good book is an artifact made with passion, study, or struggle. … Someone is bound to invent a way of digitizing the paintings of Rembrandt to make possible an image that is better than we could get by gazing at the original. But we still would want to see the paintings. The human touch cannot be digitized.”
In Defense Of The Prompter — And The Prompted
“Matthew Broderick has taken heat for needing prompts in previews of a new off-Broadway play, and an actor was fired in Hartford for storing lines in his character’s hat.” In light of tradition, it’s much ado about nothing.
Boldface Names Join Obama’s Arts Advisory Panel
Yo-Yo Ma, Edward Norton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kerry Washington, Forest Whitaker, Anna Wintour and Alfre Woodard are among those tapped for the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, a largely ceremonial panel.
Lehman Art Rakes In Bucks At Auction (No, It Won’t Help)
“An eclectic batch of artworks that once adorned the corporate offices of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. sold for $1.35 million,” or “almost double the projected total,” at auction Sunday. One art adviser explained part of the appeal: “This gives you a piece of financial history — good, bad or indifferent.”
Marie NDiaye Wins France’s Top Literary Prize
“NDiaye has written a dozen books, from novels to short story collections and plays, and in 2001 she won the Prix Femina. She was born in 1967 in Pithiviers, south of Paris, to a French mother and a Senegalese father.”