“A new report from UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center suggests struggling women and minority actors might want to bring something extra to their next audition besides a head shot: a civil rights lawyer. Some casting calls that specify gender and ethnicity could violate federal anti-discrimination laws, according to the report by Russell Robinson of the UCLA School of Law, who examined Breakdown Services’ listings of national movie casting calls from June 1 to Aug. 31 and analyzed roles compiled by online movie sites. Robinson’s report concludes that 69% of available acting roles are designed for white males….”
Tag: 11.30.06
Orange County School Finds Freaking Alternatives
“The principal of a south Orange County high school has lifted a nearly three-month-long dancing ban he instituted after seeing teenagers’ sexually suggestive moves at school dances that were ‘one step from events that should be occurring on wedding nights.’ … The new guidelines forbid students from straddling each other’s legs, bending over, dancing front-to-back, grinding, touching breasts, buttocks or genitals, or ‘making out,’ and require students to keep both feet on the floor. The guidelines also limit dancers’ hands to their partner’s waist or shoulders.”
Houghton Mifflin Becomes A Dubliner
“Riverdeep Holdings, an Irish educational software company, agreed yesterday to acquire the American textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin for $1.75 billion. Houghton Mifflin will be combined with Riverdeep into a new company, HM Rivergroup, which is based in Dublin.”
What’s This? Getting Time To Build An Audience?
NBC’s new series, “30 Rock” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” are not what could be called ratings hits — yet, on the other hand, they’re both still on the air. “These two very different behind-the-scenes looks at network intrigue were among the most vaunted shows of the fall season and did not meet expectations, yet both survived the midseason tumbrel. Turns out cold-eyed corporations don’t always look at the bottom line to determine the fate of fledgling television shows.”
Welcoming Kurt Masur (All Is Forgiven)
“If psychologists ever made a study of post-departure syndrome, they might begin with Kurt Masur’s return to New York with the London Philharmonic. In his time as music director of the New York Philharmonic Mr. Masur was received as something of a drill sergeant in charge of a wayward platoon, a kind of bitter medicine designed to purge the orchestra of its loose ways. But waves of friendship greeted him at Carnegie Hall on Monday and Tuesday nights, a genuine warmth like nothing he experienced during his years in New York.”
Jackin’ Pop, Blog Challenger To Pazz & Jop
The Village Voice’s annual Pazz & Jop poll of music critics will go ahead despite the firing in August of its guiding force, critic Robert Christgau, but now it has competition. “This week Idolator, a newish music blog owned by Gawker Media, seized on the outrage and disappointment felt by critics around the country who saw Mr. Christgau — and Chuck Eddy, the Voice music editor, who was dismissed in April — as a force of credibility and journalistic continuity, by announcing its own poll, Jackin’ Pop.”
Come On, Feel The Decay
At a time when cities are making themselves ever more sterile in order not to spook skittish suburbanites, the architecture of the new Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit takes a different tack. Its “design springs from a profound rethinking of what constitutes urban revitalization. Designed by Andrew Zago, its intentionally raw aesthetic is conceived as an act of guerrilla architecture, one that accepts decay as fact rather than attempt to create a false vision of urban density. By embracing reality, it could succeed where large-scale development has so far failed.”
Barenboim: It’s A Flattering Idea
“Daniel Barenboim said he was flattered to be Lorin Maazel’s choice to pick up his baton at the New York Philharmonic, but, he said, ‘nothing could be further from my thoughts at the moment than the possibility of returning to the United States for a permanent position.’ … Mr. Barenboim said it would be inappropriate either to embrace or reject the proposal, since it was a suggestion by a colleague, not a formal offer by the board of the Philharmonic.”
Colleagues Defending Curator Accused Of Displaying Kiddie Porn
“Sir Nicholas Serota heads a list of eminent museum directors, curators and historians who have signed a petition against the prosecution of Henry-Claude Cousseau, a French colleague who has been accused of exhibiting child pornography as art… His alleged crime is staging an exhibition of provocative and explicit images, including a painting by Gary Gross of a young girl in a bath, heavily made-up and looking seductive, a video piece by Elke Krystufek, in which a girl performed a graphic masturbation scene, and photographs by Annette Messager of young children with their eyes scratched out.”
What’s Worse Than Bad Sex? Reading About It.
The literary award no author ever wants to receive has been announced yet again. This year’s honoree for Bad Sex In Fiction is Iain Hollingshead, who is appropriately chastened by the dubious honor. “Writing about sex is rather more technical, and less fun, than doing it. Either you descend into flowery metaphor or you indulge in the ‘naming of parts’. Both are more likely to be laughable than erotic… I blush to read my offending prose now.”