Monday April 30
GIANT
RADIO: "Radio stations that once were proudly local are
now being programmed from hundreds of miles away. Increasingly,
the very DJs are in a different city as well." And the biggest
of these in America specializes in "dirty tricks and crappy
programming." Salon 04/30/01
HOLLYWOOD
SLOWING DOWN: "From costume shops to caterers, grips
to gaffers, businesses and laborers who support the entertainment
industry are bracing for a summer that could range from merely
slow, if there are no strikes, to devastating if writers and actors
shut Hollywood down." Backstage
04/27/01
- WHO
PAYS: With Hollywood preparing
for work stoppages, the various parties try to add up the potential
losses. They could be as much as $6.9 billion. The
New York Times 04/30/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
- DEJA
VU: The last time Hollywood's writers went on strike was
1988 (over many of the same issues driving this year's strike).
"That walkout lasted 22 weeks, stretching from mid-March
to early August, and left the TV networks in disarray while
costing the industry an estimated $500 million."
SFGate (AP) 04/30/01
Friday April 27
GLOBAL
CROSSING: Countries around the world
struggle to shore up their local cultures in the face of pervasive
and seductive American popular culture. Are Americans the bad
guys? Part I - The Movies.
ArtsJournal.com 04/27/01
FOR
THE SOUL OF PUBLIC RADIO: "Public radio has come a long,
long way from the 1970s, when the image it projected was one of
earnest granola-crunchers trying to save the world. Today, public
radio is a big business (if a nonprofit one) with big money and
big egos — a high-quality source of news and information for the
well-educated, well-heeled professionals who can afford to contribute,
and for the corporate underwriters (read: advertisers) who cater
to them." Boston Phoenix 04/26/01
SENATORS
ATTACK MOVIES: US Senator and former vice-presidential candidate
Joe Lieberman has introduced a bill that would "make it illegal
to market to minors R-rated movies, M-rated video games and music
with parental advisories. Industry officials said the proposal
tramples on free-speech rights and would be rejected by the courts.
The senators disagreed." Dallas
Morning News 04/27/01
REAL
ANIMATED: Two new animated movies are about to arrive in theatres.
"They have been years in the making, and their nearly simultaneous
arrival in theaters represents a watershed moment - the closest
animated films have ever come to replicating human life."
San Jose Mercury News 04/27/01
Thursday April 26
AS
SEEN ON TV... The Australian government has become a big TV
commercial advertiser - ads promoting going to school, promoting
the country's centernary... Just what is government trying to
promote here and why? Sydney Morning
Herald 04/26/01
HOORAY FOR BOLLYWOOD:
The Indian film industry - known as Bollywood - serves an audience
of one billion, with "films that have transparent plots and
enough buoyancy to float the length of the Ganges. People don't
like realistic movies. Day to day life is tough. When they go
to the movies, they want a fantasy trail. Any movie that touches
real life is always a flop." Hundreds of such films are made
each year, and they're beginning to find an audience in the US.
Newsday 04/25/01
Tuesday April 24
THE
BOOK WAS BETTER? "After death and taxes, the third certainty
of life is that the release of a movie adaptation of a classic
novel will be the occasion for some littérateur to compare the
two forms and find movies wanting." But they're different
animals aren't they? Salon 04/23/01
REALITY,
ANYONE? Hollywood has never been about subtlety and nuance,
but many in Tinseltown are disturbed at the seeming inability
of filmmakers to portray Mexicans as anything but the most blatantly
stereotypical characters. In movie after blockbuster movie, Mexicans
show up either as the conniving, evil villains, or as the poor-as-dirt
peasants praying at the shrine of American power for their salvation.
Los Angeles Times 04/24/01
Monday April 23
IT'S
A LONG ROAD FROM SUNDANCE TO THE BANK: First prize at the
Sundance Festival went to The Believer, the story of a
young Jewish neo-Nazi. Several major companies were ready to buy
it, until someone checked with people at the Wiesenthal Center
in Los Angeles. They did not like the film. Now, no one seems
interested in buying it. The
Boston Globe 04/22/01
NON-SURGICAL
INVASIVENESS: TV ratings, the joke goes, are determined by
the kind of people who will let strangers put a meter on their
TV sets. A new company wants to change that. They want to give
everyone in your home a button to push while watching TV. Oh yeah,
they also plan to put a meter on your set. Boston Herald 04/23/01
SOMETHING
ABOUT AUSTRALIA fascinates Americans. Maybe it's the Crocodile
Dundee effect. "Dundee is a cowboy. A hundred years ago,
he might have been at home in California, while now [he] is flummoxed
by flaky Hollywood types. That clash of stereotypes may be at
the core of the U.S. fascination with Australians: They seem like
what Americans used to be, or thought they were." Then
again, it may be something even more basic. In addition to
cowboys types, Australia lately has produced several actresses
who are, well, fascinating. CNN
(AP) and National Post (Canada) 04/22/01
SHOOTING
LOOTING IN CAMBODIA: Phnom Penh is known for cheap dope, under-age
sex and corrupt cops. What better place for Hollywood to shoot
Tomb Raider? The locals are happy to pick up extra money,
but UN officials don't like shooting a movie "among those
ancient temples in northwestern Cambodia. Aside from fear of physical
damage, the film's very title rang foul, given that the temples
are still being mercilessly pilfered by antique hunters."
Fox News 04/21/01
Friday April 20
ALL
OVER A FEW WRITERS: A report commissioned by Los Angeles'
mayor suggests the city's economy will lose $6.9 billion if Hollywood's
writers and actors go on strike for five months. Inside.com
04/19/01
MOVIELAND SILVER
LININGS IN NEW YORK: East-coast independent filmmakers would
be affected by a Hollywood strike, but some are philosophical.
"The first thing I thought of was, 'Great! There won't be
an Adam Sandler movie next summer.' Writers won't write crap,
and actors won't have to act in it... culturally, it's one of
the best things that could happen to our incredibly vacuous, bloated
media industry." Village
Voice 04/18/01
MORE
HOLLYWOOD THAN USUAL AT CANNES: Hollywood often ignores the
Cannes Film Festival. This year, however, five American films
are on the schedule. That includes Shrek, the first animated
film to compete for the top prize. One high-profile US
entry was rejected: a new film by Jodie Foster. Foster had
accepted the presidency of the festival jury, then backed out.
"The French were really insulted when she backed out, even
if it was to accept a $12 million acting gig. So they ditched
her film." Nando Times (AP)
and New York Post 04/20/01
Thursday April 19
SKIPPING
THE MAIN COURSE: Harry Potter fans anxious to see the trailer
for the movie version of their hero are paying to get into movies
that are running the preview. Then walking out before the movie
they've paid to see actually runs. CBC
04/18/01
Wednesday April
18
A
BLOCKBUSTER EVERY WEEK. WELL, ALMOST: Does it matter whether
a new film is released early in the summer, or late? Apparently
not. This year's release schedule has the high-profile films -
and there are many - scattered throughout the season.
Los Angeles Times 04/17/01
MORE
CHARGES AGAINST ABC: Australia's independent filmmakers charge
that the Australian Broadcasting Co. is abusing its dominant position
in the market, forcing lousy deals on producers of content.
The Age (Melbourne) 04/18/01
Monday April 16
THE
EROSION OF PUBLIC TELEVISION: America's PBS is losing members
and viewers. Between 1993 and 1999, stations suffered a slow net
loss of 376,000 members, or 7.4 percent, according to the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting's latest comprehensive financial report.
During the same period, public radio gained 740,000 members."
Current 04/12/01
OF
SALARIES AND SUPPORT: Last month Christopher Lydon and his
producer quit their WBUR Boston public radio show The Connection
after the station refused to give them a stake in ownership of
the show. "Lydon was making $230,000 a year as host of The
Connection, and had been offered a financial package that
could have increased his compensation to $330,000 next year."
One station supporter wonders what effect such large salaries
have on supporters' willingness to contribute. Boston
Globe 04/15/01
MISSING
LINK: Everyone seems to want video on demand in the comfort
of your own home. "The technology exists. The carriers and
infrastructure exist. The few customers who have it seem hooked.
And yet VOD is stuck in perpetual pause. Why? Because Hollywood,
which controls the movie supply, doesn't want it yet, or at least
doesn't want it delivered in the same way that cable operators
and other would-be providers do." Inside.com
04/16/01
EVERYONE
DUMPS ON ABC: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is under
attack from all sides - too liberal, too narrow, too irrelevant,
too provincial, too narrow, too generational... But the broad
range of critics prove the ABC's broad constituency, writes one
ABCer in defense. Sydney Morning Herald
04/16/01
Sunday April 15
DIGITAL
FILM - It's a better image and cheaper to distribute to theatres.
So "ditch the film projectors, buy the new technology and
everybody saves money, right? But so far, the digital movie-theater
revolution hasn't quite taken hold yet. Several important questions
have to be answered before both distributors and exhibitors agree
to join the revolution - on the same side." Chicago
Tribune 04/15/01
- THE
ONLINE TICKET: Access movie information, buy your movie
tickets online...the digital revolution is changing the business
of how movie-goers choose movies and buy their tickets.
Chicago Tribune 04/15/01
DON'T
BE DISSING TV: It's so easy to get down on TV - the "500-channel
universe" has become a pejorative rather than an opportunity.
But one critic believes the expanding spectrum means there is
more good TV on now than ever before.
Saturday Night 04/14/01
THE
MOVIE RELIGION: The movies don't take on religion very often.
Why? "Does the scarcity of religious movies result from a
lack of interest on the part of filmmakers and audiences? Or is
there something about cinema that leads it to shy away from the
spiritual? Are materialistic by their very nature, which makes
them unsuitable for exploring spiritual themes?" Christian
Science Monitor 04/15/01
THE
ONLINE "BRIDGET": Bridget Jones has been a book
and a movie. Now she's an e-mail too. "The linchpin of the
campaign is a daily text message from Bridget which gives details
of her weight, how many alcohol units she's consumed, how many
cigarettes she's had and any other facts that might draw you into
her life, and encouraging you to text her back. Bridget will become
your friend, if you allow her to, and suck you into her life.
Before you realise, you may find yourself asking a fictional character
for advice on men, sex, diet, drugs or alcohol." Daily
Telegraph & Guardian (South Africa) 04/15/01
Friday April 13
THE
INVISIBLE STRIKE: What if the movie writers go out on strike
and no one notices? Fact is - no one will. If
last summer's Screen Actors Guild strike was any indication, viewers
aren't likely to care - or even notice - if movie writers go out
on strike next month. Nothing against writers, but movies are
about a lot more than the script. ArtsJournal.com
04/13/01
- LITTLE
SYMPATHY: "I'm sorry, writers' and performers' compensation
demands are never going to command sympathy among the general
public. The average earnings last year for 'working writers,'
according to the TV and movie producers' association, was more
than $200,000. The Writers Guild says the median income for
writers was only $84,000. But whatever. It's not bad money."
Public Arts 04/13/01
- HEARD
OF 'REALITY' TV? A study suggests TV viwership will decline
this fall if the writers strike happens, but that the networks
are "strangely complacent" about a potential strike.
Nando Times (AP) 04/13/01
SO
SHOULD WE START NAKED ARTSJOURNAL.COM? The Naked News website
has hired a man to strip down while reading the latest headlines;
he joins a previously all-female team. But here's the real meat
of this story - Nakednews.com, the Toronto-based website that
launched last year, gets 5.7 million visitors a month - that compared
to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation website, which delivers
the news in more conventional format and only gets a few hundred
thousand visits. National Post (Canada)
04/13/01
Thursday April 12
VON
TRAPP KARAOKE: The newest craze in interactive entertainment
is not a cell phone, not a palm pilot, and has nothing to do with
the internet. It is (deep breath, please) a sing-along version
of "The Sound of Music." Audiences often come in costume,
a la Rocky Horror, and the lyrics to the film's songs appear
on the screen to assist in the exercise. Boston
Globe 04/12/01
THE
NEW MOVIES: New generation digital cameras and inexpensive
software are putting movie-making into the hands of a new breed
of low-budget filmmakers. Maybe no stars yet, but they're bound
to emerge. The Age (Melbourne) 04/12/01
TAKING
THE PICTURES TO THE PEOPLE: After decades of catering almost
exclusively to white audiences during apartheid, South Africa's
biggest cinema operator is using traveling road shows to show
free videos to the country's historically neglected black communities,
hoping to eventually lure them to the big screen (that is, when
theaters are actually built anywhere near their neighborhoods).
"There are still many, many people who have not experienced
a movie or television. When I say a few, I mean a few million."
ABC
News (Reuters) 4/11/01
HOW
ABOUT "SPINAL TAP" IN IMAX? Imax films, the giant
screen movie format employed to great effect in science museums
across the country, are expanding beyond the usual landscape adventure
format. A new documentary captures the excitement of a sold-out
concert in digital clarity, and creates a worthy successor to
the great rockumentaries of the past. Chicago
Tribune 04/12/01
THE
COST OF A STRIKE: L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan is stepping up
efforts to avert this fall’s impending writers and actors strike
by launching a PR campaign exposing the potential economic effects
of a walkout - especially on those outside the entertainment industry.
Initial estimates say the Southern California economy would lose
$500 million per week in wages, taxes, and other losses.
Backstage 4/11/01
Wednesday April
11
B-MOVIES
ARE BACK: Used to be, Hollywood studios all had their own
specialties - remember the MGM musical? Now it's the Paramount
thriller. "The movies largely share a similar formula - morality
tales laced with enough sex and surprise twists to attract two
key audience quadrants: young women and older men.... they are
our modern-day B-movies, the cinematic equivalent of airport thrillers
- the kind of paperback page-turner people pick up at LAX when
they're afraid there might not be a good movie on the flight to
Boston." Los Angeles Times 04/10/01
GAINING
AMERICAN GLOSS, LOSING EUROPEAN INTEGRITY: A frustrated English
novelist explains why so many British books wind up as American
movies. "We may be brilliant at creating what Variety calls
'first-rate source material' but we're crap at making it work
for us... The French, whose domestic audience is the same size
as ours, have never consented to see themselves through American
eyes, but guarded their golden stories and pumped up commercial
muscle." Guardian 04/10/01
Tuesday April 10
RIGHTS
TO ANNE FRANK: "Who owns the rights to Anne Frank's life?
Some of the controversy has been simmering for years: Has Anne's
Jewishness — which, after all, was the reason she perished — been
muted, even neutralized, to turn her into a universal symbol?
The latest flashpoint is a four-hour ABC mini-series, Anne
Frank, to be shown on May 20 and May 21." The
New York Times 04/10/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
TRYING
AGAIN: Hollywood's major studios are headed back to the bargaining
table with actors and writers threatening to strike this summer,
but no one on either side sounds terribly optimistic. Inside.com
04/09/01
THE
POPCORN LINE MUST BE BRUTAL: "Domenic Romano would like
to invite you to a movie. You and 400 of his closest friends --
because when Domenic Romano goes to a movie, he likes a little
company. Welcome to the Sunday Movie Group." National
Post (Canada) 04/10/01
Monday April 9
NO
BAN FOR EXORCIST: Australian government reverses ban on showing
The Exorcist in movie theatres next weekend. "Under
state law, cinemas must apply to show films on Good Friday and
Christmas Day and those shown must not contain religious satire
or violence." The Age (Melbourne)
04/09/01
DIGITAL
SALVATION? It's increasingly difficult to physically preserve
books and records. Many think the solution is to save materials
digitally. Critics disagree: "The integrity of the historical
record is the single most important consideration. If you tamper
with that, it's very difficult to reconstruct." Wired
04/09/01
Sunday April 8
SECOND
RATE: Hollywood's ratings system has come under fire. It's
a shoddy system in which 13 people rate 760 films a year - and
it makes the Motion Picture Association a great deal of money.
Washington Post 04/08/01
Friday April 6
DEFINE DESTRUCTIVE: Despite protests from artists and
civil liberties groups, Australia’s Victoria state government
has banned the screening of "The Exorcist: The Director’s
Cut" on Good Friday, under the 1926 Theatres Act which grants
the government power to order which films can be shown on Christian
holy days. "It is curious that on Good Friday the casino,
other gambling venues and hotels which can have an equally destructive
impact on society are not impeded from their trade." The Age
(Melbourne) 4/06/01
IF IT'S A ROLE, IT'S
A FIGHT: At first, a film biography of the artist Frida Kahlo
might not seem the kind of role that movie goddesses fight over.
But it is, or has been. Madonna and Jennifer Lopez are out; the
lead will go to Mexican actress Salma Hayek. Newsday
(AP) 04/05/01
SUING FOR RESPECT:
Nothing remarkable about lawyers suing someone. It's what they
want that makes a group of Chicago lawyers distinctive. "The
group, called the American Italian Defense Association (AIDA),
isn't asking for monetary damages. Instead, the lawyers simply
want a jury to declare that The Sopranos does, indeed,
offend Italian-Americans." New
York Post 04/06/01
SMART -
AND YET... Encyclopedia Britannica ought to have been
a big winner on the internet. The medium ought to have rescued
lagging hard copy sales, and Britannica's name ought to have given
it authority. But despite more than 2 million visitors a
month, Britannica.com has been a rousing failure...
The Standard 04/04/01
Thursday April 5
MOVIES
ON DEMAND: The Motion Picture Association of America says
movies will be available for downloading legally within 4-6 months.
"It is estimated that today some 350,000 movies are being
downloaded, illegitimately, every day. By the end of the year
it is estimated that one million illegal downloads will take place
every day." CBC 04/04/01
BYE
BYE PROJECTORS: "The days of watching films flicker on
the cinema screen may be numbered, as one of the last bastions
of 19th-century technology makes way for the digital juggernaut.
The first specks of dust have hardly settled settled on this year's
Oscars than boffins are working out how to make film redundant."
The Age (Melbourne) 04/05/01
Tuesday April 3
LOST - OR MISPLACED
- IN THE TRANSLATION: Ever have trouble making sense of the
English-language dubbing in foreign films? Wonder if maybe the
translator missed a key item? Russians have the same problems
with movies in English. The Moscow Times 04/03/01
HOW
TO LEARN?: Colleges and universities are rushing to create
new departments to focus on digital art. However, "student
interest has become more vocational and the proliferation of digital
art offerings can be confusing for students negotiating the intersection
of acquiring technology skills and the art making process."
ArtsWire 04/03/01
A
CLASSIC, HEARTILY DECONSTRUCTED: It's worth noting that even
classics can get drubbed the first time around. Case in point
- Citizen Kane is one of the landmarks of US film; indeed,
some would say it's one of the best films ever made anywhere.
Some would, some didn't. One who didn't was Otis Ferguson, whose
1941 two-part review has
been called called "a magisterial rebuke... the most sustained
and perhaps most perceptive contemporary analysis of the film."
The New Republic (archive)
Monday April 2
IDEAS
OVER PRESENTATION: "Technology can kill words and wreck
language. It's worth asking why an era of intense technological
revolution is being accompanied by an era of cultural recycling,
safe products, manufactured pop groups, formula broadcasting and
journalistic punditry." Sydney
Morning Herald 04/02/01
Sunday April 1
CELEBRATING
TV: Television is the most popular medium of our age. Yet
it is constantly denigrated. "Is it an art? Well, artists
certainly work in it: writers, directors, actors, cameramen, film
and tape editors. Whether an agglomeration of artists turns a
medium into an art form is a nice point. No doubt theses are on
their way." The Observer (London)
04/01/01
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