| At the Met, sopranos share beauty of sound and vision
It could have easily been the other way around with these two DVDs, the first two from the Peter Gelb era at the Metropolitan Opera in a new high-definition format. That is, Renee Fleming might have sung the bel canto role of Elvira in Bellini's "I Puritani," and of course Anna Netrebko could, naturally and by birthright, have sung Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin." That each does so well in these performances, taped live last winter and broadcast in the Met's new network of movie theaters, shows that we are blessed with two sopranos who have extraordinary, flexible voices and who can act convincingly under the close eye of the HD camera. That they are both beautiful, in ingénue roles that call for beauty, doesn't hurt, either. Since studio recording became prohibitively expensive, DVDs are now the format of choice for complete operas, and they have the real advantage of capturing the heat and chemistry - and the circus-like edginess - of live performance.
Apple's Handy Touch-Up Highlights Touch Shortcomings
The new Mail, Maps, Stocks and Weather applications now available for the iPod touch are handy, convenient and useful additions that ride on the device's WiFi connection. However, these apps quickly remind the user what the touch lacks: a better battery to handle WiFi and more memory to save more features, songs, movies and TV shows. Be a Rockstar to Your Marketing DepartmentThese days, IT staffers work to fulfill a lot of requests. Like finding an email marketing solution for your marketing department. Lyris ListManager is the robust, scalable, and easily integrated solution your team needs. Download your free trial version today. .
New World Symphony and City of Miami Beach Break Ground On Frank Gehry ...
MIAMI BEACH, Fla., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, January 23, the New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Academy (NWS), celebrated the groundbreaking of its future home: a Frank Gehry-designed campus in Miami Beach's City Center district. NWS' new campus is the focal point of a Gehry-designed City Center Redevelopment Project that will further enhance the district of Miami Beach world-renowned for Lincoln Road shopping, the Jackie Gleason Theater (currently the Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater), the historic Miami Beach Convention Center, superb hotel accommodations and white-sand beaches. The project will also include the addition of a two-acre public park and a 600-plus space public parking garage, both constructed by the City of Miami Beach, adjacent to the campus.
Poll shows many think race relations making headway
We noticed a lot of positive things," said former University of Memphis communications professor Dr. John Bakke, who was a consultant on the poll. "There are clear differences on issues (between blacks and whites), but things are not as racially polarized as one might think.'' An overwhelming majority of both races, for example, believe those in the other race should stop dwelling on the past and recognize the progress that has been made. But a definite divide emerges on a number of issues. Some of the biggest gaps between black and white poll respondents are: More blacks said they experienced discrimination in the last year than whites (40percent to 28percent). Blacks are more than twice as likely as whites to say racism plays a big part in a lack of good-paying jobs.
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There's an element of uncertainty here. We know the initial drawing will turn into something new—but we're not sure what this end product will be, or how the marker guy will pull it off. And (as has often been said about the cooking segments on talk shows), we can't pull ourselves away until we reach a resolution. .
Macworld leads tech out of the desert
Apple has the third week of January all to itself this year, and although it probably won't top last year's Macworld, the company will likely make everyone forget about the Consumer Electronics Show.
Tradeshows are a necessary evil in the tech industry. Everyone claims to hate them, but the opportunity to have all the major players in the same town at the same time is too much of a draw. Usually, the parties are decent, leading more than 140,000 business types to CES in Las Vegas last week for a chance to make deals and network inside crowded booths and over the craps tables.
Contrast that with Macworld at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. About 40,000 people are expected to attend the 23rd such gathering, according to conference presenter IDG World Expo.
MUSIC AND LUBITSCH
In the years after a rigid Production Code imposed morality on American cinema, occasionally a studio would go begging to the Production Code Administration. The studio would say, "Hey, we have this movie that was made before the Code. Please, please can we rerelease it?" Often the PCA would say no, but sometimes it would say, "OK, sure, but only if you make these cuts." Paramount went to the PCA in 1936 with such a request concerning director Ernst Lubitsch's "The Smiling Lieutenant" (1931) - one of the four films included in the Criterion Collection's new Eclipse series DVD package "Lubitsch Musicals." PCA chief Joseph Breen screened the movie and came back suggesting not one or two or three cuts - but 27. Basically, he suggested turning the movie into a short subject. But he was really saying something else.
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