Sabtu, 29 Maret 2008

A Nazi Film Like No Other Grabs You With it's Searing Realism

Movie Review: The CounterfeitersI have never felt so painfully close to the horrifying brutality suffered by the Jews in Nazi concentration camps, nor so profoundly moved by their will to survive in the face of one of mankind’s most hideous assaults on the dignity of human life. The Counterfeiters, an Austrian-German film directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, depicts the plight of a group of printers, bankers and artists by trade, given special treatment by a Nazi leader driven to marshal their talents and produce billions of fake pounds with which to flood and decimate the British economy, and then billions of American dollars to fund the crippling Nazi war machine. The Jewish prisoners are cast into a terrible conflict pitting their hunger to survive...

Selasa, 25 Maret 2008

Eye on the Big Top: The Ways of John Ringling North II

Showbiz David Reports and SpeculatesA year age, he was a blank slate with a famous name. We knew virtually nothing about him save for his family association to the world’s once reigning circus.He had just purchased the Kelly Miller show, and I recall a good friend of mine in Sarasota letting out a chuckle on the phone, comparing the Ringling name to that small one ringer out of Hugo, Oklahoma.So, you think’s it’s easy to run a small circus? Think again about any size, Sarasota. Let’s see, there’s Pugh and Binder, Byrd and Hanneford and a few others who’ve been at it for many years. New owners of tent shows that tour complete seasons spring to fall? Name them. I’m waiting ... and waiting ... Jim Judkins, who launched Circus Chimera ten years...

Jumat, 21 Maret 2008

Horrific Storms and Blood-Sucking Gas Pumps, Make-Do Roustabouts From Homeless America -- Desperate Big Tops Face a Season of Discontent ...

Holiday Look Backs, this from 2008"Labor," answered John Ringling North to the question I once asked him, "what was the greatest challenge you ever faced?" How the word resonates this very moment as our tenters stumble out of the barn minus the labor they desperately need to stop stumbling. Already, Cole Bros. has nixed Carolina stops pending the arrival of brown hands from Mexico bearing those coveted Visas.. Already, Ben Trumble, who in better times handles upscale matters, is this season swinging a sledgehammer and taking it like a trouper ...“The number of workers (on Visa) was effectively cut in half this year when Congress failed to authorize an exemption for previous Visa holders.” That spells trouble for the nation’s big tops who rely...

Minggu, 16 Maret 2008

Hitchcock’s Genius for Restraint Epitomizes the Essence of Great Art ...

Art gives form to expression, and getting the balance right is the greatest challenge facing the creator in any medium. Messy undisciplined expressions fall as short of the mark as do those that are a slave to an overly abstract form. A song, a play, a circus act, a painting — all manifest degrees of my offered axiom. The other night watching Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes, I was reminded of the director’s subtle genius for understatement and for shaping feelings and actions into tautly controlled stage pictures -- so unlike what I encounter in many of today’s horror flicks or serious “adult dramas” weighted down with pervasive violence. Of late, our movie houses on darker days are virtual blood bath sit-throughs. Hitchcock holds his...

Minggu, 09 Maret 2008

Laugh Those Rumors Away ... Beat of the Big Tops Goes On ...

Holiday Look Backs, this from 2008From Vargas to Kelly-Miller, New Cole to Nicole, Big Apple to Big Carson & Barnes, they’re all out there pitching tents or getting ready to hit the sawdust trails with optimism ... “Hello, Showbiz David, “ e-mails upbeat Vargas VP Katya Quiroga. “Thanks for your honest opinions and good and bad reviews of the show.” Now that takes a touch of class. I’m reading on. “We here at Circus Vargas strive to create the best show and experience for our customers possible, and we take all customer comments serious.” Glad to know a new season faces you, Katya. Promises she with the sort of optimism I respect, “We have completely redone the 2008 edition of Circus Vargas, and we have created it to be more exciting and fun for the entire family.” Now, why do I believe...

Minggu, 02 Maret 2008

Cirque du Desertion: Why and What to Make of It?

About those performers on the Kooza unit who are rumored/reported to have walked off, the reasons range from low wages to callously disrespectful treatment at the hands of their bosses. I for one was quite surprised at the sudden exits, although when I think about what I know of this phenomenally successful enterprise, there is no reason at all to be shocked.Ample are the examples, some bordering on the sadistic, of a ruthless operation that treats its employees like discardable electronic components. For one, the Bravo tv special on the creation of Varekai was an eye-opener. Guy Laliberte, Cirque du Soleil’s brilliant founder and impresario, can, I suppose, continue to treat his secondary acts as chattel. Something like how Broadway chorus...

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More

 
Design by Free WordPress Themes | Bloggerized by Lasantha - Premium Blogger Themes | Bluehost