"Why if a fish came to me and said he was going a journey,
I should say, "With what porpoise?'
"Don't you mean 'purpose'?" said Art Surfer
"I mean what I say", the Mock Turtle replied
in an offended tone. - Lewis Carroll
NOISE YOU HEAR. Films are getting louder, 20 decibels louder than just 5 years ago. One of the loudest rock concert groups, the Who, hit 120 dB's in 76. Godzilla did 114, and the shuttle from the film Armageddon took off with 177 dB's. At the Cannes Film Festival a panel convened to discuss the excessive volume problem. 20,000 theaters can handle the higher volume but with anything over 85 as potentially damaging, should they?.. And speaking of volume, did you know that TV routinely raises the volume when commercials come on? They've been doing it for years. (Newsweek)
MINIQUIZ: In the film Taxi Driver Robert DeNiro took Cybil Shepherd to a porno film at the Now Victory theater. What's the theater today? Answer later.
WE REMEMBER THE PASSING OF: Roy Rogers, king of the movie cowboys and probably even more popular on Saturday morning TV. Roy also had a straightforward clear voice and his theme song "Happy Trails" a classic was penned by his wife, Dale Evans//Kay Thompson, a movie actress best known for her children's book "Eloise"// and Jim Yohannon, editor of MaximumRocknRoll (from Zine World)
CITY PLANNING King Ludwig II built the fairy tale looking castle Neuschwanstein in the late 19th century (it's the inspiration for Disney's amusement park castle). It was so lavish, even to having a waterfall in the study, that his doctors used it as grounds for declaring the king insane. A relative of the king, Prince Max Emanuel, now wants to turn the castle into a $22 million luxury hotel, with spa and golf course. Many villagers (sans torches) are opposed to the development saying it'll ruin the rural landscape, and violate the romantic atmosphere surrounding the king who wanted so much to be left alone. Musea is with the rabble on this one... And here's a quote from the forward looking Finns (in high tech development they're second only to the U.S.) by Helsinki's Lord Mayor, Eva-Riitta Siitonen, "The close proximity of Finnish homes to their work not only eliminates long commutes and often the need for private transportation, but also develops communities where residents can find all they need within a few blocks. Example: "The Art & Design City," an integrated self- sufficient neighborhood for 7,000 residents with homes, schools a sports park, a daycare center, a shoreline park, and sites for businesses. We salute their forward thinking (from Facilities Design & Management June `98)
THEATER QUOTE: "It used to be we'd come out of Los Angeles with the play paid off. But it costs so much to advertise in N.Y. I'm getting sort of tired of spending a million and a half on a play and have it treated this way. Disney with their billions can do that because it will eventually play in dozens of countries. I don't think you can do it otherwise. In the old days you were allowed a failure or two." Playwright Neil Simon.
ANTIQUITIES: Everyone's bashing tobacco co's lately and for good reason (Their CEOs lie under oath and no special prosecutor goes after them) but in this case we salute: Art News says that Philip Morris Co has made a grant of $160,000 to aid the Guatemalan Government in protecting its Mayan treasures from the rampant looting that's threatening the many archeological sites.
MINIQUIZ ANSWER: The New Victory is now a children's theater!... And speaking of small the rage in books is for mini volumes of favorite classics, children's books, etc. Our favorite , and how apropos for dwarf size, is FIELD GUIDE TO VIRUSES. Check it out!
QUOTE: "Art S. Revolutionary, say something nice about the Dallas Observer." [[after long pause] "The Met is worse!"
ZINES THINGS: The New Zine World (the zine review zine that this editor reviews for) is out and about sold out. Get the summer `98 before it's gone $3 @ 537 Jones St #2386, San Francisco, CA 94102... And in the "THERE'S A MAG FOR EVERYONE DEPT, for the 3,217 prisoners on death row (3,000 from Texas if I'm not exaggerating) there's DEATH ROW. Actually the mag is for us out-of-jail readers. Managing Editor Bonnie Bobit (again I'm not making this up) says "I think we're going to make money because people are just starved for information about these really nasty guys." (Nira Schwirtz)
ADVERTISING. The advertising firms of Grey Germany In cooperation with Grey Tokyo, have created a TV commercial protesting nuclear weapons tests. The 30 second spot features a survivor of the Hiroshima nuclear blast who says, "Hello. This is a message to the leaders of the Indian and Pakistani nations and anyone having nuclear weapons. Why do you test nuclear bombs? As a citizen of Hiroshima I can assure you: They work." (Advertising Age)
INTERNET SITES: In this special website edition of Musea we have some other sites worth investigating: www.threestooges.com //www.thinker.org/index.html - 65,000 images of art from the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco // www.reel.com for millions of videos not at Blockbuster (and not edited) // www.audionet.com for radio stations on the net // Oh and I wonder.. .do you think there's a www.sit.com?