Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"This past summer season was a bloodbath for the Big Six Studios, with only four of their 18 would-be blockbusters grossing enough at the box office to cover their production and marketing budgets. Collectively, the studios were down a record $750M over the four month period, representing a -17% return on nearly $4.6B in spend. To many, this performance was a sign that the industry was in crisis: the ‘tent-pole’ film strategy was a failure and the ‘majors’ were rife with overspending and poor decision making. Yet, these critics are missing the truth behind this seemingly irrational behavior: the motion pictures business is transforming what it is and why it exists.Much has been said about the growing role of ‘tent-pole’ filmmaking, where the superlative performance of a major blockbuster supports the rest of the studio’s portfolio (including failed blockbusters). In practice, however, the strategy doesn’t ‘hold up’. Over the past decade, the Summer Blockbuster season has delivered a net theatrical profit only three times and the major studios have lost nearly $2.6B on $34B in production and marketing spend. Individually, Disney is a perfect example. The studio’s Iron Man 3 kicked off the 2013 summer blockbuster season and has since grossed more than $1.2B worldwide – enough to earn it the 2013 global box-office crown and deliver over $225M in profit. Yet, this gain is almost entirely offset by the failure of Lone Ranger, which cost Disney a reported $160-190M. Rather than standup the rest of Disney’s tent, Iron Man 3 primarily braces another failed tent-pole." (IveyBusinessReview)








"Over at the New-York Historical Society, there was an evening reception and special preview for the opening of NYHS’ spring exhibition 'Bill Cunningham Facades' which opens to the public today. The exhibition, which was curated by Valerie Paley, explores the famous fashion and society photographer’s project which he began in 1968.In the beginning Cunningham scoured the city’s thrift stores, auctions and street fairs for vintage clothing , and scouted  architectural sites on his bicycle. The project, completed in 1976, paired models, especially his muse, fellow photographer Editta Sherman, posing in period costumes at historic New York settings. There are 80 original and enlarged images from this whimsical and yet bold work on view providing a unique perspective on the city’s distant past and the time in which the images were created. An hour after that reception, on the other side of the Park on  70th and Fifth, the Frick Collection were holding its annual Young Fellows Ball, now in its 15th year. This year, called the Celestial Ball, was sponsored by designer fashion house Paule Ka. This is a great party, black tie, and long dresses for many of the junior social set, with about six hundred attending and running from 8:30 to midnight. We’ll have lots of pictures to show early next week." (NYSD)













" Qatar uses Al Jazeera, which masquerades as an independent news organization, as its mouthpiece. Al Jazeera covers up the horrendous war crimes the al-Nusra and ISIS terrorist groups perpetrate in Syria. The Saudis, more than likely behind the 9/11 Noo Yawk horror, have realized they might be next once Syria becomes just another failed state à la Somalia. So they want Qatar, whose migrant workers are virtual slaves and make up two million out of Qatar’s population of 2,225,000, to desist. The Qataris cannot because they will be next." (Taki)