Review: Compelling set, delivery makes Quantum Theatre's 'Ciara' stand out

TribLIVE.com: During rehearsals for Mary Rawson's solo performance in Quantum Theatre's “Ciara,” the running joke was that she was wondering when the other actors would show up.

She needn't have worried.

New York Attorney General Calls For Caps On Ticket Resale Prices, Outlawing Of Scalper Bots

Consumerist: When you go to buy tickets for a popular concert or sporting event, you likely know that you’ll ultimately have to make your purchase from a ticket reseller who will mark up the price to try maximize their profit. But the New York state attorney general is calling on the state legislature to put new rules into place that would protect consumers from scalpers who swoop in and buy up every ticket before they are available to actual fans.

“Ticketing is a fixed game,” said NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman today, as his office released the results of a three-year investigation [PDF] into the event ticketing industry.

This Company Creates Ice Castles As A Winter Entertainment Attraction

CONTEMPORIST: Ice Castles, an entertainment company who builds…well, ice castles, has added their own spin to subzero adventures.

The Shittiness Of IP Law Has Taught The Public That Everything Is Stealing And Everyone Is Owed Something

Techdirt: In an article that's actually a bit (but just a bit) more thoughtful than the headline applied to it ("How Corporations Profit From Black Teens' Viral Content"), Fader writer Doreen St. Felix tackles the cultural appropriation of creative works. Sort of.

What I Learned from Interviewing Ten Successful #PLONY (Playwrights Living Outside New York)

HowlRound: I recently posted the tenth interview to my #PLONY (Playwrights Living Outside New York) Profiles blog series. All ten are active playwrights who get produced regularly, none live within commuting distance of NYC, and, if they ever did live there, it wasn’t where they forged their careers. I explain my reasons for creating this series in my launch post, but, in a nutshell, it’s to change how #PLONY are viewed both by themselves and others—particularly theatremakers who still see the Big Apple as having the perceived lock on theatrical legitimacy.

VES Awards: TV Boasts Dazzling Digital Effects

Variety: In this golden age of television, visual-effects artists are often asked for “feature-quality” effects, but with a fraction of the budget and time feature film vfx artists enjoy.

Writing Musical Theatre’s Future, While Looking Into the Past: A Conversation with James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director of the York Theatre Company

HowlRound: Some theatre companies, such as Encores, specialize in reviving musicals from the past. Others like the Musical Theatre Factory, focus on developing new shows. The York Theatre Company, housed in the basement of St. Peter’s Church (adjoining Citigroup Center) in New York City, does both. The York gives past musicals a new production—and, in some cases, a second chance—through Main stage productions, as well as its Musicals in Mufti series. New writers are given venues, such as the Developmental Readings series, Tune-In Time, and the NEO benefit. Main stage presentations of new shows include such audience favorites as The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!), Souvenir, and Cagney.

Featured Member: Carl Jordan

Theatre Bay Area: From directing drama and technical theatre to choreography, multiple SFBATCC Award- and TBA Award-winning theatre-maker Carl Jordan talks about transforming a spark of fear into stage pictures, and how a collaborative environment can challenge artists to push their visions of possibility.

Live Nation, AEG Live Are Eating the Music Fest Industry

Flavorwire: When the news broke that LCD Soundsystem was “reuniting” for the 2016 version of Coachella, we wondered if our rapidly shortening nostalgia cycles might signal a trend towards festivals becoming less reliant upon legacy acts, in favor of more contemporary artists.

New York Jets Cheerleaders Win $325,000 Class-Action Settlement

jezebel.com; The New York Jets are paying out approximately $324,000 to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by the team’s cheerleading squad over low wages.

5 Things I Loved About BroadwayCon.

The Producer's Perspective:Back in ’11, I posted a medium-sized whiny blog wondering when/where we would get a BroadwayCon. “Movies have ’em, why not us? Huh? Whhhhhyyyyyy-ine!”

Now, normally when I think our industry should do something, I try to figure out how to do it myself, but I knew that producing a convention was something I knew nothing about, nor did I want to learn. So I blogged away, and before I laid me down to sleep, I prayed that a BroadwayCon would one day a-peep.

Then, just last week, it happened.

Paramount sued by production assistants over wages, bathroom breaks

LA Times: Production assistant is hardly the most glamorous job the movie business has to offer, but a group of workers says a major Hollywood studio has pushed too far.Production assistant is hardly the most glamorous job the movie business has to offer, but a group of workers says a major Hollywood studio has pushed too far.

Actress: 'It's a dream' to be touring with 'Cabaret'

TribLIVE.com: The national tour of “Cabaret,” which arrives at the Benedum Center on Feb. 2, is led by a young woman who knows the musical intimately. After all, she watched it for a year on Broadway — from the stage.

Andrea Goss will play the fishnet-and-bowler hat wearing chanteuse Sally Bowles after being a member of the ensemble and an understudy for Sally. She patiently backed up Michelle Williams, Emma Stone and Sienna Miller.

Pittsburgh Public Theater brings character-rich 'Guys and Dolls' to life

TribLIVE.com: As far as Ted Pappas is concerned, “Guys and Dolls” isn't just a great American musical.

It's the great American musical.

Pappas, Pittsburgh Public Theater's producing artistic director, has been in love with “Guys and Dolls” since he discovered it during his high-school years in Gary, Ind.

Veteran artists collaborate on Quantum Theatre's 'Ciara'

TribLIVE.com: Two veteran Pittsburgh artists are venturing into unfamiliar territory with Quantum Theatre's latest production.

Actress Mary Rawson will perform Scottish play‑wright David Harrower's one-woman drama “Ciara” on a set designed and painted by painter, muralist, installation artist and printmaker Robert Qualters.

Art Talk with Paige Rogers of Cutting Ball Theater

NEA: During the summer of 2014, Paige Rogers, co-founder and acting artistic director of San Francisco’s Cutting Ball Theater, and the cast and creative team of her Antigone project were invited by the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw, Poland, to be in residence there for 16 days to work with members of the world-renowned Theater ZAR. Theater ZAR is a Polish theater company known for using liturgical chants and funeral songs collected from group visits to isolated communities in the Caucasus Mountains as the primary material for their work. Rogers, an experimental theater artist, was keen to work with the Polish company after being profoundly and viscerally affected by work they performed while on a U.S. visit. In this interview we spoke with Rogers about how the residency transformed her approach to work and informed Cutting Ball’s presentation of Antigone.

DGA President Paris Barclay Responds to #OscarsSoWhite

Women and Hollywood: Paris Barclay, the president of the Directors Guild of America, weighed in yesterday on the #OscarsSoWhite movement and the new changes to Academy membership that have resulted thereof.

Barclay, the first African-American head of the DGA, certainly talked the talk. Calling "the lack of women and people of color across all aspects of opportunity and employment" in the film industry shameful, he asserted in a DGA statement that the "Directors Guild believes that the industry and the community should be responsible for telling all people’s stories and reflecting the diverse lives we lead."

How Big Is The Gig Economy? The Government Is Finally Going To Find Out

www.fastcompany.com: The gig economy has launched a healthy "future of work" panel circuit amid a roaring debate over whether apps like Uber, Postmates, and Handy—which hire an army of independent contractors instead of employees—represent a return to the sweatshop or a new freedom to work when and how one pleases. But all sides of the debate face the same dilemma: When they propose a new policy or launch a new initiative, they have only a vague idea of how many workers it could impact. There is no current government data that specifically catalogs this group of workers.

Removing Overhead Ratio As A Measure Is Not Enough

Butts In the Seats: On Non-Profit Quarterly Claire Knowlton wrote a piece advocating for moving past a focus on overhead costs and direct program expenses in favor of full funding of non-profits by foundations. (Or at least recognition of full costs incurred by a non-profit.)

She seems to start from the premise that programs undertaken are essentially jobs non-profits do to further the interests of the funders. This sort of shifts the whole dynamic from a situation where non-profits cast about to find money in order to provide services to one where foundations seek skilled entities to solve problems for them.

Breakthroughs in Storytelling

Filmmaker Magazine: Columbia University’s “Digital Dozen: Breakthroughs in Storytelling” celebrates the year’s most creative examples of digitally enabled storytelling as judged by the Columbia Digital Storytelling Lab. The works honored for 2015 include an ad campaign; a video game; an art installation; an experimental opera; an online community whose leaders have been targeted by murderous fundamentalists; and two journalism reports, one employing nonlinear narrative and the other virtual reality. Together they show the extraordinary range of narrative technologies in use today, from simple blogging platforms to virtual reality to face-substitution software.

Disney’s Aladdin National Tour Will Fly Out Of Chicago

Luner on Theatre: The Midwest better make way for Prince Ali! A flying carpet, vicious villains and a genie who will grant just about anything you wish for is headed to the Windy City in 2017. Chicago has often found itself as the launching pad for many of Disney’s musicals heading out on national tours. It’s latest hit will be no exception.

Theater of War: Restoring an Ancient Purpose

Clyde Fitch Report: Doerries’ book describes in vivid detail the origins of his work, and describes many of the powerful discussions that have followed performances — discussions about “combat-related psychological injury, end of life care, prison reform, political violence and torture, domestic violence, and the de-stigmatization of the treatment of substance abuse and addiction.”

Billie Joe Armstrong Warns of Censorship After School Cancels 'American Idiot'

The New York Times: In what could be a scene straight from the punkish musical “American Idiot,” a Connecticut high school has canceled a planned production of the show, citing its sex, drugs and foul language.

Billie Joe Armstrong, the lead singer of Green Day, and a co-writer of the book for the musical based on his band’s 2004 rock opera of the same name, responded on Instagram, calling the decision by the school, Enfield High, an issue of censorship.

New bill would create a registry of all the bands and DJs that play Philly: ‘It’s become necessary’

billypenn.com: A new bill from Philly City Councilman Mark Squilla would require owners of nightclubs, cabarets, bars and restaurants in the city to collect the names, addresses, and phone numbers of entertainers — bands, rappers and DJs — in a registry, and to share that personal information with police upon request.

Submitting Like A Man: Am I Man Enough?

HowlRound: In order to launch Submitting Like A Man and begin resubmitting my scripts as a dude, one of the first things I had to do was create my alternate male self, who we’ll call Max. Max isn’t the real name I’m using, but I can’t blow his cover and reveal the actual pseudonym; the only person who knows it is my partner of eight years, and that’s because he’s the one who came up with it.

3 Times You Need to Simplify Your Resume for Hiring Managers

The Muse: Even if your field isn’t really associated with any jargon, you tend to develop a certain way of explaining things when you’ve been working in an industry long enough. It actually doesn’t even take that long. Maybe you’re only a few months into a new job and your significant other is already looking at you like you’re an alien when you talk about work. Don’t worry—it’s natural.

Big-money shoots may turn Havana into new Hollywood location

New Pittsburgh Courier: The producers of Showtime’s dark comedy “House of Lies” had $3 million and a mission: shoot the first episode of scripted American television in Cuba in more than half a century.

With less than a week to shoot the entire fifth-season finale on the chaotic streets of central Havana, director Matthew Carnahan told his just-hired Cuban crew that they’d be skipping their full lunch break to make up time the first two days.

“You know what? That’s not going to work,”’ the assistant director responded. “You don’t do a walking lunch here.”

How Much For A Year Of Your Cultural Enjoyment?

Butts In the Seats: Last week I briefly noted that people and businesses often value being in a community in which arts organizations are present, even if they don’t participate in their activities. I mentioned this constitutes an intangible value that the arts organization has in the community.

That reminded me of a post made by Sunil Iyengar, NEA Director of Research and Analysis about a novel approach being used to assess the value of cultural institutions in the UK.

Gillian Anderson’s equal pay fight: The “X-Files” star is not alone — even now, TV’s gender pay gap persists

Salon.com: It seems like a good time to be a woman on TV. While the film industry has been routinely criticized over the past year for its gender pay gap—in which male actors far outearn their female costars—and systemic racial bias, the small screen is flourishing precisely because of its surfeit of female leads and show-runners and actors of color. But if 2015 marked TV’s Golden Era of Diversity—with the successes of “Scandal,” “How to Get Away With Murder” and “Empire” showing the way—its glory days may not be as flaxen as we’d like to think.

Oscar Diversity Push: Directors Guild President on Structural Changes

Variety: Paris Barclay, president of the Directors Guild of America, has blasted Hollywood executives for failing to take enough action to address the lack of employment for women and minorities.

“The current Oscar controversy has put a spotlight on a condition that has long shamed this industry: the lack of women and people of color across all aspects of opportunity and employment,” he said. “The Directors Guild believes that the industry and the community should be responsible for telling all people’s stories and reflecting the diverse lives we lead.”

Watch a Renaissance Painting Explode into Sound Particles

The Creators Project: Sound and color may seem, at least superficially, to have very little in common. But as Athens-based artist and physicist Yiannis Kranidiotis points out in his audiovisual project, Ichographs MdelP, in which colors from Rafael’s Madonna del Prato ("Madonna of the Meadow") decompose into audio, both sounds and colors can be described as waves.

Drury Lane Announces Laura Stanczyk As Director of New Works

SHOWBIZ CHICAGO: Executive Director Kyle DeSantis, Artistic Director William Osetek and Producer Drew DeSantis are proud to announce Laura Stanczyk, a New York-based independent producer and casting director, as the theatre’s Director of New Works. In her new consulting role at Drury Lane, Stanczyk seeks out up-and-coming works, ushering in a new era for the theatre. Following in the footsteps of Founder Anthony DeSantis, the Drury Lane Executive Team aims to combine top quality Broadway hits with a commitment to developing new musicals to engage and stimulate the theatre’s loyal and discerning audience.

House Guy vs. Tour Guy

PLSN: We examine the scenario in which a nightclub LD (me) hosts a show with its own traveling LD. Should make for an easy day for me, eh? Perhaps. In the red corner, wearing cargo shorts, five laminates and a radio with a Jack in the Box head on the antenna, weighing in at 100 pounds soaking wet, is El Vato de la Ruta, the tour guy... And in the blue corner, wearing carpenter’s trousers, an aloha shirt and a grimace, weighing a lot more than he used to, is Surly McGee, the house guy.

​How To Build Your 'F*ck Off Fund' - From Women Who Have Done It

www.elle.com: Earlier this week, you might've seen an article by Paulette Perhach in the The Billfold called "A Story of a F*ck Off Fund." It went super-viral—it was sent to me by no fewer than ten women, and I sent it to at least ten more. It tells an original "choose your own adventure"-style story in which a young woman graduates from college, buys a new car and fancy clothes, but then finds herself in credit card debt, in an abusive relationship, and trapped in a job she hates.

How Tina Fey got Sarah Palin's bolero for SNL

EW.com: To help Fey pull off another famous impression for Saturday’s telecast, the costume department knew they had to find the beaded bolero that Palin wore while endorsing Donald Trump on Jan. 19. Unfortunately, the $695 jacket sold out after Palin’s appearance. So SNL had to take matters into their own hands.

Behind the Scenes of Stop-Motion Animation

Tested: Two great videos I saw recently diving into the intricacies of the stop-motion animation process. The first is an Academy Originals production, following Laika animator Daniel Alderson as he explains how he collaborates with the director, fabricators, armaturists, schedulers, and production team to animate one shot in a film.

1st Annual BroadwayCon Unites Thousands of Fans

Backstage: The Great White Way had a very special event Jan. 22–24 in the New York Hilton Midtown, and we’re not talking about Winter Storm Jonas.

The inaugural BroadwayCon, a weekend of panels, workshops, fan meetups, and performances, brought together some of today’s most active theater artists and thousands of attendees from all over the country.

Ian McKellen: Gay Actors ‘Disregarded’ by Oscars, Hollywood

Variety: As the Academy works to remedy Hollywood’s inclusion issue, Sir Ian McKellen is stressing the need to broaden the definition of the word diversity. McKellen says that gay actors are being “disregarded” and ignored by Hollywood as much as African Americans are.

McKellen, who is the co-founder of the LGBT rights charity Stonewall, said the criticism facing the Academy for the lack of diversity at the Oscars is “legitimate.”

Chinese Firm Now Owns The Rights To Tiananmen Square Tank Man Photo; What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Techdirt: A few decades ago, Bill Gates got involved in something of a "side project" in which he tried to gain control over the licensing rights of tons of photographs and artwork, in a project that was eventually called Corbis.

7 Creative Resume Ideas to Stand Out Online

Envato Tuts+ Business Article: Whether you’re looking for a position with a new company or looking to collaborate on big projects as a specialist, one thing’s for sure: You’re going to need a resume. And not just any old resume, of course. If you want to stand out in today’s marketplace with a memorable first impression that opens doors, you’re going to need a resume website.

George Takei Interview: Allegiance, Activism, Star Trek

Flavorwire: Based on true events, the Broadway musical Allegiance tells the story of the Kimura family, who, along with 120,000 other Japanese-Americans, are forced to leave their homes and become imprisoned in internment camps after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The show’s star, George Takei, was an internee as a child, and he based his performance on his own family’s stories, the stories of other Japanese-Americans, and the research he has conducted throughout his lifetime.

Who's raising the bar(re) in Pittsburgh dance in 2016

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Paging through a recent issue of Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit or some other national performing arts publication, you’ll likely come across more than one mention of Pittsburgh connection.

The city has become a hotbed for dance in recent years, both as a producer of homegrown talent and as a presenter of performers and choreographers from around the world.

Equal Pay for Equal Work: The Need for the ERA in the Arts

HowlRound: As a proud feminist, I have a somewhat embarrassing confession to make: until very recently, I had never attended a consciousness-raising session. Despite having read avidly about the second-wave movement participants’ habit of gathering to talk about the issues affecting their lives, I had not participated in one myself until attending the Percolating Gender Parity symposium organized and hosted by the Women in the Arts & Media Coalition that was held December 3, 2015.

Virtual Pop Star Hatsune Miku Hits the Festival Circuit

The Creators Project: It took a lot of work to adapt synthetic Japanese open-source pop-star Hatsune Miku for her performance before the picky crowd at Berlin’s mythic, ten-day long CTM and transmediale media art festivals.

Initiated and coordinated by artist Mari Matsutoya, Miku’s brand-new performance, Still Be Here, is above all a strong collaborative effort partially created within a one-of-a-kind residency format at UK artistic laboratory Metal.

Shouting "Kill the Playwright" in a Crowded Theatre

HowlRound: I went to see a play in December during which an audience member called for the death of the playwright.

I’d been looking forward to seeing Annie Baker’s The Flick; I knew it was a polarizing play. During its run at Playwrights Horizons, the artistic director responded to the varying reactions of some subscribers (both vocal complaints and walkouts) by sending out a letter to them, discussing the process of developing the play, and the creative team's artistic decision to keep it at its length and pace.. Then, of course, the play won the Pulitzer Prize. I was pleased when it moved downtown for a commercial run.

Review: Pittsburgh Opera has a winner in its cozy, intense 'Little Women'

triblive.com: The small theater at the Creative and Performing Arts High School, Downtown, is a perfect environment in which to experience “Little Women” by Mark Adamo, the appealing contemporary opera based on Louisa May Alcott's famous 19th-century novel.

Pittsburgh Opera's new production of Adamo's work opened Jan. 23 at CAPA and proved a compelling vision of the piece thanks to an excellent cast and chamber ensemble, superb preparation and conducting by Glenn Lewis, and imaginative staging by Crystal Manich.

*Milk Like Sugar* at Studio 201

The Tartan Online: Even the journey to Studio 201 seemed perfectly suited to the experience that was Milk Like Sugar, a play about an underprivileged 16-year-old girl who must decide whether to follow through on her friends’ pregnancy pact. When our Lyft dropped us off at a seemingly deserted warehouse, we were near positive the location was wrong and we’d been stranded God knows where. But thankfully, Carnegie Mellon is a master of signs. We followed a trail of logoed arrows, which circled almost 360 degrees around the building and finally arrived at an unassuming door marked “ENTER” in spray-painted letters. This one actually opened, and once inside, we were given our tickets and ushered into the largest, coolest freight elevator I’ve ever seen.

'X-Files' premiere UFO crash

Business Insider: "The X-Files" creator Chris Carter wanted the show's revival to be more than just your standard return. He wanted it to be bigger and more contemporary than it had been. The series accomplished that right off the bat in the premiere episode by creating its largest prop ever. But that wasn't even the most expensive episode of the new season.

Turning Your CNC Machine into a Pen Plotter

makezine.com: My friend Andy Holtin, an amazing maker and an art professor at American University, sent me the details of a simple jig that he bodged together to turn his ShopBot into a pen plotter. While adapting plotter pens to CNC routers is not uncommon, I like the adapter he made (originally to hold a rotary tool) and how he made a secondary pen adapter to fit inside.

For Those With ‘Hamilton’ Tickets, a Storm of Disappointment

The New York Times: But for the 2,600 people who had tickets to the Saturday matinee and evening performances of “Hamilton,” the cancellations were a particularly tough blow, because tickets are both costly and hard to come by. “Hamilton” ticketholders — at least those who made purchases through the show’s box office or from Ticketmaster — will get a refund, but not seats for a future performance.

Wider change in Hollywood sought after Academy reforms

New Pittsburgh Courier: The widespread outrage over two straight years of largely White Oscar nominees coalesced behind three damning, viral words: “OscarsSoWhite.” The hashtag, which activist April Reign is credited with creating, lent social-media unity to a tide of frustration that on Friday led to diversity reforms announced by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

Like many others, Reign celebrated the announcement. But only for a moment.

Low-income CMU music students don't get a fair chance to play

The Tartan Online: Parents who dream of their five-year-old playing sonatas can bring them to Carnegie Mellon in the hope of lessons. Through an application and interview process, their child can become one of ten students accepted to the Beginning Piano program, which trains children from the ages five to seven. The benefits of childhood music training are well documented, and music education is a great way for the School of Music to give back to the Pittsburgh community.

Why You Suck at Productivity (and the 5 Minute Fix)

Medium: The reason you’re not as productive as you should be is because you haven’t learnt the art of prioritizing.

But fear not my little apologetic ragamuffins, here is the solution: erm…learn the art of prioritizing. This isn’t some Sistine Chapel style artwork we’re talking here, this is finger painting easy.

Hacklet 92 – Workbenches and Toolboxes

Hackaday: Everyone needs a place to work. While some of us have well equipped labs with soldering stations, oscilloscopes, and a myriad of other tools, others perform their hacks on the kitchen table. Still, some hackers have to be on the go – taking their tools and work space along with them on the road.

Interview with Ken Cerniglia: Dramaturg & Literary Manager, Disney Theatrical Group

HowlRound: What was your path from a PhD in Theatre History and Criticism to working for Disney?

Ken Cerniglia: That's an excellent question; the two can seem disconnected, but the fact is that I've been able to use every ounce of my academic training in my industry job, and then some. I like to think of dramaturgy as "applied scholarship." When I decided to pursue the academic route in grad school after my undergrad training in psychology and theatre performance/directing, dramaturgy provided an organic way for me to stay connected to production.

CMU students to compete in Robot Art 2016 contest

The Tartan Online: a team of Carnegie Mellon students are working hard to create a robot with artistic abilities. This international competition, created and sponsored by Andrew Conru, an entrepreneur who founded FriendFinder Networks Inc., has cash prizes of up to $100,000 for the winning team’s institution. But more than that, it is a call for collaboration.

Academy’s emergency meeting over diversity

Variety: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has approved a series of major changes, in terms of voting and recruitment, also adding three new seats to the 51-person board — all part of a goal to double the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020. The changes were approved by the board Thursday night in an emergency meeting.

How Should We Respond to Shakespeare's Sexism?

Clyde Fitch Report: It’s difficult for me to get through The Taming of the Shrew without wincing. One of Shakespeare’s first plays, it tells the story of a difficult, outspoken and often rude woman, Katherina, and her gradual taming under the machinations of her suitor, Petruchio. Over the course of the play she is made obedient by bullying, mockery, captivity and even starvation. It’s a situation very difficult to reconcile with any concept of modern feminism

New Stage Technology Changes the Game Behind the Scenes, and in the Classroom

AMERICAN THEATRE: Contrary to popular belief, people don’t always like new things. Sometimes people don’t even agree whether something really is new or not.

Take the question of “the new” to theatre artists, some of whom have been working in the profession for decades, and the response seems to be contradictory: Theatre is bursting with new technology, the likes of which we are still not clear on how to deploy effectively—and yet there is nothing new about theatre. We tell stories. We put actors on a stage, give them an environment, ensure they can be seen and heard when necessary, and tell the story the best we can.

How to Create a Cost-Effective Training Program

Remodeling | Training: As busy as you are, it’s important to remember to put training on your To-Do list.

Training is one of the most costly things companies don’t do, says Tim Faller, remodeling industry consultant and owner of Field Training Services. Even experienced hires need training. From company culture to specialized skills, understanding financials, and technology, every new or promoted field or office employee needs to understand how your company operates in each of these areas.

Supreme Court Asked to Review Batmobile Copyright Dispute

Hollywood Reporter: A mechanic warns the justices about the danger of letting a legal decision in favor of Warner Bros. stand.

Will the nation's highest court use the car that Batman drives as a vehicle to explore the scope of copyright?

Mark Towle, the Temecula, California mechanic who made Batmobiles until being enjoined, has petitioned the Supreme Court to review his dispute with Warner Bros.-owned DC Comics. He argues that the Batmobile doesn't deserve copyright protection, but last September, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held otherwise.

IBS/KBIS 2016: Day 2 Product Finds

Remodeling: From graphic tiles to important behind-the-wall solutions for healthy homes, the 2016 International Builders Show and Kitchen & Bath Industry Show have no shortage of new products for your upcoming projects.

When I See an Elephant Fly … from the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland Park

Disney Parks Blog: Disneyland Resort fans know that our attractions need a bit of scrubbing and polishing every now and then. But when the attraction in question is the world famous Jungle Cruise, and the scrubbing and polishing involves one rather hefty bull elephant … well then, you just call in a helicopter.

Oscars Sound Editing and Mixing Categories Explained

Variety: Oscar voters will weigh in on sound editing and sound mixing in final balloting, which runs Feb. 12-23. But even industry veterans can get confused at the difference. Here’s one way of remembering: E comes before M in the alphabet, so sound editing occurs before mixing. But they’re not separate entities; neither can live without other.

The Force returns

fxguide: Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been nothing but triumphant at the box office since its release in December last year. Delicately straddling the balance between conjuring up the nostalgia of the Original Trilogy while also bringing new characters and relationships into the fore, J.J. Abrams’ venture into the Star Wars universe is the first of many to come.

4 Tips for Writing a Thank You Note After an Interview

culturefit.com: You have just finished a job interview you believe will be a perfect fit professionally. Now it’s time to sit back and wait for the phone call stating you’ve been chosen over all other candidates for the position. It’s that simple, right? Wrong. You can’t afford to be one of those individuals who believe once the interview is over, your job is done. You still have one more powerful and essential tool to use to strengthen your chances of landing that position. It’s the ‘thank you’ letter! Oddly, only 20% of job seekers use this tool. Why is this significant?

SLS will finally open a venue for live entertainment

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Anyone who doesn't believe in second chances never worked in the casino industry.

Las Vegas has always kept contractors busy with its malleable entertainment scene, and the SLS Las Vegas fixes what now seems like a terrible mistake when it enters the live entertainment business next month.

Live Sound: In, Out, And About

Pro Sound Web: Digital consoles typically aren’t limited in terms of interconnect to what’s physically included within the control surface, expandable with a variety of stage boxes that provide a wealth of inputs and outputs as well as routing and more in both the digital and analog realms.

The Play Lovers' Guide to BroadwayCon! Your Itinerary For A Theatre-Filled Weekend

Playbill.com: BroadwayCon isn't just for fans of musical theatre. We've got the breakdown of everything to see and do for the fans of straight plays, so you can make the most of your weekend.

Theatre’s Technical Jobs: Much More Than Meets the Eye

AMERICAN THEATRE: We’re living in what is sometimes called the Information Age—an apt name for the constant flow of facts and data in which we swim, all made possible by ever-accelerating breakthroughs in computing. The catch, of course, is that, in a society where the one constant seems to be technological change, we may have too much information to process, too many systems to learn—and much of it will be obsolete by the time we’ve taken it in.

“You could probably have a full-time job just keeping up with the changes in technology,” says Erik Lawson, who started as an audio engineer and is now a sound designer based in New York City.

Cut and Shape Styrofoam Efficiently With This DIY "Styro-Slicer"

lifehacker.com: If you do any work with Styrofoam or other similar materials, you know it can be tricky to cut and shape pieces how you want them. This DIY setup will cut any Styrofoam safely and precisely, and can be easily stored when not in use.

Idris Elba diversity speech

Business Insider: While the discussion over the lack of minorities in this year's Academy Awards nominations is at an all-time high here in the US, across the pond, actor Idris Elba has thoughts about the need to change the landscape of movies and television.

What if every DC tourist saw a play?

2AMt: This post may skate on the edge of self-promotion, because I am going to be drawing attention to a brief e-book I’ve co-authored; but I have a good story to tell about how this book is an example of the kind of unconventional theatre promotion we need more of. This is much more a “Steal this idea!” pitch than a “Buy my book!” pitch.

Troupe to present physically demanding 'TetrisPlus' at August Wilson Center

TribLIVE: Erik Kaiel's unconventional approach to choreography has led to dances created in city streets, empty swimming pools, subway stations — and sometimes on stages.

He is drawn to public spaces for the unique relationship with the audience that occurs when performing artists leave the theater.

‘Midnight Rider’: Randall Miller Denied Early Release from Jail

Variety: A judge in Wayne County, Ga., has denied “Midnight Rider” director Randall Miller’s effort to modify his sentence and get released from jail early.

Miller was sentenced in March to two years in Wayne County Jail after pleading guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass stemming from the Feb. 20, 2014, train accident on the set of “Midnight Rider.” Camera assistant Sarah Jones was killed and eight others were injured.

The VR Company Helping Filmmakers Put You Inside Movies

WIRED: Look, you’re never going to get to drive the Fury Road with Max and Furiosa. You’re just not. It’s a bummer, but it’s true. However, if you want a mini taste of that post-apocalypse life and you happen to be at the Sundance Film Festival sometime in the next week, then you’re in luck: 8i’s virtual reality experience The Wasteland awaits.

AMERICANNot in Our Theatre: The Fight Against Sexual Harassment

AMERICAN THEATRE: On Jan. 30, 2015, after a long day in rehearsals, Chicago actor Lori Myers posted the following on her Facebook page: “It is very discouraging to me to continuously hear stories of sexual exploitation concerning young women in our theatre community. These women were sometimes underage, manipulated, and traumatized. If your friend, sister, daughter, or coworker was working under a sexual predator—what would you do about it?”

Hollywood Studios Say No Law Requires Captioning of All Song Lyrics in Movies

Hollywood Reporter: With examples of the way music has served films like Rain Man, Major League and the Guardians of the Galaxy, a group of Hollywood studios on Wednesday asked a federal court to reject a lawsuit that contends Hollywood is violating various laws by refusing to provide more captioning or subtitling of song lyrics.

CMU Scientists Star in Werner Herzog’s Latest Film

www.cmu.edu: Award-winning filmmaker Werner Herzog’s latest film delves into society’s dependence on the Internet for just about everything. Premiering at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, “Lo & Behold: Reveries of the Connected World” prominently features several Carnegie Mellon University scientists, as well as robots and other innovative technologies.

Vimeo to Fund Female Filmmakers Under Brand New Initiative

The Mary Sue: In a bid to try to change the current disappointing state of affairs for women in Hollywood, Vimeo has announced that they’ve launched a brand new initiative called Share the Screen. This initiative will seek out female filmmakers in order to help them with funding, promoting, and selling their films. The hope is that by doing so, they’ll be able to widen the platform upon which women can tell their stories without having their voices drowned out by money woes or lack of recognition.

From Survival Tips to Snowstorms: What You Need To Know for BroadwayCon

Breaking Character: We don’t know about you, but we’ve been looking forward to this weekend for well over a year.

After all, a three-day event sizzling with Broadway stars, stellar playwrights, a ton of workshops, and (what we can only hope are) fans in show-stopping costumes? Count us in. Add in the impending snowstorm, and this weekend just got even more exciting.

One Night 100 Years to Celebrate Arthur Miller’s Legacy

Backstage: One of the greatest American playwrights and the foundation bearing his name will honor the past and invest in the future come Jan. 25. Celebrating the centennial of Arthur Miller’s birth, One Night 100 Years will be a star-studded event at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre, benefiting the outstanding educational programs of the Arthur Miller Foundation.