NFTRW Weekly Top Five

Here are the top five comment generating posts from the past week:

CMU wants to level buildings for park space

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Carnegie Mellon University wants to demolish three buildings, from 4618 to 4628 Forbes Ave., and turn the site into a park where students can display their artwork and visitors can relax on benches."

Posted by David at 11/29/2009 03:43:00 PM <-- Comments here

Loading in Phantom of the Opera—and the chandelier—at DPAC

indyweek: "Although the show doesn't open for another week, the huge work of loading it in began this morning. The famous decorative elements of The Phantom of the Opera—the chandelier, the underground tunnels and everything else—will fit easily onto DPAC's massive stage and will no doubt thrill audiences. But behind the opulence is a lot of grunt work that goes into laying the foundation for the complex, notoriously mobile set."

Posted by David at 11/29/2009 03:41:00 PM <-- Comments here

So you want to work in the movies?

Excalibur Web edition: "Breaking into the film industry isn’t as easy and glamorous as it seems.
After high school, I took a rather different route in life.
I had no plans, no real ambition and I sure as hell wasn’t planning on heading back to school again. “Lost” is a good word to describe this feeling."

Posted by David at 11/29/2009 03:40:00 PM <-- Comments here

How do I make a…?

Props: "It’s the question faced by the props artisan on a daily basis. Whether you work in theatre, television, or film, you will be asked to build an infinite variety of objects for an infinite variety of uses. Props are found in many other places as well, such as advertising, photography shoots, commercial displays and exhibitions. You may also wish to build props for your own personal uses, such as holiday decoration or hobbies. Whatever your reason, you are reading this because you want to know how to build anything and everything."

Posted by David at 11/28/2009 08:20:00 PM <-- Comments here

'Addams' tuner creeps toward B'way

Variety: "The creatives behind the $16.5 million tuner adaptation of 'The Addams Family,' playing an out-of-town tryout in Chicago ahead of a Broadway run that opens April 8, have set aside the property's familiar TV and movie incarnations to base the show on the series of single-panel Charles Addams cartoons in which the macabre clan originated."

Posted by David at 11/28/2009 08:26:00 PM <-- Comments here

Video Interview: Bob Bonniol, Day Two at the Live Design Projection Master Classes

Live Design: "Bob Bonniol, day two of the Live Design Projection Master Classes at LDI."

LDI2009 Awards Presented On November 21 in Orlando

Live Design: "Congratulations to all the winners at the LDI2009 awards ceremony which was held at 6pm on Saturday, November 21, with cocktails at the Live Design booth and the presentation at Apex Stages, with special banners provided by Britten Banners."

Father-daughter team make lights 'dance' in Hershey

Lebanon Daily News: "Think it's a pain getting the lights on your Christmas tree to all function properly?
Try hooking up 125,000 lights, then synchronize them all to make them 'dance' to music.
The father-daughter team of Larry Perini and Nikki Perini-Hollinger, both of Lebanon, recently played a leading role in setting up the dancing lights of Hersheypark's N.O.E.L. display.
And, they only had a week to get it right."

Chicagoans in the Industry

Chicago Reader: "I am writing in response to Deanna Isaacs's article 'Is a Soundstage a Sound Investment?', published November 19—a skeptical (at best) examination of the state of Illinois' plans to offset the expenses of converting the empty Ryerson Steel plant into a series of stages for use in motion picture production. In her article, Ms. Isaacs misconstrues the work of another writer, and then, with seemingly no familiarity with her subject—delivers a lackluster assessment of Chicago's film community. I have already responded to Ms. Isaacs directly, on your Web edition."

Sudbury entering ‘Phase One’ of thriving movie industry

Sudbury Local News: "Phase One, a Hollywood production being filmed at various locations around Sudbury, could be the first of many other movies that could provide jobs, support local business and give the city a creative edge.
This was proclaimed at a recent press conference by Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci, Mayor John Rodriguez and movie industry officials."

Learning to fly

Foxboro Reporter: "When 17-year-old Nicole Cayer of North Providence learned that she had landed the title role in 'Peter Pan' at the Orpheum Theatre, she was beside herself with excitement."

Benedict Woos Artists, Urging ‘Quest for Beauty’

NYTimes.com: "And so in an effort to improve the Catholic Church’s engagement with contemporary artists — and perhaps put a gentler face on a contentious papacy — the Vatican invited more than 250 artists, architects, musicians, directors, writers and composers for an audience on Saturday with Pope Benedict XVI."

WGAe Tries to Bridge New Media Divide

Tubefilter: "New Media, Transmedia, Web Video, Web Series, Web Television, whatever you want to call “it,” “it” is the future. Anyone reading Tubefilter, which has a mission “to grow the audience of web television,” knows this. Considering this, the traditional media complex is not going anywhere anytime soon. Too often the traditional media industry belittles internet video, which is why it is refreshing to see a media mainstay, like the Writer’s Guild East pursuing an active role in promoting new media."

ESTA Announces 2009 Rock Our World Award Winners

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "The second annual Rock Our World Awards were presented at ESTA's annual dinner last night, the evening before the LDI show. These awards, which recognize groundbreaking achievement by ESTA members in new products, product applications, or projects, were created to acknowledge the genius of both the creator of technology and the designer or integrator who applies the technology in a real world environment."

CMU wants to level buildings for park space

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Carnegie Mellon University wants to demolish three buildings, from 4618 to 4628 Forbes Ave., and turn the site into a park where students can display their artwork and visitors can relax on benches."

New Products Take Center Stage at LDI 2009

PLSN: "This year’s LDI show, which has moved to the south concourse of the Orange County Convention Center, appeared to be well-attended, with plenty of activity and product innovation — much of it by advances in LED technology — on display, not just at the New Technology Breakfasts and demo areas but on the show floor as well."

And the 2009 Parnelli Award Winners Are...

PLSN: "It was overstuffed, in attendance (a complete sellout), humor and agenda, and there was plenty of good-natured roasting going on, but the 2009 Parnelli Awards program was no turkey. Dennis DeYoung hosted the annual gala that honored lifetime achiever Jake Berry, pictured here, right, with 2008 winner Dennis Sheehan. Richard Belliveau received the Parnelli Visionary award, and the first-ever Indispensable Technology “IT” Parnelli honors were awarded as well."

C-3PO is one of many roles Anthony Daniels has played in Pittsburgh

Post Gazette: "The British actor who played the worry-prone golden droid in all six movies has served as an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center on Second Avenue since 2004. In this role, he's been an adviser and personal consultant to students in the two-year graduate program that focuses on the gaming and entertainment industries."

Loading in Phantom of the Opera—and the chandelier—at DPAC

indyweek: "Although the show doesn't open for another week, the huge work of loading it in began this morning. The famous decorative elements of The Phantom of the Opera—the chandelier, the underground tunnels and everything else—will fit easily onto DPAC's massive stage and will no doubt thrill audiences. But behind the opulence is a lot of grunt work that goes into laying the foundation for the complex, notoriously mobile set."

Ten Seconds to Change: Taking in the show backstage at “Irma Vep”

Newcity Stage: "There are few plays that can boast a backstage drama to rival the one being seen out front. “The Mystery of Irma Vep, A Penny Dreadful” is one of those plays."

So you want to work in the movies?

Excalibur Web edition: "Breaking into the film industry isn’t as easy and glamorous as it seems.
After high school, I took a rather different route in life.
I had no plans, no real ambition and I sure as hell wasn’t planning on heading back to school again. “Lost” is a good word to describe this feeling."

The Lowest Entry-Level Job in Hollywood, Part Two

seattlepi: "I Should Have Stayed Home is one of the great, if largely unknown, Hollywood novels. Written by Horace McCoy (1897-1955), author of They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1933), it is the tale of young Ralph Carson, a wanna-be from Georgia who comes to Hollywood to be discovered. The title of the book sums up the results of his effort. It's a message that should be plastered on all Hollywood city limit signs, in L.A. bus depots, train stations and airports."

'Addams' tuner creeps toward B'way

Variety: "The creatives behind the $16.5 million tuner adaptation of 'The Addams Family,' playing an out-of-town tryout in Chicago ahead of a Broadway run that opens April 8, have set aside the property's familiar TV and movie incarnations to base the show on the series of single-panel Charles Addams cartoons in which the macabre clan originated."

L.A. stages play for the creatives

Variety: "New York City and Chicago may have better reps as theater towns, but in the universe of Equity-waiver theaters, L.A. is the epicenter. Unlike Chi, there's a bottomless reservoir of film and TV actors here or, at least, people who call themselves actors. In some ways, the L.A. scene recalls the network of tiny Manhattan theaters that used to exist in SoHo and the Village in the 1970s -- venues that housed the works of Richard Foreman, Tom Eyen, Harvey Fierstein, Rev. Al Carmines and Charles Ludlam. Where the West Coast differs is not with physical theaters but the level of creative talent."