All About Aspen

All About Aspen
Aspen Post
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CON GAMES: Fox News, The Segregated Channel The anchors on Fox News?both male and blonde?are quite happy to bloviate non-stop when they beat the ?left-wing? competition in the ratings hands-down. Now we know how they do it: by all but eliminating blacks from its viewing audience, Fox has been able to deliver a white demographic not seen on television since the last NASCAR race. Advertisers haven?t been this happy since ?Mad Men? did an Emmy double-dip. In case you missed the latest breaking bulletin from the culture wars?ka-ching!?Fox attributes its success to blacks who constitute just 2 percent of its viewing audience not counting Shirley Sherrod, their latest African-American scalp?but including Michael Steele, the foot-in-mouth chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC). CON GAMES: Is Sarah Palin Hot? The hotness of Sarah Palin has not gone unremarked nor should it any more than John F. Kennedy?s so-called ?charisma.? Sex appeal is a huge bonus for a political candidate regardless of their ?capacities,? to quote the late Al Campanis, and speculation about Sarah Palin?s bodyparts will continue as long as the half-time Governor of Alaska continues to sling for the fences. CON GAMES: Kevin Costner Dances With Oil Aspen?s own Kevin Costner doesn?t get enough credit for trying to save the oil companies from themselves. The actors says dumped $24 million into his oil-water separation technology, according to his presentation this week at the Aspen Environment Forum, ?and that?s after taxes??so you figure he had to smile for the camera to the tune of $35 million-plus to make his Ocean Therapy Solutions come to life. Why bother? Because Costner, after the Exxon Valdez fiasco, never wanted to see oil wash over our wildlife again. He hired 20 scientists and spent fifteen years coming up with a deployable black box that could stop the problem when it happened and before it got worse. ?I thought industry would rush to my door,? he said at the forum sponsored by the Aspen Institute. CON GAMES: Rupert Murdoch?s iPad Paywall ASPEN, COLORADO?Paywall love is a beautiful thing in the media business?the belief of working journalists that if they charge for content the good old days that never were will grow back like ivy at Wrigley Field. Jon Miller, chief digital bottlewasher at News Corp., is a true believer in paywalls because his company stands behind the best and the brightest at the Wall Street Journal. Miller made clear at the Forbes Brainstorm conference here that paywalls are next to godliness for News Corp., if only because the Journal stands alone. Audra McDonald From Broadway To Aspen ASPEN, Colo.?Broadway and television star Audra McDonald makes her highly-anticipated Aspen Music Festival and School debut this Saturday evening, July 24, at 6 p.m. in Harris Concert Hall, as a part of this year?s season benefit. The four-time Tony Award and two-time Grammy Award winner will present an evening of show tunes, standards and original songs written especially for her, followed by?for the first time ever?an elegant dinner with McDonald on the stage of the Benedict Music Tent. CON GAMES: Pro Publica Wannabe Flunks Test I?ve seen some lousy reporting at the Aspen Daily News?including the one this year about a drunken editor trying to bribe a cop?but some of the worst ever can be found in Brent Gardner-Smith?s coverage of the resignation of Hugh Zuker, a candidate for Pitkin County Sheriff. CON GAMES: On Facebook, It?s Good To Be Liberal Maybe you?ve heard of this Facebook thing, and maybe you?ve seen the Facebook user profile that asks everyone to fill in the blanks when it comes to their political views. People say all sorts of things. (One favorite: ?Don?t get me started?.?) But by the hundreds, and presumably by the thousands and millions, one Facebooker after another is describing themselves as ?liberals.? Not once have I seen anyone say they are ?progressive.? All I can say is shut my mouth. Figaro! It's The Barber Of Seville! The Aspen Opera Theater Center kicks off its season this Thursday with the first opera from the Beaumarchais trilogy, Rossini?s The Barber of Seville. The comedic masterpiece introduces the audience to some of opera?s most beloved characters, including the sly and witty barber Figaro. The Barber of Seville opens tomorrow, July 15, with a benefit performance at 8 pm and continues Saturday, July 17, and Monday, July 19, at 7 pm. The opening night event will be this summer?s most glamorous benefit evening. Patrons of the black-tie 2010 Opera Benefit will enjoy a 5 pm cocktail hour at the home of Richard Edwards, followed by an elegant dinner at the Caribou Club. Opera-only tickets are also available, including an intermission reception featuring sparkling wine, cocktails, and hors d?oeuvres. CON GAMES: Shocking Ideas For Writers In Aspen Writers, a breed full of need, are a painful planetary species to emerge from both primordial bog and unspeakable blog. Take it from me, a writer who is about to make a real pain in the ass out of himself about?writing. After decamping to the Aspen Ideas Festival, I came away thinking that no one is more terrified of the future than the writer of fiction. A panel devoted to writing in the digital age had a quartet of terrific writers?playwright John Guare, short story writer Tobias Woolf, and poets Dana Goia and Barbara Ehrenreich?but they were all but clueless when it came to the new confusion under discussion. Aspen Becomes Glass House Aspen Post, We're running a ticket giveaway contest for the U.S. premiere of the new Philip Glass piece at the Aspen Music Festival on July 22. We would love to get the word out about it by announcing it to Aspen residents/visitors on your site and in whatever ways might be helpful to you! To enter the contest, all Aspen residents and visitors have to do is visit facebook.com/RobertMcduffieViolin.

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