‘Most beautiful’ dome takes shape
Due to the pandemic, Shanghai people stayed at home during the Spring Festival break and sought holiday fun in the city. As a consequence, Shanghai’s tourism market scooped a total revenue of 5.67 billion yuan (US$878 million). Shanghai Daily photographer
A DOME on part of a historic arcade formerly known as Edward Ezra Arcade will be completed by June to become a new landmark attraction near the Bund.
The project, known as the city’s most beautiful glass dome, is in the middle of the complexes comprised of Central Mansion, the Meilun Building, the Xinkang Building and the Huaqiao Building, all built between 1924 and 1930.
The Neoclassic architectural style of the buildings is well preserved with original floors, mosaic floor tiles and polished stone facades. The arcade is being developed as a new commercial, tourism and cultural landmark on the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall.
The first phase of the renovation project, Central Mansion and the Meilun Building, was officially opened in 2017 and includes shops, restaurants and offices, as well as arts and cultural sites.
The whole project will be completed and open to the public by the end of the year, the Shanghai Bund Investment (Group) Co, the project’s developer, said yesterday.
The four buildings are being connected with the dome and a crossroads in the middle. The giant glass roof will cover nearly 4,000 square meters with 12,000 lamps, it added.
Upon completion, visitors will be able to walk into the project
through the main entrance on the pedestrian street.
As a key part of the arcade, the Central Mall was a longtime market that for decades was known for selling and repairing electronic appliances. The five-story mall, covering about 6,000 square meters,
had a reputation for reliable quality and its wide variety of goods such as glasses, cigarette lighters and watches, as well as imported products. It was closed in 2007 along with nearby historic buildings for the renovation project.
Along with the landmark project, a major facelift will be launched on the nearby backstreets such as Jiujiang, Jiangxi and Sichuan roads. According to the Huangpu District government blueprint, a global commercial circle will rise around the Nanjing Road E. and the Bund.
COOPED up like many of us, movie stars, politicians and reality show types eager to hold onto their fans are turning to podcasts to get through the pandemic, converting their homes — even a bathroom in one case — into makeshift recording studios.
There is something out there for everyone: While Demi Moore, with her trademark raspy voice, headlines an erotic podcast called “Dirty Diana,” Jamie Lee Curtis and Matthew McConaughey read stories for kids.
Former first lady Michelle Obama talks about personal issues in a podcast called simply “The Michelle Obama Podcast,” while actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett interview other celebrities on one called “SmartLess.”
Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has been waging a crusade against him since September in a podcast called “Mea Culpa.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have one, too. The first episode featured contributions from prominent people talking about how they are coping with the pandemic and what they are learning from it.
Reality show stars are also in on the craze. Paris Hilton is scheduled to launch a podcast at the end of February through radio giant iHeartMedia late this month and Kim Kardashian signed a deal this summer with Spotify to develop a show on criminal justice reform, a cause in which she has been active.
Flexibility of podcasts
While podcasts with stars are nothing new, their sudden abundance is a natural consequence of the COVID-19 crisis, said Nicholas Quah, creator of a blog called Hot Pod.
With Hollywood largely shut down because of the pandemic “so many of these celebrities are unable to get television or film productions going,” he said.
“This is an opportunity for these people to still reach fans and reach people.”
Many are drawn by the flexibility of podcasts because there is no need for a set or camera or special wardrobe, and doing them is safe COVID-wise.
For the sexy podcast “Dirty Diana,” co-produced by media and podcast company startup QCODE, the actors recorded themselves at home, said the company’s co-founder Rob Herting.
For the best sound, he said, “they had to find a great room in their house. And for Demi it was the bathroom. It ended up being a lot of fun and we certainly have had other actors recording in closets, or whatever has the best acoustics.”
What is more, podcasts can be made relatively quickly and cheaply.
“Dirty Diana,” for instance, was recorded in May and released in July, whereas once a movie is shot it can take a couple of years for it to come out.
The average budget for a QCODE podcast, some of which feature Oscar-winning actors such as Rami Malek, is in the low to mid six-figures, while even a low-budget movie needs maybe a million dollars, said Herting.
Revenue from the podcast industry is still far smaller than that of movies, TV or music, even if podcasts are all the rage now. Ad revenue from podcasts should rise by 15 percent in 2020 once figures are in and approach a billion dollars, said a study published in July by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“This is now a space that some entertainment industry people see as a worthwhile investment. And that was not necessarily a 100 percent the case previously,” said Quah.
“It’s bad in the sense that a lot of the advertiser money which would have been going to people who where in the space for the long term ends up going to them first,” he said, referring to the celebrities.
Staying in the limelight
“I think most celebrities that come in, they would probably think that it's an extension of their brand,” said Quah.
“It’s just for the celebrity to stay in your attention, whether they’re going to sell you a book or not, as long as they still have your attention,” he added.
Photo by Hellorf
However, podcast studios like projects with stars because their fans guarantee an audience and these shows offer the possibility of being adapted to film or TV.
Amazon, for instance, is getting ready to turn “Dirty Diana” into a TV series starring Moore.
But will the podcast boom last after pandemic lifestyles end and stars go back to making movies and such?
Yes, says Herting. “The time commitment for an actor is just so low,” said this boss of QCODE, which plans to launch more than a dozen star-studded podcasts in the coming year.
But Colin Anderson of Stitcher, which produces a comedy podcast featuring the actor Rob Lowe, warns of the risk of saturation of “just famous people talking to other famous people.”
“Celebrities are going to have to be more creative with the podcasts they launch and give people a more compelling reason than just their celebrity to subscribe,” said Anderson.
RESIDENTS, some of whom lack heat or basic amenities in their own homes due to the unusually chilly weather, have been rescuing cold-stunned sea turtles and taking them to a convention center in a South Texas resort town.
“Every 15 minutes or less there’s another truck or SUV that pulls up,” said Ed Caum, executive director of the South Padre Island Convention and Visitors Bureau.
He said sometimes local people bring one or two sea turtles, sometimes more: “We had trailers full yesterday coming in that had 80, 100, 50.”
The South Padre Island Convention Center started pitching in Monday when its neighbor, Sea Turtle, could no longer handle the number of sea turtles being dropped off, and their mostly outdoor operation had lost power due to the unusual snowstorm sweeping across the state.
Caum said the convention center didn’t have power or water early on Wednesday.
He said the center “collected” more than 3,500 sea turtles so far.
Caum added that with another cold front approaching, they don’t know when they’ll be able to return the sea turtles to the water.
He said it might be on Saturday when temperatures are expected to be above 15 degrees Celsius.