Lin-Manuel Miranda may have turned Alexander Hamilton's life into a hit Broadway show, but he tells us that passion, not politics, drives his art, "Your job as an artist is to chase what inspires you and finish it"; Gaby Moreno's fusion of R&B with Spanish lyrics has earned her a Grammy nomination; The FTC calls out Vizio for using their TVs to collect data on their users without their consent.
Vizio TVs collected viewer data and sold it without consent. Was their punishment severe enough?
You know the future has arrived when TVs start watching you back.
The Federal Trade Commission and the New Jersey Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Vizio, a smart TV company, for collecting and selling viewing data of its users without permission. Essentially, Vizio’s internet-connected TVs were gathering information about its customers that went far beyond what shows they were watching.
, a senior editor at the Hollywood Reporter, wrote about the dispute. He explained to The Frame recently what claims were laid against Vizio by the FTC.
They were both derivations of unfair trade practices, which just basically means that consumers were lied to or there were misrepresentations along the way. But as one commissioner at the FTC put it, what's the concrete injury here?
Gardner refers to commissioner Maureen K. Ohlhausen who was recently sworn in by President Trump as acting chair of the Federal Trade Commission. Gardener noted that in a statement she published, it was unclear what actions the FTC would take to determine whether the data collected by Vizio constitutes "substantial injury." Gardner says:
There are a lot of theoretical harms but there's no evidence so far that companies are tracking viewerships in this matter. It's just out there. The question is, should the government do anything about it?
On Monday, the FTC announced it had reached a settlement for more than $2 million with Vizio. But the Vizio case may be just one example of how so-called smart technology can start to emulate Big Brother from George Orwell’s “1984."
LA-based songwriter Gaby Moreno is Guatemala’s little secret — for now
On a chilly Saturday evening in Xela, a colonial city in the highlands of Guatemala, singer-songwriter Gaby Moreno performs her encore to hundreds of adoring fans who sing along. Moreno says this is one of the country’s most beloved songs.
"'Luna de Xelajú’ is our second anthem," she says. "It’s such a popular song in Guatemala…there’s a sense of pride for that song, and it’s a beautiful song. I love singing it."
Her fans couldn’t be happier. Outside the theatre, 20-year-old Adriana Guzmán says Moreno is a role model for Guatemalans.
"She embodies the idea that we can do better," Guzmán says, "that Guatemala does have a future and it’s because of her that all Guatemalans know that we have a voice, and that we can rise up and be better every day."
Moreno may not be a household name in the U.S., but she’s a rockstar in Guatemala, the country of her birth. She moved to Los Angeles 16 years ago. Since then, her career has gone in different directions. She’s toured with a wide array of artists, from Tracy Chapman to Hugh Laurie, and she’s shared the stage with Andrea Bocelli and Van Dyke Parks.
She has released six albums since 2008. By the time she got the ‘Best New Artist Award’ at the Latin Grammys in 2013, Moreno had already spent almost 20 years singing and writing songs. “Fronteras-Borders” is one of the songs Moreno wrote for her new album, “Illusion."
"Initially, I wrote it for Latin American people, in general, living in the United States, and how we are straddling the fence between two cultures," she says. "We keep our traditions and yet we have adopted new ones from the American culture."
Moreno has embraced a wide range of musical traditions. For her new album she worked with producer Gabe Roth, known for his work with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Moreno pours her heart out with lyrics and melodies steeped in the classic R&B sound of the 1960s.
Moreno says she started listening to Blues and R&B when she was 12 years old. Over time, her love for this music and other genres has grown.
"If you hear like my first and my second record, you’ll hear a variety of styles because that’s just who I am," she says. "I feel like the common denominator is always going to be my voice."
Jebin Bruni has been playing keyboards with Moreno for the past 10 years. Bruni says she may not be well-known in the U.S. right now, but in Guatemala, she holds court.
"She’s like a rockstar and it’s amazing," he says. "She should be this big everywhere, but it’s sort of Guatemala’s little secret right now, but pretty soon it’s going to explode."
Moreno says she couldn’t be happier, making a living as a singer, especially as an immigrant in the U.S. “That’s what I came to this country for," she says, "to follow my dream of making music and I’m doing it.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda: The artist's job is 'to chase what inspires you and finish it'
It's not surprising that Lin-Manuel Miranda believes in the power of song.
The Tony and Grammy-winning writer, composer, and actor tells The Frame that "the right lyric with the right melodic idea just does things to your brain and heart that no other art form can touch."
As the Oscar-nominated writer of the "Moana" song "How Far I'll Go," Miranda was in Los Angeles to attend the annual Academy Awards nominees luncheon with his mother as his date. He was on a short leave from shooting "Mary Poppins Returns" in London.
The last time Miranda was a guest on The Frame was in 2014, when he and director Tommy Kail had a TV show called "Freestyle Love Supreme" on the former cable channel, Pivot. At the time, they were working on the adaptation of Ron Chernow's book for the stage. And we all know how “Hamilton” turned out.
Miranda tells The Frame that as an artist it's passion, not politics, that drives him. "Your job as an artist is to chase what inspires you and finish it." He goes on to make a distinction between what he does as a private citizen however from what motivates him as an artist.
You can hear the interview by clicking play at the top of this page. Excerpted highlights are below.
Interview Highlights:
What "Moana," "Hamilton" and "Mary Poppins Returns" have in common:
Musically the three could not be more different. The thing they share is that I'm thrilled to be involved in all of them. But it's interesting because "Hamilton" and "Moana" do share some DNA. I got the job writing for "Moana" about seven and a half months before we started rehearsals Off-Broadway for "Hamilton." There was a period where I was writing both at the same time. So they're siblings.
I think "Moana" was my Oasis during "Hamilton." Any time I needed a break as the whole phenomenon was unfolding, I'd go sail the seas with "Moana" in Maui and it forced me to clear time and clear my brain so that I could stay focused on working on the film.
On the powerful duo of lyrics and music:
To paraphrase Sondheim, lyrics aren't poetry. They're not meant to look good on a piece of paper. They're meant to sing well with the music with which they are assigned. Sometimes you'll write out the lyrics from your favorite song and it feels like so much less on paper than it was when you were singing it because it's wedded to another form. Music engages both hemispheres of the brain. Go read your Oliver Sacks if you want to hear how incredible and extraordinary music is and the way we process it. The right lyric with the right melodic idea just does things to your brain and heart that no other art form can touch.
Did the election changed what he wants to do with his art:
Creatively, I think not at all. I think your job as an artist is to chase what inspires you and finish it. If that inspiration is political in nature, great. If it's not, great. I think we can smell when something feels like homework. I think we can smell when something feels like, I have a social responsibility to write this thing. You're like, okay, but it's a drag for me to watch it. When someone's inspired to do something and they do great work, that's wonderful, but I think your job as an artist is to make your art. My job as a private citizen is very different. I did a big fundraiser for Planned Parenthood because that's under attack in the wake of this election. I'm donating to the ACLU because their hands are very full in the wake of this election. But that's my work as a private citizen. My work as an artist is only informed by what inspires me.
Why he makes mixtapes via Twitter:
I think I learned more about making Broadway scores by making mixtapes for people I loved. You had to listen to the songs in the order in which I presented them to you. That was a form I was really invested in even as I was writing music and even as I was making movies as a teenager. Technology allows me to do that at-large now. So, I think that a lot of people are looking for inspiration and looking to pick each other up. I was like, ooh I can make mixtapes! Technology now allows me to do that and put it online. Everyone can hear what I listen to that inspires me. That's just been a fun creative outlet on my downtime.
How he measures success for himself:
If you're trying to get financial success from writing for theater, don't do it! It's one in five shows make their money back. You have to go in with your eyes wide open with any creative endeavor. Say to yourself, I don't know whether this will end in opening night, closing night being the same day or whether this will be a five year run. What I try to do and I'm figuring it out like everybody else, is I try to put myself in situations where I'm going to learn something whether it's writing with Tom Kit for the Tony Awards or "Bring It On" which we wrote the score to with Amanda Green. Right now I'm working on "Mary Poppins Returns" and I'm watching Rob Marshall direct. He is the best at making movie musicals. I'm going to learn fifty new things from working with him regardless of the success of the film. That's going to make me a better artist. I try to chase learning experiences and hope the rest takes care of itself.
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