Category: people

• David Irving got slapped down pretty good by the British court in his libel suit last week. But, “if anyone thinks the utterly condemnatory court decision gave Irving any kind of serious second thoughts regarding his beliefs, or that he stuck by his original vow to respect the court’s decision, they can just forget about it.” On TV interviews he was “unrepentant, chilling, and scary. The worst was the way he kept repeating in an insinuating manner that if he were Jewish, he would be asking himself exactly what his people had been doing for thousands of years to make everyone hate them so much.” – Jerusalem Post

A couple is suing Northwest Airlines for $100,000 after their dead son’s artwork was damaged on a flight. The airline says its liability is limited and if the parents had wanted to ensure the art was safe they should have insured it. – Grand Rapids Press

One of Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous inventions was said to be the “automotive car.” Turns out that’s not what it is at all, says a scholar. – Wired

“When the memorial to Fanny Burney is unveiled in Westminster Abbey in June 2002, she will join Jane Austen, George Eliot and the Brontë sisters as the only women to be commemorated in Poets’ Corner.”  Why has Burney – popular 18^th-century novelist, diarist, wicked satirist, and playwright (one of her recently discovered plays is receiving its first-ever full-scale production at the Old Vic) been all but forgotten and woefully under-read? – The Guardian

David Eggers book “Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” has all the buzz and has climbed to No. 5 on the NYT Bestseller list. He’s sold the paperback rights for $1.4 million, and foreign publishers in 10 countries have coughed up an estimated $500,000. So what does he need with agents? He’ll represent himself – and he turns down a seven-movie Hollywood deal. – Variety

Paul Allen is worth about $46 billion, they say. But what he really likes to do is play guitar. So he started a band. And that band has released its first recording. “It just started off as a bunch of guys getting together to jam and took off from there. “Paul has a very nice little studio, we had enough material, so we decided, let’s make an album.” – BBC

Edward Gorey, whose comically macabre stories, illustrations and theater set designs were once described as “poisonous and poetic,” has died. He was 75. – Chicago Tribune

After a decade in exile, Salman Rushdie returns to India. – New York Times

• Salman Rushdie goes to India to call for lifting the ban on his book “Satanic Verses.” Hundreds demonstrate against the author in Kashmir. – The Age (Melbourne)

Salman Rushdie’s going out on the town again. Everyone enjoys a good celebrity sighting, but some aren’t glad to see him. “I was so pissed to be in the restaurant with him. I’m going to be mad, and dead.” The agent added that everyone at her table agreed. “We can’t enjoy our meal. We don’t want to die because of his fatwa. It’s so passive-aggressive toward people in Manhattan,” the agent continued. “We have enough trouble here.” – New York Observer