Now this is our kind of magazine list: elephants inventing water storage devices, mole rats making dust masks, owls setting out bait for prey, dolphins using sponges to fish, and so on.
Tag: 01.16.09
Asimov’s Foundation To Get Movie Version
“Columbia won an auction late Thursday for screen rights to Foundation, Isaac Asimov’s ground-breaking sci-fi trilogy. The project will be developed as a directing vehicle for Roland Emmerich.”
Is That Michael Ignatieff In The Vertical Hour?
The journalist/intellectual-turned-politician, now head of Canada’s Liberal Party and possibly the next prime minister, was one of the rare small-l liberals who supported the Iraq War. Now more than a few observers are suggesting that the protagonist of David Hare’s play has a biography awfully similar to Ignatieff’s.
As Broadway Suffers, The West End Basks In Success
“With just 20 shows now running on Broadway following a slew of January closings, you don’t need to have majored in economics to see that the global recession has caused an understandable loss of nerve among New York producers. Their London counterparts, meanwhile, appear to be toughing it out.”
Terrorism On The Silver Screen
A spate of feature films is causing controversy in Europe “for choosing to depict terrorism from the terrorists’ point of view,” with detractors accusing the filmmakers of glorifying murder. Says one screenwriter: “We didn’t set out to glorify the character at all, but it seems people still find it very difficult to watch a bastard go about his business.”
Veronika Dudarova, 92, Moscow Conductor With 60-Year Career
“Dudarova became a conductor at the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra in 1947 and in 1960 was named chief conductor and artistic director. She left the orchestra in 1989. From 1991 until the end of her life she headed the Symphony Orchestra of Russia, which she had founded.”
Cerny Promises To Return Govt. Money For Sculpture
“David Cerny vowed yesterday to hand back all the public money he received for his EU sculpture although he was vague about the bulk £350,000 purse he was attempting to raise from private donors. Mr Cerny, 41, apologised for hoodwinking his government and said that he would not take the 50,000 Euros which the Czech Government agreed to pay to rent the sculpture for six months.”
In Appreciation Of Andrew Wyeth
In reports of Andrew Wyeth’s death, there’s plenty of critical derision of his work. But Jim Duff, director of the Brandywine River Museum in Wyeth’s hometown, Chadds Ford, Pa., speaks from a heartfelt personal perspective on the man and his art.
Andrew Wyeth Dies At 91
“Andrew Wyeth, the most popular American artist of the 20th century, died early today at his home in Chadds Ford. The creator of such iconic paintings as Christina’s World and Wind From the Sea was 91. … The public loved his work, but many critics and scholars considered him an illustrator like his father, N.C. Wyeth, rather than a major artist. His work was often characterized as sentimental, the critical kiss of death.”
John Mortimer, Rumpole Of The Bailey Creator, Dies At 85
“Rumpole of the Bailey creator John Mortimer, 85, died this morning following a prolonged illness. … The novelist, playwright and former barrister, who was born in London in 1923, was known and loved for the comic lawyer Rumpole, whose dedication to cheap wine and motto ‘never plead guilty’, has been his most enduring creation.”