“Vandals spray-painted the word ‘pedophile’ on the wall of a museum dedicated to famous writer Vladimir Nabokov in St. Petersburg … The wall was spray-painted by the same group of self-styled ‘St. Petersburg Cossacks’ who … have been sending ominous letters to the museum, accusing the writer of propagating pedophilia and threatening ‘God’s wrath’.”
Tag: 01.29.13
Vienna’s Male Nude Art Exhibition Holds Special Hours For Nudists
“A spokesman for the Leopold Museum in Vienna [said] that there was a request by an association from Germany for a nude guided tour: ‘We thought about it, and decided it would be a good idea to have a special nude viewing open to the public’.”
Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up The Bodies Wins Costa Prize By Unanimous Vote
Jury chair Dame Jenni Murray: “One book simply stood head and shoulders, more than head and shoulders … on stilts, above the rest. We had a really good discussion, like being at a high-powered book club, and I said, ‘OK, let’s have a vote on Bring Up the Bodies and every hand went up.”
More Historic Moscow Landmarks Demolished
“The demolition of the early 19th-century structures took place under the cover of darkness in the early hours of New Year’s Day. The complex on Strastnoy Boulevard was designed by the Neo-classical architect, Joseph Bové, who was commissioned to rebuild Moscow after the city was engulfed by fire following Napoleon’s invasion in 1812.”
Angry Battles In Newcastle Over Threatened Elimination Of Arts Funding
As some politicians and voters insist that there’s no other way to handle the cuts in revenue-sharing from the national government, others argue not only that cutting all arts funding is disproportionate but also that the city council is manipulating its budget numbers.
No Dogme Allowed: The Danish Director Making Thoroughly Un-Danish Films
Nikolaj Arcel’s A Royal Affair, a nominee for the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar, is completely un-Dogme-tic: a period costume drama about an obscure (to us) historical incident known to every Danish schoolchild.
The Robert Frost We Didn’t Know About
Think he was an aloof and thoughtful but cheerful rural New Englander? He was born and raised in San Francisco, son of a boisterous former Confederate and local politician, and Robert spent his youth riding on parade floats and tacking up his old man’s placards in saloons.
Aaron Sorkin Drops Out Of Hugh Jackman Broadway Musical Houdini
Sorkin was to write the book (his first) for the show, expected to open next season, and had already put in considerable work, but he is withdrawing for scheduling reasons – i.e., he says he can’t juggle the musical with writing the scripts for his TV series The Newsroom and his Steve Jobs biopic.
When Salvador Dalí Illustrated Alice In Wonderland
“It was a match made in psychedelic Heaven.”
What Should Broadway Be?
Mixing pragmatism with imagination, Wall Street Journal critic and columnist Terry Teachout, who made his debut as a playwright in 2012, cited the oft-repeated figure that 75% of all Broadway shows fail financially. Then “why do people produce on Broadway?” Teachout asked. “Because it’s fun.”