Before the Forbes collection of Faberge eggs was able to go on auction, they were bought by a Russian industrialist. “None of the parties would disclose the price of the private sale, which includes nine imperial Fabergé eggs — the second largest collection after the 10 in the Kremlin — along with some 180 other Fabergé objects. But experts familiar with the Fabergé market estimate that Mr. Vekselberg paid about $100 million for the collection, which Sotheby’s had predicted would bring at least $90 million at auction.”
Tag: 02.04.04
Mel Gibson To Delete Controversial Line From Film
A controversial line will be deleted from Mel Gibson’s new movie The Passion of Christ. “It didn’t work in the focus screenings. Maybe it was thought to be too hurtful, or taken not in the way it was intended. It has been used terribly over the years.”
Phantom Slides In To Second
Tonight, Phantom of the Opera becomes the second-longest running show in Broadway history, sliding ahead of Les Miz. The show has gone on 6,681 times “through 11 Phantoms, beginning with Michael Crawford, but just one chandelier: that 900-pound, beaded monster that has since traveled 422 miles in its nightly plunge over its audience’s heads.”
From Proust To Pornography – Now That’s An English Class
At England’s University of Wolverhampton, an English course has caused an uproar. “Unpopular Texts is the paradoxically popular optional course on the third year of our English degree that has been pilloried in the press. A dark spectrum of material selected from all areas of culture has passed through its seminars. Self-evidently literary and experimental works by James Joyce, William Burroughs and DM Thomas rub shoulders with Enid Blyton’s long unavailable The Three Golliwogs. Modernist masterpieces labelled degenerate by the Nazis share exhibition space with a September 11-themed issue of The Amazing Spider-Man.” And pornography…
What Happens When Musicians Control Music Production?
A new union of rock stars might seem like a good idea (really?). And trying to get more money for artists for digital downloads is a good thing. But “the issue of artists taking complete control over their music is a long standing and extremely thorny one. Most acts want to free themselves from the malign interference of money-obsessed record companies and follow their muse where’er it may lead. A nice idea in theory, but a vast body of evidence suggests that it is a disaster in practice.”
L’affaire Jackson – The Horror!
The morality play is unfolding right on schedule after Janet Jackson exposed a breast on American TV. “The flap – the Federal Communications Commission is launching a full probe into the whole half-time show, because a horrified nation demands it – is unfolding because the knocker was flashed on network TV during a ‘family’ program. The thing is, I think, that CBS is now so weirdly infatuated with the Jacksons that it believes that they’re your average American family.”
The Art Of Looking Good (Conceptually)
At Toronto’s flagship Holt Renfrew store, high-style fashionistas can now pick up a bit of high-concept art with their upper-end shoes and dresses. “We want to intrigue and challenge people, and add a conceptual texture to their lives. I’m offering luxe for the mind, an intellectual indulgence.” All this may sound a little rich, but the list of artists involved is startlingly good. Plans are afoot to sell Louise Bourgeois jewellery, lamps by Parisian installation artist Pierre Huyghe, and pottery by Turner Prize-winner Grayson Parry.”
Canada’s Richest Writing Awards Announced
“The finalists for the Great Annual Literary Awards – the most lucrative night in Canada’s literary awards scene, with $133,000 distributed over nine prizes – were announced yesterday by the Writers’ Trust of Canada.”
A Pop Culture Moment Right Down There With The Rest Of Them
“Whatever it was, the quick glimpse of Janet Jackson’s bare breast during Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show has emerged as a pop-culture moment that will be remembered and debated, perhaps most significantly by the Federal Communications Commission, which quickly announced an investigation into the incident.”
…Because It’s Easier To Get Outraged By A Publicity-Seeking Jackson
Repurcussions are mounting after the Janet Jackson Superbowl incident. “There is a growing consensus that CBS so egregiously abandoned its responsibility as media gatekeeper that it calls into question the entire realm of American broadcasting – from the way network ownership has changed in the last two decades, to the actions of the federal agency set up 70 years ago to ensure that it operated in the public interest.”