“Police [in Norway] believe they have discovered a new link between the brutal raid on the Norwegian Cash Service (NOKAS) office in Stavanger, which resulted in the shooting death of a police officer, and the armed theft of two paintings by Edvard Munch… One of the weapons used during the commando-style NOKAS robbery on April 5, 2004 and the pistol used in the Munch robbery, likely stem from the same break-in… in January 2004.”
Tag: 02.27.06
Grover’s Corners Meets Rorem’s Arias
“Aaron Copland wanted to make it an opera. So did Leonard Bernstein. But Thornton Wilder, the author of Our Town, turned both composers down. Now, 68 years after it was written and 30 years after Wilder’s death, the play has made it to the opera stage. Our Town, with music by Ned Rorem and a libretto by J. D. McClatchy, received its premiere [in Bloomington, Indiana] on Friday evening.”
What Shakespeare Looked Like? Who Cares?
“Why all the fuss about Professor Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel’s “discovery” that the Davenant bust in the Garrick club matches the Darmstadt death mask in Germany and must, therefore, be a true representation of Shakespeare’s physiognomy? Since the provenance of both artefacts depends on the size of a growth on Sheakespeare’s forehead, some people will argue that the revelation ought to be of interest only to a pathologist. And they would be right. What Shakespeare looked like is of no consequence. All that matters is the text and how the author intended it to be interpreted.”
Billy Elliot Comes Up Big At Olivier Awards
“The stage version of Billy Elliot has won four prizes at the Laurence Olivier Awards, including one shared between three of its young stars.”
Digitally Inserted Commercials?
“Blending brand names and products into television shows, as opposed to traditional ads that run during commercial breaks, has gained greater currency in recent years as the industry faces the rising popularity of TiVo and other devices that let viewers skip commercials.
But some industry experts suggest that product placement — digital or otherwise — has limited value in delivering a commercial message. Hollywood producers and writers also have raised concerns about their work being turned into virtual infomercials, and consumer activists have fretted about blurring the line between entertainment content and advertising.”
Europe’s Islam On Screen
Islam is changing Europe. And filmmakers are starting to explore how. “With dramas, comedies and documentaries, directors are seeking to go beyond head scarves and aperitifs to prick a European conscience increasingly insecure about multiculturalism. And it is no small irony that these filmmakers are exploring the effect of Islam at a time when Christian Europe is happily adrift in secularism.”