American writer sues JK Rowling saying that Rowling stole ideas for “Harry Potter” from her 1984 book. – BBC
Tag: 03.17.00
DEADHEAD DEITY
Nine US TV stations have banned a new NBC cartoon called “God, the Devil and Bob,” in order to avoid provoking religious groups. The main concern seems to be that God bears too close a resemblance to Jerry Garcia, late singer of the Grateful Dead. “God wears dark glasses and has the amiable countenance and demeanor of Garcia (who for a sizeable number of his fans, the Deadheads, was God anyway).” – The Age (Melbourne) (The Guardian) 03/17/00
CASE OF THE MISSING OSCARS
First the Academy’s ballots went missing. Now a shipment of Oscar statuettes was stolen off a shipping dock. – Variety 03/17/00
GROUNDED
- Plan to send Russian actor to the Mir Space Station to shoot a movie has been iced for the time being for lack of funds. – BBC 03/17/00
FROM BEHIND THE FAMOUS FATWA
Salman Rushdie is still officially under a death threat. But, “his conduct, however, suggests that he’s trying to play two sides of the most famous death threat in the history of English letters. On the one hand, the literary apparatus that built Rushdie’s fame does not hesitate to stage rock-star events at which audiences are all but frisked before hearing the endangered master read. On the other, the man himself is finding that it’s tough to bask in the limelight from behind a scrum of bodyguards.” – Feed
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
Artistic partnerships are a mysterious alchemy. When they work, they produce art that exceeds either partner’s solo efforts. How they work seems to follow no recipe. – Feed
BOLSHOI EMERGENCY
The famed theater is in such disrepair that experts want to shut it down. Despairing that the state won’t come through in time with needed funds to repair the long neglected building, theater managers have sent out an SOS to the world. – The Guardian
TOO MANY MFA’s
Are there too many artists with university degrees? “We can no longer justify preparing more and more graduates to compete more stylishly for fewer and fewer jobs inside the academic pyramid. But, the important question remains: What do we do instead? Do something, is the obvious answer. But what?” – New Art Examiner