“For nearly a decade, from the mid-’90s until the early 2000s, Downey was the biggest disaster in Hollywood – excruciating to watch because he had so much potential on screen and was such a mess in life. … Now Downey is the biggest film star on Earth. Last year, he earned $50 million just for his appearance in The Avengers – and he isn’t shy about admitting that the size of the paycheck is a major motivation.”
Tag: 05.02.13
Original Oklahoma! Cast Member, 70 Years On, Is Now Choreographing The Piece
“Gemze de Lappe first danced in Oklahoma! in 1943 as a member of the Broadway hit’s first national touring company. Seventy years later, at age 91, she’s still with it – choreographing a production of the musical at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.”
When Nobody Liked Kierkegaard
“His contemporaries saw him as a troublesome, quarrelsome figure. … The satirical weekly Corsair published nasty caricatures of him and mocked his writing and pseudonymous disguises. He was gossiped about when he broke his engagement to the 18-year-old Regine Olsen, and was feared by his targets, among them, Hans Christian Andersen.”
The Secret Of Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me‘s Success
Peter Sagal: “There was a temptation, when we first started doing the show … it was very competitive, and somewhat serious. … And it was unpleasant! We made a really conscious decision not to give a flying fig if the quiz was serious or if you won anything. I really do trace the success of our show to that decision: Nobody cares who wins or loses.”
Evolutionary Science Takes On Self-Deception
“Why do we lie to ourselves? That’s what evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers has spent 30 years trying to figure out.” He’s finally settled on an explanation – one that’s perhaps a bit depressing.
Deanna Durbin, 91, Depression-Era Movie Star
“The singing starlet with the bubbly personality and the jewel-tone voice whose enormously popular movies were widely credited with saving Universal Pictures from bankruptcy during the Depression,” Durbin peaked in popularity “by her late teens and by her mid-20s [she] had left Hollywood forever, made wealthy by her relatively brief career.”
How The Old Vic Is Incubating New Theatre
Old Vic New Voices director Steve Winter writes about the simple but crucial ways – including age-blind grants and a focus on process rather than outcome – his programme helps theatre artists and projects to develop.
New $30M Art Museum For UCal-Davis
“The new Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis will be architecturally notable for a 50,000-square-foot steel canopy that seemingly floats atop and beyond a series of interconnected interior and exterior spaces. … The design firm SO-IL, based in New York, provided the winning look.”
Fame Is Not Fleeting, As It Turns Out
“Newly published research concludes that, contrary to Warhol’s prediction, genuine celebrity status does not disappear as quickly as it appeared. Once you become famous, you tend to stay famous.”
What’s The Best Way To Argue With An Extremist? Get Him To Argue With Himself
“When people anywhere on the political spectrum hold extreme policy opinions, merely asking them to explain how the policies work leads them to moderate their views. That, at least, is the finding of [an] interesting new study, which finds that extremism is fueled by a lack of understanding, or perhaps a failure to think through just how things work in the real world.”