More Than $4.5 Million Disappeared From The Malaysian Government … To Fund ‘Dumb And Dumber To’?

Well, some of it, at least. Some may also have been used to finance – this is real, people – The Wolf of Wall Street. “Now, the US government is looking to claw some of that money back—and, in a bizarre turn of events—wants Hollywood to fork over millions in assets the DOJ says were purchased with dirty money.”

Looks Like Car Hitler And Car Stalin Existed In Pixar’s ‘Cars’ Universe

The theory runs: “The Cars-verse includes a World War II–era Jeep named Sarge, who explicitly references events like the Battle of the Bulge. In the direct-to-DVD film Planes (made by Disney but not Pixar), there is an actual WWII flashback in which the plane Skipper recalls losing his entire squadron in the Pacific Theater. Assuming that Car WWII occurred, and that it contains the same contours as the actual WWII, we can assume that there were Car Axis powers, and thus a Car Hitler.”

What Is Going On With The Met’s ‘Tosca’?

Soprano Kristine Opolais, who was supposed to play the title role, has now withdrawn, a few months after star tenor Jonas Kaufmann withdrew. The show “is being closely watched in the opera world. Early in his tenure Mr. Gelb replaced an opulent, beloved old production by Franco Zeffirelli with a starker, more sexually charged one by Luc Bondy, alienating large swaths of the audience. So there is a lot riding on the new staging.”

Translating Jokes When There Are Simply No Words

Translator Jessica Cohen, who along with author David Grossman just won the Man Booker International Prize for A Horse Walks Into a Bar: “Obviously if you have to explain something, it’s not funny. There were some cases like that where I managed to come up with a kind of equivalent. Some things we just had to drop.”

Now Many Theatres Bearing The Name ‘Shakespeare’ Are Getting Death Threats

Well, people are still mad they didn’t get to play Mercutio in their high school production of Romeo and Juliet … but seriously, what? “For the summer festivals — often leafy affairs for families, picnics, and a bit of Shakespeare under the stars — the venting has been a jarring reminder of the country’s political divisions. And while company directors say that Shakespeare, whose works are wildly adaptable to a variety of social contexts, is no stranger to controversy, the current maelstrom has taken their breath away.”