Nobel literature laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez says being diagnosed with lymphatic cancer last year was an impetus to get him to write his memoirs. “More than a year ago I was put under treatment for three months for lymphoma, and today I am surprised at the enormous stroke of luck this stumbling block has been in my life.” – Dallas Morning News
Tag: 12.11.00
THREAT OF VIOLENCE
The winner of this year’s Governor General’s Award for Fiction apparently wrote of his elaborate plans to slaughter professors at McGill University over a dispute about his thesis. He evidently went so far as to drive to Detroit to purchase weapons for the job. University officials are investigating. – National Post (Canada)
SPOTTING FAKES
A new book has the European auction world in an uproar. “The book, published in France, has attracted attention because of the author’s ability to explain how fake paintings and furniture are produced. Experts say the methods are authentic.” – The Times (UK)
REMBRANDT SALE
Rembrandt’s painting “Portrait of a Lady aged 62,” dated 1632, is to be auctioned this week in London. It is expected to easily beat the previous record sale for a Rembrandt, the £5.5 million for “Portrait of a Bearded Man in Red” in New York two years ago. – London Evening Standard
THEATRE OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS
Some are bemoaning the rise of what one newspaper has called “popcorn theatre” in London’s West End. “That scenario frets about serious fare being shunted aside as London becomes a playground for famous names wanting to refuel their careers. Or, as The Guardian’s Michael Billington called it in a cautionary turn of phrase, “box-office bait for unwary tourists.” – Sydney Morning Herald (AP)
THE CIRQUE IN LONDON
Cirque du Soleil is expected to announce an ambitious plan today for a 2,000-seat circus theatre and a “revolutionary entertainment hotel” as part of a £500-million redevelopment of London’s historic Battersea Power Station. The plan is to create “an international entertainment village” along the Thames River. – The Globe & Mail (Canada)
THEATRE THREAT
Melbourne’s commercial theatre owners are complaining – about the cost of producing, about “subsidised operations at the Arts Centre, gaming-supported shows at Crown casino and the looming distractions of the $400 million Federation Square.” – The Age (Melbourne)
PROFIT? NONPROFIT?
Manhattan Theatre Club is the latest nonprofit producer to venture into Broadway’s commercial turf, with plans to transfer three shows and a takeover of a commercial house in the works. “The debate over what is the proper province of the nonprofit theater vs. the commercial theater long ago was drowned out by the irresistible din of the Broadway box office. It may have been a shotgun wedding between dysfunctional families, but the marriage is a keeper.” – New York Magazine
HILLARY THE PRESERVER
Hillary Clinton is a fitting successor to New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan in more ways than her political acumen. She too is a champion of public architecture, and as First Lady has proven her commitment to preservation. “Our senator-elect may be the second-most-scrutinized human being ever to walk the face of the planet, but few have noticed her longstanding and still-evolving interest and expertise in the built environment.” – New York Magazine
MAKING MUSIC
“While our word processors, spreadsheets, and graphic applications share the same basic conventions as their predecessors from the early nineties, the software employed by actual musicians to create and edit their sounds on the PC has undergone a dramatic transformation. Indeed, today’s audio-production software features some of the most radical interface design anywhere. The funny thing about that transformation, though, is how backward-looking it turns out to be.” – Feed