“The court calls them ‘The Intervenors,’ which sounds as if it could be the name of a performance art collective…. The scrappy group of students, staff, faculty and concerned observers … see themselves as David fighting Goliath – which makes their recent legal intervention the proverbial sling to the forehead.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Lauren Bacall, 89
“[She] was one of the last surviving major stars of the studio system, which flourished from the silent-movie era to the dawn of the television age. … [Her] husky voice and smoldering onscreen chemistry with her husband Humphrey Bogart made her a defining movie star of the 1940s … Decades later [she] won Tony Awards in the Broadway musicals Applause and Woman of the Year.”
These Are The Guys Who Put The White Flags Atop The Brooklyn Bridge
“When the flags appeared, rumors flapped: It was a prank or a grave security breach. But the artists, Mischa Leinkauf and Matthias Wermke, … explained that they only wanted to celebrate ‘the beauty of public space’ and the great American bridge whose German-born engineer, John Roebling, died in 1869 on July 22, the day the white flags appeared.” (They even say the flags were white-on-white stars and stripes.)
Major Ancient Tomb Discovered In Northern Greece
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, visiting the site at Amphiopolis, “said he was confident it would yield an ‘exceptionally important find’ from the early Hellenistic period. The tomb dates to between 325 and 300 BC, which coincides with the time when Alexander the Great died.” (in English)
Violinist Played Instrument During His Own Brain Surgery
In 2010 Minnesota Orchestra associate concertmaster Roger Frisch had a small electrode planted in his brain to stop the tremor that had developed in his hands. But for the neurosurgeons to get the device planted in the right spot, Frisch had to be awake – and to play. Erin Brodwin explains the how and why. (includes operating room video)
Carlos Acosta Plans To Settle In Cuba, Start His Own Dance Company
The Royal Ballet star “told the Communist Party newspaper Granma for a Monday article that he’d like to form a small company along neoclassical and contemporary lines” following his retirement from the ballet stage at the end of the 2015-16 season.
Now Philly’s Fringe Festival Has A Fringe Of Its Own
Fringe/Fringe “was conceived by Joshua McLucas, 21, a Swarthmore College senior who thought the 18-year-old Fringe Festival, and even its little sister, the Neighborhood Fringe, were just too mainstream, too big, and too expensive for his fledgling [redacted] Theater Company.”
China’s “Sex And The City” (Chairman Mao Would Be Horrified)
The Tiny Times film franchise “is a wholesale celebration of conspicuous consumption … a cross between Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada.” The series has greatly irked “those who think individualism and materialism have gone too far in China.” It has also pulled in $200 million so far.
Penguin Defends “Creepy” Cover Of “Charlie And The Chocolate Factory”
“Members of the public reacted angrily when the new edition – part of the Penguin Modern Classics range – was revealed [last] Wednesday. The cover was deemed ‘misleading’ and ‘creepy’. Author Giles Paley-Phillips said it looked ‘more like Lolita‘. But Penguin said it stressed ‘the light and the dark aspects’ of Dahl’s work.”
New $50M Arts Center Coming To San Diego
The La Jolla Music Society, the San Diego area’s leading presenter of touring classical music and dance performers, is building a two-audottoprium venue that will host films, lectures and exhibitions as well as concerts. The grand opening is planned for 2017.