“Spanish concert pianist Laia Martin is on trial and could face more than seven years in jail after a neighbor complained her practicing caused psychological damage.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Barry Humphries’s Post-Dame Edna Gig: Adelaide Cabaret Festival
The character comedian/author/painter is expected to make use of his countless international contacts in his role as Artistic Director of one of the world’s largest cabaret events. Humphries has already begun planning the 2015 Festival, which will be his first.
Barry Humphries Beyond Dame Edna
A retrospective look not only at the surprising impact of the Melbourne-housewife-turned-theatrical-megastar whom Humphries originally based on his own mother, but also at such other Humphries characters as the appalling Sir Les Patterson (the shame of Australia’s foreign service) and the genteel old dinosaur Sandy Stone.
Now Germans (Some Of Them) Are Getting All Verklemmt About Denglisch
“With terms like ‘flashmob’ and the newly adopted ‘shitstorm’ the German language society Verein Deutsche Sprache criticized the German language bible for diluting the language and incorporating too many Anglicisms.”
Producers Want To Crowdfund West End Wind In The Willows
“You wouldn’t lend him your car, but would Toad be worth investing money in? The producers of a planned new musical of The Wind in the Willows certainly hope so as they unveil a crowdfunding scheme that is something of a West End first.”
The Most Expensive Artwork Ever Sold At Auction Is Now –
Three Studies of Lucian Freud at $142.4 million. The sale, at Christie’s New York, was part of the most lucrative art auction ever ($691.5 million).
Witness In Bolshoi Ballet Acid Trial Says He Was Threatened By Police
“Batyr Annadurdiyev, a dancer at the Bolshoi who spent the night of the attack with the main suspect, said he was subjected to intense psychological pressure by police and did not even read the eventual testimony he signed, some of which he retracted during the court session.”
Young American Dancer Accuses Bolshoi Staffers Of Extortion
“American ballet dancer Joy Womack claimed during an interview with Russian daily Izvestia that employees of the world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet attempted to extort $10,000 from her for a chance to perform on stage.”
The Simple Answers To The Questions That Get Asked About Every New Technology
That’s the title of a recent installment of Randall Munroe’s Web comic XKCD. The single panel is pithy and witty, but – argues Robinson Meyer – the answers are probably too “simple.”
Post-Gay? No, Two Boys Is Pre-Gay
J. Bryan Lowder: “I’m interested in how impressively and arrestingly [the new Nico Muhly opera] illuminates the psychic space where [labels like ‘gay’] honestly don’t (quite yet) apply. … It’s all the stuff that is retroactively explained by ‘gay’ once you’re out, but is something else while you still don’t quite realize that you’re in.”