“A new video game for iOS and Android called You Don’t Mess With Putin will see the Russian leader battle the undead led by the mystic Rasputin. … It is still unclear if the Russian president will be battling the zombies with or without his shirt on.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Music Director Quits Scottish Opera After Two Months On The Job
“The company said Frenchman Emmanuel Joel-Hornak had ‘withdrawn’ from his post, amid rumours of behind the scenes rows with Scottish Opera’s New Zealand-born general director Alex Reedijk. But the company provided no explanation of why Mr Joel-Hornak was leaving, when he had handed in his notice and why a swift departure had been agreed.”
Scottish Opera’s Crisis Is About More Than Just A Music Director
“The music director’s post at Scottish Opera is now a poisoned chalice. … What the company needs is a young talent with ideas, ambition and full-time commitment. But Scottish Opera must first communicate an artistic vision, instead of lurching from season to season filling holes in its increasingly scanty calendar.”
Author Cleared Of Defaming ‘The Pianist’ Wladyslaw Szpilman
“A Warsaw court has thrown out a case against the author and publisher of a book that had supposedly defamed the memory of late Polish-Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman.” The book quoted without comment a Holocaust survivor accusing Szpilman of collaborating with the Nazi occupiers.
Mao’s Little Red Book To Be Reissued In China
“It will not be especially little, and the cover will be only partly red. But a new version of the world’s second most published book is due to appear on Chinese shelves, decades after it fell from favour with the end of Maoism. The re-emergence of Quotations from Chairman Mao … comes amid an official revival of the era’s rhetoric.”
When Marc Chagall Painted Jesus Over And Over Again
“Chagall had about a five-year period during the Second World War in which he became utterly obsessed with painting Jesus Christ. … Looking at the paintings, one thing is clear right away. The paintings have little to do with Jesus as we usually see him – the central figure in the Christian Passion narrative. Chagall’s Jesus is a Jewish Jesus through and through.”
What Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia Will Look Like When It’s Finished In 2026
“Confident that work will be completed in time for the centenary of the death of Antoni Gaudí, a computer generated 3-D video depicting how the final landmark will look has been released by the Sagrada Familia Foundation.”
Nielsen And Arbitron Merge To Become King Of All Media Ratings
“Nielsen Holdings announced on Monday that it had completed its $1.26 billion acquisition of the radio ratings company Arbitron, a deal that Nielsen says will allow it to monitor eight hours a day of the public’s media consumption across television, radio and a range of electronic devices.”
Minnesota Orchestra Calls Off Carnegie Hall Concerts, Vanska May Resign
“The first face-to-face talks since January … ended abruptly Monday after management rejected pay proposals put forward by locked-out musicians. Management then announced it would cancel two November concerts by the orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Music Director Osmo Vänskä has told the board that scratching the New York concerts would force him to resign.”
Smithsonian, National Parks Close Due To U.S. Government Shutdown
“With no budget deal reached in Congress by the midnight deadline, workers were set to report to their agencies Tuesday morning for a half-day of shutdown preparations, including posting ‘closed’ signs and securing computers.”