“The judges can hardly have been surprised by a YouTube acceptance speech glinting with ill grace, after awarding the Wingate Jewish Quarterly prize to Shalom Auslander for Hope: A Tragedy. Anything milder wouldn’t really have been in keeping with the author.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
New York, Melting Pot Of Comedy From All Over The World
Comedians from Africa in the Bronx, from China or India in Queens, from Russia or the Arab world in Brooklyn – “In a city where a priest, an imam and a rabbi really could walk into a bar on any given day – along with just about anyone from around the globe – what different cultures laugh at is as diverse as the city itself.”
Three Arrested In Bolshoi Acid Attack, Including Leading Dancer
Investigators accuse Pavel Dmitrichenko, a principal dancer at the Bolshoi, of hiring two men to injure Bolshoi Ballet artistic director Sergei Filin with sulfuric acid. Police have also detained the alleged attacker and the driver in the incident and say that one of the men has confessed.
Locked-Out St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Cancels Yet More Concerts
“The SPCO musicians rejected management’s latest ‘play and talk’ offer, which would have resumed the concert season while negotiations continued. However, … SPCO president Dobson West held out hope that the lockout, which began Oct. 21, may be coming to an end soon.”
Publisher Pulls Second Jonah Lehrer Book From Shelves
“On Friday night, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which published all three of Mr. Lehrer’s books, confirmed that after an internal fact-checking review of his second book, How We Decide, it would no longer offer it for sale.”
Steven Spielberg To Shoot Kubrick’s Napoleon As Miniseries
“Steven Spielberg is set to bring Stanley Kubrick’s unfilmed screenplay about the life of Napoleon to the small screen.”
Three Playwrights Win $150K In New Yale Prize
“The Windham-Campbell Prizes, a new literary award from Yale University, has announced its inaugural roster of winners. Among the nine recipients are three playwrights — Naomi Wallace, Stephen Adly Guirgis and Tarell Alvin McCraney.
Suspect Detained In Bolshoi Ballet Acid Attack
“Moscow police on Tuesday detained a suspect who allegedly splashed acid in the face of the artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet in an attack that shocked the world artistic community and left the troupe in crisis.”
Israel Ballet’s Founder Fired After 45 Years
“Berta Yampolsky, who founded the Israel Ballet in 1967 and has been its artistic director ever since, told Haaretz she was fired recently by the company’s supervising accountant.”
Painful Layoffs At Indianapolis Museum Of Art
“Twenty-nine museum jobs, or 11 percent of the staff, were eliminated Monday in a cost-cutting move orchestrated by Charles Venable, hired in August to be the museum’s director and CEO. Venable wants the IMA to be less reliant on its endowment, which in recent years has fluctuated in value while accounting for 70 percent of the museum’s operating budget.”