“A Toronto television distributor is alleging the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. intentionally withheld plans to sell a vast portion of the rights to its TV catalogue to a foreign buyer, even though it had a clear opportunity to let domestic companies in on the process.”
Author: sbergman
Staging An Act Of Heroism
Back in 1999, a group of high school students in Kansas discovered a reference to a little-known Polish woman who supposedly rescued 2,500 Jews from the Nazi regime during World War II. Stunned by their discovery, they dug for more information and wrote a short play about the woman, and figured that would be the end of it. Instead, the play has seen more than 200 performances worldwide, and the rescuer, freed from obscurity, has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Staring Back
Double amputees tend to draw no small number of stares, awkward questions, and rude reactions. One legless artist decided to turn the tables by snapping photographs of those who just couldn’t stop staring at him, and creating a gallery of our collective human fascination with the disabled.
Bleak Dramas Lead Oscar Nominations
“No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood led the nominees for the 80th Academy Awards, with eight nominations each. Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney, picked up nominations in several major categories,” and indie breakout hit Juno garnered a Best Picture nod as well as nominations for Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay.
Music For (And Of) The Birds
More than just one of the most influential composers of the 20th century, Olivier Messaien was a devoted ornithology freak and fan of birdsong. “From the mid-century until his death in 1992, the fruits of his bird song research filled Messiaen’s compositions, sometimes unadorned, more often stylized to suit his expressive needs.”
The Incomparable Mr. Brown
Alison Jackson is a UK artist whose photos and films are known for poking fun at celebrities and powerful personages of all kinds, often using lookalike stand-ins for her targets. But Ms. Jackson has run into a problem: it seems that in all the UK, there isn’t anyone who looks, sounds, and acts like Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Amazon’s “Top Reviewers” Attracting Attention
Those “customer reviews” you can find on Amazon may seem like a populist answer to the ivory tower of literary criticism, but increasingly, the more prolific “voices of the people” may not be as independent and disconnected from the machinations of the publishing world as they appear.
Bush To Get Stoned
As if President Bush didn’t have enough fiascoes to worry about, director Oliver Stone has announced that he plans to make his next film about the deeply unpopular president. “The film would include a look at the president’s ‘belief that God personally chose him to be president of the United States and his coming into his own with the stunning, pre-emptive attack on Iraq’, he added.”
Taking Stock Of The First Internet Generation
“What does it mean to be part of the first generation coming of age steeped in a virtual world seemingly outside parental control?” A new documentary finds some alarming answers, and some reassuring truths.
Frost Notebooks Badly Transcribed, Critics Say
“A recently published compendium of [Robert Frost’s] personal notebooks is coming under attack from two critics who say that the editor of the volume, Robert Faggen, mistranscribed hundreds, if not thousands, of Frost’s words.”