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Plain Beauty – From Book To Screen

Why do filmmakers cast pretty women for movies of great novels? “Books link readers directly to the interior lives of their heroines, but the camera needs the beauty out on the surface, where the audience can fall in love with it faster. In novels, other characters are wooed by wonderful minds, and infer beauty from what’s within. On film, a plain face has to work so much harder to persuade people. It’s so much easier to start with the lovely, but it loses so much. The great women novelists of the 19th century had no great interest in the great looking; among the first to trade on their brains rather than their appearance, they created characters who also had greater interior than exterior worth.”

LA Times: Getty Has A Problem

The LA Times weighs in on matters Getty. “The Getty has long held an exalted place in the art world, with its diverse collections, incomparable setting and unmatched wealth. But these most recent disclosures show the foundation to be exceptional in an entirely different way. They bring back unpleasant memories of the tales of corporate greed earlier this decade, when it seemed that every scandal could be traced to an ‘imperial CEO’ and his all-too-compliant board.”

The Further Adventures Of Peter Pan (A Stronger Wendy, and Peter Becomes Hook?)

Geraldine McCaughrean, who won in a worldwide competition to write a sequel to Peter Pan has revealed a few details of her plans. “McCaughrean says she has rewritten the final pages of Peter Pan to help transport readers back to Neverland, to a setting 25 years after the boy who never grew up apparently vanquished his pirate foe. She hints that the character of Wendy will be a stronger, more modern woman, while – in a remarkable twist – the immortal Peter may be transformed into his dastardly nemesis, Captain Hook. While some aficionados may be shocked by the revelations, experts are excited and insist McCaughrean is doing justice to Barrie’s modern interests in issues of gender and humanity’s struggle with inner demons.”

A Short Story Booker?

The UK’s National Short Story Prize is the world’s richest. “In what organisers hope will one day grow to the size and prominence of the Booker Prize, the competition aims to honour the country’s finest writers of short stories so is only open to authors with a previous record of publication who are either UK nationals or residents.”

Has The iPod Peaked?

Okay, so Apple rules music downloads and players. “Today, Apple commands 80 percent of the MP3 player market and 75 percent of online music sales. But even as analysts predict another massive holiday sales season for the company this year, many believe Apple’s reign will last only another 12-18 months before the playing field levels out.”

Hunter S. Blasts Off

The remains of Hunter S. Thompson set off on their space ride. “The counterculture author killed himself six months ago at his home near Aspen. His ashes, intermingled with fireworks, were fired out of the tower Saturday evening in front of a star-studded crowd at his Owl Farm compound.”

Oxford To Ban Prodigies?

Oxford University is considering banning child prodigies from the school and declaring a minimum age of 17 for admittance. “Despite an almost perennial flurry of headlines on children barely in their teens being offered places, the university is considering an unprecedented blanket rule on minimum ages for undergraduates.”

Lists, Lists, And More Damn Lists!

Rachel Cooke hates the pointless exercise of a poll to pick the “best” art in Britain. “I am thoroughly sick of lists, but this one takes the biscuit, being neither a true reflection of public taste nor the result of hours of debate by a committee of learned experts. What happened was this: the public voted, then their choices were whittled down by a ‘panel’ consisting of art critic Martin Gayford, society portraitist Jonathan Yeo, and dancer Deborah Bull.”