Category: people

“Paik’s career spanned half a century, three continents and several art mediums, ranging through music, theater and found-object art. He once built his own robot. But his chief means of expression was television, which he approached with a winning combination of visionary wildness, technological savvy and high entertainment values. His work could be kitschy, visually dazzling and profound, sometimes all at once, and was often irresistibly funny and high-spirited.”

“Although it was always laced with comedy, her work was also imbued with an abiding sadness, a cleareyed understanding that independence can beget loneliness, that rigorous ideals and raised consciousnesses are not always good company at the dinner table. But she shared her compassion among a wide array of characters, those who settled and those who continued to search.”

Nobel-prize-winning playwright Dario Fo casts his vote in his attempt to be elected mayor of Milan. “The 79-year-old satirist, who has never before held public office, arrived with his actor wife Franca Rame to cast his vote at one of 124 polling stations open across the city. Repeating his campaign slogan: ‘I am not a moderate,’ the centre-left candidate said he was hopeful of winning the primary against three other candidates.”

After getting beat up on Oprah last week, disgraced author James Frey has begun postponing public appearances…

Timothy Rub is taking over as director of the Cleveland Art Museum. “In person, Rub is an imposing figure. Tall and trim, with blue eyes and a full head of sandy hair, he looks like a museum director from central casting. But he’s not stiff or formal. Moments after greeting a visitor recently at the Cincinnati museum, he scooped a clump of dust off the museum floor and swept it into the pocket of his well-cut navy suit. Most striking, however, is Rub’s manner. His speaks in a calm, deliberate way and answers questions in full paragraphs, not sound bites.”

Wasserstein, who had been battling cancer in recent months, died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Lincoln Center Theater spokesman Philip Rinaldi said. Andre Bishop, head of Lincoln Center Theater and a close friend of Wasserstein, said the cause of death was lymphoma.

“Paik completed degrees in music and aesthetics in Japan before pursuing graduate work in philosophy. Some of his experiments were in radio and television, and he is thought to have coined the terms ‘information superhighway’ and ‘the future is now’.”

Daniel Barenboim has been released from the hospital in Berlin. The Staatsoper opera house said Barenboim had been suffering from “a disturbance of his sense of balance,” which doctors were able to treat.

Conductor Daniel Barenboim has been taken to hospital in Berlin after complaining of weakness. The hospitalization occurred less than an hour before Barenboim was scheduled to lead the Berlin State Opera Orchestra in a performance celebrating Mozart’s 250th birthday. His diagnosis has not been made public, but doctors say that his life is not in danger, and he is reported to be resting comfortably.

“Fayard Nicholas, who died Tuesday at 91, and his brother Harold, who died in 2000, put generations of cinematic dance stars to shame, with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Maurice and Gregory Hines and even Mikhail Baryshnikov expressing fascination and envy.”