Category: people

The invasive and non-stop nature of online social networks puts too much exposure on stars, while at the same time turning regular people into instant celebrities, Deneuve said. “To be a star, that requires glamour and secrecy,” she said, speaking in French.

Always notorious for cancelling, the diva missed a hearing to ratify the plea deal that would allow her to avoid jail time for defrauding the Spanish government of €500,000 in taxes owed. Her attorney, fed up, dropped her as a client over the weekend. (in English)

“As much as any actor of her generation, Ms. Wilson was the epitome of the redoubtable trouper: always working; good in almost any role; roundly respected by her peers; yet never rising to the level of star.” Her best-known roles were the mother of Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) in The Graduate and Roz the office snitch in 9 to 5.

“I’m saying quite honestly what I’m usually thinking about … I was thinking it might be something like the Agora of Athens in ancient Greece, where everyone came together and anyone could put up their hand and say whatever they wanted to say.”

“I never could have imagined that my career would involve sitting beside sloths and snakes on a late-night TV couch.’ “Jungle” Jack Hanna writes about the baby hippo he brought to his first appearance on Dave’s show, the camels that took out all the ceiling panels, the hyena that drank from Dave’s mug, the armadillos that mated on his desk, and the beaver that bit him on set. (includes video clips)

“She’s been fearless in proclaiming her Jewishness, even though she now lives in a country where anti-Semitism is terrifyingly on the rise. I ask if Portman feels nervous about being Jewish in Paris. ‘Yes,’ she says, ‘but I’d feel nervous being a black man in this country. I’d feel nervous being a Muslim in many places.'”

“Paul Schimmel, a close friend of the artist and the former chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art who had organized Burden’s first retrospective exhibition in 1988, said the cause was malignant melanoma. Burden had been diagnosed with the illness 18 months ago, Schimmel said, but kept the information private.”

“I have a hefty streak of indifference to things but I was chuffed to be asked. It’s special, a big deal internationally and so glamorous to be in Venice.”

“A German forger who conned the art world out of millions of dollars is holding his first exhibition since becoming a free man.”

“In Chu’s view, nerd-dom has a toxic, intolerant fringe, one that has gone unchecked in large part because nerds are awful at policing their own subculture, especially online. In an era when the nerds are increasingly ascendant, Chu wants to make nerd culture better — and to stop more of his fellow nerds from getting drawn into the worst of it.”