“For years, Canadians have been wielding pens to draw Spock’s pointy Vulcan ears, sharp eyebrows and signature bowl haircut on the fiver’s image of Laurier. Contrary to what many believe, the Bank of Canada said Monday it’s not illegal to deface or even mutilate banknotes, although there are laws that prohibit reproducing both sides of a current bill electronically.”
Category: people
The Great Pianist Who Keeled Over Dead Performing In Carnegie Hall
“In the 1950s world of classical music, Simon Barere was mentioned in the same breath as other superpianists of the era – Georgy Cziffra, Ignatz Friedman, Vladimir Horowitz and Josef Lhevinne. But his most ardent admirers say he was actually in a class by himself. Barere had given frequent solo recitals, sometimes twice a year, at Carnegie Hall to packed houses, with such musical giants as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Leopold Godowsky and Vladimir Horowitz often in the attendance.”
Director Luca Ronconi, 81, “One Of The Great Theatrical Innovators Of The 20th Century”
“[His] most revolutionary production, and the one which brought him international renown, was in 1969, a stage adaptation of Ariosto’s mammoth epic poem Orlando Furioso.”
Zoë Wanamaker: “I Had A Lot To Live Up To”
“As she prepares to play poet Stevie Smith, Zoë Wanamaker talks to Lyn Gardner about acting through grief, finding her voice – and why she has never performed in the theatre that bears her father’s name.”
Maggie Smith Will Do No More Theatre – “It’s So Exhausting”
“I just don’t think I could cope with it. Almost every Wednesday and Saturday I wake up relieved it’s not a matinee.. … It’s hard enough doing film and television, but at least you know it’s not day, after day, after day. I just found it so exhausting.” (By the way, what she actually said about Downton Abbey is less definitive than you think.)
A Day With Machiavelli In Exile
Johns Hopkins classicist Christopher Celenza looks at a letter Machiavelli wrote to a close friend describing his daily life in the country, not long after he was banned from Florence, during the period in which he wrote the first part of The Prince.
Yasar Kemal, Turkey’s Master Novelist And Fierce Critic, Has Died
“Mr. Kemal’s home region — Cukurova in southern Anatolia, known in antiquity as Cilicia — is the backdrop for his sweeping tales of rapacious landlords, callous bureaucrats and peasant heroes who fight injustice. He wrote more than two dozen books, using a colorful narrative style that appealed to a broad audience, fiercely criticizing injustice and creating noble outlaws who became permanent parts of Turkey’s cultural landscape.”
Bob Hope Captured America, But His Legacy Is Sinking Fast
“These days few readers may know or remember just how big a deal Hope was in his prime. … Hope was both ‘the most popular’ and ‘the most important’ entertainer of the twentieth century, ‘the only one who achieved success—often No. 1-rated success—in every major genre of mass entertainment in the modern era: vaudeville, Broadway, movies, radio, television, popular song, and live concerts.'”
How Did This ‘Jeopardy’ Winner Become A Cultural Critic And An ‘Ombudsman’ To Nerds?
After his win streak, Arthur Chu called publicists and PR firms “and said straight up, ‘Hey, do you work with viral celebrities?’ Then I’d ask, ‘If you were me, how would you hang on to the fame, how would you monetize it?'”
Leonard Nimoy, 83, Who Was Star Trek’s Spock And So, So Much More
“His artistic pursuits — poetry, photography and music in addition to acting — ranged far beyond the United Federation of Planets, but it was as Mr. Spock that Mr. Nimoy became a folk hero, bringing to life one of the most indelible characters of the last half century: a cerebral, unflappable, pointy-eared Vulcan with a signature salute and blessing: ‘Live long and prosper’ (from the Vulcan ‘Dif-tor heh smusma’).”