“In 2011, Jean-Baptiste Michel and multiple co-authors published an article in Science, helpfully if not colorfully titled “Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books,” which announced that more than five million books had been digitized, thus giving us a new tool by which to identify cultural trends and to quantify changes over time.”
Category: people
The Kennedy Honors’ Emotional Night
“This year, the Kennedy Center honored actress Shirley MacLaine, opera singer Martina Arroyo, musician Carlos Santana — who beamed while sitting next to first lady Michelle Obama — and two piano men: Herbie Hancock and Billy Joel. If the honorees had performed together, it would have been a dream collaboration — but as is the 36-year custom, they sat, smiled and watched others pay tribute to lives lived on stages and screens.”
Nadine Gordimer Remembers Nelson Mandela
The Nobel laureate reveals the terrible secret he told her after he was released from prison, recalls the joy of seeing crowds cheering him in Oslo after he won the Nobel Peace Prize, and recounts one telling instance she witnessed of his extraordinary capacity for forgiveness.
Nelson Mandela And War And Peace
The lessons Madiba learned from Tolstoy’s General Kutuzov, “whom everyone at the Russian court underestimated.”
Alice Munro And The Vindication Of The Short Story
“Maybe I write stories that people get very involved in, maybe it is the complexity and the lives presented in them. I hope they are a good read. I hope they move people.”
Why Did James Franco Make A ‘Pornographic Arthouse Film’?
“He is keen to rebel against the beige treatment of sex in mainstream cinema: the soft stroking of hairless limbs, the passionate kiss that cuts to a dishevelled duvet, the straight-sex, softcore-only policies.”
Edouard Molinaro, 85, Director Of The Original ‘La Cage Aux Folles’
“Among Molinaro’s numerous other films were Oscar (1967) with [Louis] de Funes and My Uncle Benjamin (1969), which starred the Belgian singer and songwriter Jacques Brel.”
Actor Christopher Evan Welch, 48
“Recognizable to many by his unruly mop of brown hair, … [Welch was] an in-demand character actor who appeared in everything from Shakespeare to The Sopranos, including films by Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg and Charlie Kaufman.”
Egypt’s “People’s Poet”, Ahmad Fouad Negm, Dead At 84
“[He] was one of Egypt’s best colloquial Arabic poets of the second half of the twentieth century, and was known [as] … one of the main voices of opposition since 1967, when he wrote his famous poems on the Six Day War. His fiery words expressed Egyptians’ and Arabs’ anger towards milestone events such as the 1967 defeat against Israel and the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.”
See Nelson Mandela’s Only Feature Film Performance
No, documentaries don’t count. He appeared in one feature film (and you’ve probably heard of it). Can you guess? Or remember?