Category: people

“When you think of European modernist cinema, the cinema that changed the way we think of movies, that inspired the glories of American cinema of the 1970s and cinema around the world, it’s astonishing how many of those films were written by Tonino Guerra.”

“UCLA professor Robert Israel has often been called upon to help instill sorrow, tension and dread in opera-goers and theater and dance audiences.” At Johns Hopkins, he’s designing for children. “Now comes his cow who jumped over the moon — and other fanciful, brightly colored works. Hanging in the atrium of the children’s wing is Israel’s 22-foot-tall, red and pink ostrich consisting of fiberglass balloon shapes.”

“During a five-decade career, Grosbard was known for choosing his projects carefully, which resulted in a relatively small but notable body of work consisting of about eight plays and seven movies.”

“Given the types of people they were, they never would have chosen each other as friends.” “They would literally argue about everything – from the lineup of movies to the graphics to who would talk first.” “Roger now says, ‘We fought like cats and dogs, but we always loved each other.’ I think the real story is that they grew to like each other, but they always fought like cats and dogs.”

“The dozen or so letters and scraps of free-written scrawl were from Conan Doyle and Houdini’s brief but spectacular relationship, one that was founded on and destroyed by a shared interest in the possibility of contacting people in the afterlife. … Their missives are debates over the nature of Spiritualism, examining the ways that psychics could be snookering their audiences.”

“When Edith Wharton – then Edith Jones – was a little girl, her favorite game was called ‘making up.’ ‘Making up’ involved pacing around with an open book and (before she could read) inventing and then later half reading, half inventing stories about real people, narratives that she would chant very loud and very fast.”

“When Henry Steel Olcott came to Sri Lanka [from the US] in the late 19th century, his goal was simply to learn more about the Eastern religions he so admired. But somehow, this Presbyterian-born Spiritualist ended up becoming a Buddhist himself and initiating a revival that would sweep throughout Sri Lanka and the entire Buddhist world.”

Costner is battling Peggy Detmers, an artist who was commissioned by the Hollywood star to create 17 bronze sculptures depicting buffalo and Native Americans. The sculptures were originally intended to be displayed at Costner’s planned South Dakota resort called the Dunbar, named after his character in the Oscar-winning 1990 movie “Dances With Wolves.”

“German composer and director Heiner Goebbels has won the 2.5 million kroner ($430,000) International Ibsen Award for his contribution to theatre. … He was hailed by the jury as ‘one of the great creative personalities of today’ and singled out for particular praise for his innovative use of music.”

“Postmodern eye shadow, anyone? Tomato-soup blush? A new line of cosmetics is being launched that will bear the name of Andy Warhol. … The new collection of makeup will be developed by Nars Cosmetics, under license from the Andy Warhol Foundation.”