More than just one of the most influential composers of the 20th century, Olivier Messaien was a devoted ornithology freak and fan of birdsong. “From the mid-century until his death in 1992, the fruits of his bird song research filled Messiaen’s compositions, sometimes unadorned, more often stylized to suit his expressive needs.”
Category: people
The Incomparable Mr. Brown
Alison Jackson is a UK artist whose photos and films are known for poking fun at celebrities and powerful personages of all kinds, often using lookalike stand-ins for her targets. But Ms. Jackson has run into a problem: it seems that in all the UK, there isn’t anyone who looks, sounds, and acts like Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
German Newspaper Attacks Daniel Barenboim
Die Welt,” the most conservative of Germany’s three national daily newspapers, might almost have borne the motto “Get Barenboim.”
Writer JG Ballard Writes His Life
After being diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2006, he sat down at his electric typewriter – “The computer age came too late for me” – and rapidly wrote his autobiography.
Bobby Fischer, Lost Genius
“What are we to make of this lost man, so extraordinary and so flawed? Fischer joins a roster of strange, gifted and profoundly isolated geniuses — the inventor and entrepreneur Howard Hughes, the financier Hetty Green, the violinist Jascha Heifetz — who were scarcely human at all on any emotional level, who were celebrated throughout their lives when they might have been helped.”
The Man Who’s Changing The Way We Drink Wine
Tim Hanni’s “maverick approach is transforming the way that many Americans drink wine. Instead, he has developed new systems that help customers choose wines based on factors like how they take their coffee and cocktails — and how many taste buds they have.”
How The Phone Salesman Became A Global Singing Star
“Reportedly £30,000 in debt after his illness, it could be argued that Paul Potts’ appearance on Britain’s Got Talent could not have come at a more opportune moment, as he acknowledged on winning. Fast forward seven months and Potts has not only topped the album charts but performed all around the world. From Mexico to New York, Canada to Portugal and Amsterdam to Helsinki, he has wowed audiences.”
Stephen Colbert Gets His Portrait In The Smithsonian
“His portrait was hung Wednesday at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington for a six-week showing in what the museum considers an “appropriate place” _ right between the bathrooms near the “America’s Presidents” exhibit. Museum officials stress it’s only temporary.”
Leif’s Year?
Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes is one of those musicians who is so famous in his home country that he can barely walk the streets, but still virtually unknown in many other corners of the music world. But this could be the year that he breaks into the pantheon of top-tier soloists worldwide.
The Woman Related To Mona Lisa
“Not that there’s much of a resemblance. Natalia Giucciardini Strozzi says her wide and often exuberant smile has never been mistaken for the Mona Lisa’s enigmatic expression. ‘I don’t have her smile at all. But around the eyes, people have said there’s a resemblance’.”