Almost three months before its official publication date, illegal copies of the latest Harry Potter installment translated into Chinese have gone on sale in Beijing. “Impatient Chinese fans also have begun posting their own translations online. One reader was so upset about the ending he wrote his own and posted it on a university Web site.”
Tag: 08.01.05
Has The Bolshoi Regained Its Glory?
The Bolshoi comes to New York. Has the company regained its former glory? “To judge from this engagement, the Bolshoi has hardly lost it but has a way to go to regain it fully. Whatever the company’s repertory of brand-new ballets may be, or may become, could not be assessed. The four ballets seen here amounted to four different ways of looking at the past.”
Repairing James Brown
A new biography of James Brown seeks to repair the singer’s damaged reputation, earned over a tough decade. “The true fan will say, “Skip the books and listen to the music.” Good advice, since no amount of description can capture the essence of James Brown. But given the state of popular music these days, listening is not a simple proposition. To a large degree, what one hears will depend on one’s background, age, and cultural outlook.”