“Jesus, or Isa, as he is known in Arabic, is deemed by Islam to be a Muslim prophet rather than the Son of God, or God incarnate. He is referred to by name in as many as 25 different verses of the Quran and six times with the title of ‘Messiah’.” Crucially, Jesus is referred to “as the ‘Word’ and the ‘Spirit’ of God. No other prophet in the Quran, not even Muhammad, is given this particular honour.”
Tag: 12.10.09
Even When Their Movies Get Nominated, Asian Actors Don’t
“This lack of recognition for ethnic actors is especially notable in light of Hollywood’s growing interest in non-Western narratives, as well as the kudos breakthrough that African-American thesps have experienced this decade. … But while Hollywood may have largely atoned for Mammy and Stepin Fetchit, the legacy of Long Duk Dong and Mr. Yunioshi has yet to be counterbalanced.”
Watch Music Evolve Scientifically Before Your Eyes
“Bioinformaticist Bob MacCallum and evolutionary biologist Armand Leroi of Imperial College London have devised a way to watch music evolve right before their eyes – and in doing so study the cultural analogue of biological evolution, also known as memetics.”
New York City Ballet In Two Places At Once
“Forty of the company’s 93 dancers – including 20 of its 30 principals – are onstage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, giving seven performances of two mixed bills. Meanwhile, their colleagues are dancing more traditional December fare back at home at Lincoln Center” – Balanchine’s Nutcracker, of course.
British Equity Warns Of Regional Theatre ‘Collapse’
“Equity has raised concerns about the state of regional theatre, claiming that the scale of in-house production in repertory houses across the UK has fallen, despite increased public investment.”
Sylvie Guillem On Being ‘Mademoiselle Non’
“I’ve always said that my luck is that I never dreamt of being a ballerina, … [and] the only thing that drives me is the pleasure on stage, and what I could do there, what kind of experience I can have there and what I could feel. So if people were trying to make me do things that I wasn’t really happy to do, then there was no way I was going to do it. … I’m not going to waste my time.”
Why Daniel Day Lewis Always Stays In Character On Set
“If you go to inordinate length to explore and discover and bring a world to life, it makes better sense to stay in that world rather than jump in and out of it, which I find exhausting and difficult. That way there isn’t the sense of rupture every time the camera stops; every time you become aware of the cables and the anoraks and hear the sound of the walkie-talkies.”
Nielsen Sells Trade Mags Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, BackStage
“After months of speculation about their future, entertainment industry trade newspaper The Hollywood Reporter, music industry paper Billboard and six other publications owned by Nielsen Business Media have been sold.”
Paramount Plans Division For ‘Micro-Budget’ Movies
“Fresh off its stunning Paranormal Activity success – a $15,000 thriller that has grossed more than $107 million in its domestic release with little paid advertising – Paramount Pictures is set to launch a new production business for movies budgeted at less than $100,000.”
Show Boat, The Dinghy
“In addition to replicating a riverboat, Show Boat usually requires a cast of about 50 and an orchestra of about 28. As a result only about a half-dozen theater companies tackled the show in 2008 in the United States.” In the frugal spirit of 2009, Northern Virginia’s Signature Theater has reconfigured the show for a cast of 24 and an orchestra of 15.