“Whether it’s ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey’ or ‘Jersey Shore,’ the fictional mob reality of ‘The Sopranos’ or the real-folks rock of Bruce Springsteen, if you want real reality, not silly poseurs sneaking into the White House, there’s no better place to find it than New Jersey.”
Tag: 12.10.09
Sacha Baron Cohen Sued Yet Again, This Time By Palestinian
“A shopkeeper from Bethlehem who was branded a terrorist in Sacha Baron Cohen’s film Brüno is seeking $110m (£67.5m) in damages. Ayman Abu Aita is suing Baron Cohen, US talk show host David Letterman and others for libel and slander according to a lawsuit filed in the District of Columbia federal court last week.”
Canada’s National Arts Centre Gets Its Theatre Company Back
“After years of waiting, Peter Hinton has finally got the present he’s longed for under the Christmas tree: A quarter-century after it was disbanded, the National Arts Centre’s resident acting company has been reborn. Comprised of 18 actors from across the country, the NAC’s English Theatre Acting Company takes its first bow Dec. 11 in Ottawa.”
Another Old Master Sales Record: Van Dyck Sells For £8.3M
“The last self-portrait by Anthony van Dyck doubled its estimate to set an artist auction record at Sotheby’s in London as buyers fought for the best work and rejected other paintings.”
Hermitage Buys $4.8 Million Watercolor Collection
“Russia’s State Hermitage Museum last night bought 92 watercolor portraits valued at about 3 million pounds ($4.8 million) from the Paris-based Popoff Collection after the works failed to sell at auction earlier this year.”
Ontario Creates $10M ‘Screen-Based’ Arts Development Fund
The Intellectual Property Development Fund is “a one-year pilot program, retroactive to April 1 of this year, that reimburses Ontario ‘screen-based companies’ for expenses they incur in getting a feature film, TV series, video game, ‘webisode’ or Internet property off the ground.”
Some Good Financial News At Minnesota Orchestra
“The Minnesota Orchestra is over halfway to its $40 million capital-campaign goal and has balanced its annual budget … for the third consecutive year.”
Why Daytime Soap Operas Are Fading Away
“The daytime faithful were still recovering from the recent departure of [72-year-old] Guiding Light when news broke on Tuesday of CBS’s decision to pull the plug on [53-year-old] As the World Turns . … [M]ore people [are] filling the daylight hours with Rachael Ray, Dr. Oz and, of course, Ellen DeGeneres. How can soapy plotlines about missing heiresses and evil twins ever compete with Ellen doing the funky chicken?”