Let’s get something straight, America. Charles Darwin was right. Only 39 percent of you believe that, but his theory of evolution is the basis of modern biological science. Deal with it. A new film about the man can’t get distribution in the U.S. because—this is embarrassing just to type—150 years after “On the Origin of Species,” he’s too controversial in these parts.
A series of silk-screen paintings, made by Andy Warhol and mainly depicting ’70s-era athletes such as Dorothy Hamill and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, has allegedly been stolen from collector Richard L. Weisman’s home on Los Angeles’ Westside.
Somewhere in Afghanistan there’s a statue of Buddha more than 1,000 feet long, according to the ancient journal of 7th century Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang. Dr. Zemaryalai Tarzi, an Afghan archeologist with a sense of adventure, believes the legend.
The Internet has introduced a whole host of new marvels to the world, but as this list compiled by the U.K.’s Telegraph demonstrates, the Web giveth and the Web taketh away. And it has taken away a few things from users’ lives that we might miss (see: “The art of polite disagreement”)—others, not so much (cf. “Sarah Palin”).
What’s up with erstwhile Republican congressional powerhouse Tom DeLay deciding to hoof it on “Dancing With the Stars” afore a national audience? Some of his GOP buds are perplexed by this unorthodox career maneuver, but as DeLay himself points out, politicians tend to love the spotlight.
Oliver Stone made quite a dramatic entrance at the Venice Film Festival on Monday for the premiere of his documentary, “South of the Border”—the director was joined on the red carpet by none other than Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, the subject of his film.
Annie Leibovitz may be the most famous portrait photographer in the world. According to one angry Italian, she’s also a thief. Paolo Pizzetti is suing Leibovitz for allegedly using his photos in a calendar without permission. She’s also on the hook for a $24-million loan and could lose the rights to her work.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a way of popping up in any number of seemingly unrelated arenas across the world, such as the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival, where a planned Tel Aviv-themed program has spurred several entertainers, including Jane Fonda, Danny Glover and David Byrne, as well as writers and filmmakers, to sign a letter of protest that’s shaking things up with just days to go before the fest begins. All of the 10 films in City to City, a new program at the festival, will focus on the Israeli city.
A rare combination of bravura storytelling and social history, “L.A. Noir” will delight fans of hard-boiled film and fiction even as it challenges the myths of 20th century Los Angeles.
Disgraced former Wall Street baron Bernard Madoff might have made millions swindling others for profit during his heyday, but he doesn’t seem to have made much of a literary cottage industry for writers presumably looking to cash in on his downfall. Not even the “I-was-Bernie’s-mistress” angle is tempting book buyers at this point.
Not so long ago, it seemed like big news that a woman—CBS’ Katie Couric—would be chosen to anchor the nightly news at a major network. Now Couric’s got some competition in Diane Sawyer, who’ll replace Charlie Gibson at ABC’s “World News” starting in January.
Although the world at large has yet to find out exactly what spurred Sarah Palin to vacate her post as Alaska’s governor this summer, her almost-son-in-law Levi Johnston pipes up (surprise!) in the latest edition of Vanity Fair, helpfully offering that Palin’s plan had something to do with money. This kid is on a tear.
Left-leaning ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s is temporarily changing the name of its popular “Chubby Hubby” ice cream to “Hubby Hubby” to serve up support for same-sex couples, who as of Sept. 1 can marry in the company’s home state of Vermont.
Oh, what a tangled web Spider-Man weaves. Thanks largely to the multibillion-dollar success of Marvel’s characters on the big screen, Disney is buying the fabled comic book company for $4 billion in cash and stock. The Mouse House says Marvel characters will soon be appearing at its theme parks, but that isn’t the half of it.
A recent squabble between “The Shock Doctrine” author Naomi Klein and the director who is adapting her book into a documentary film has led Klein to ask that her name be taken off the credits. Conflict reportedly arose over the form of the documentary, and the director’s use of narration rather than interviews as the key story-telling device.
Whatever one thinks of his politics, Elia Kazan was inarguably one of the 20th century’s greatest Broadway and Hollywood directors. A new book reveals the master at work.
The Nigerian movie industry, known as Nollywood (a play on Hollywood in the manner of Bollywood), has grown from an accidental discovery into a mega-industry of over 2,000 titles and $200M annually.
It’s well known that Adolf Hitler dabbled in watercolor and that the Führer and his Nazi underlings amassed vast stashes of ill-begotten works of art, but according to art historian Birgit Schwarz, Hitler’s artistic streak ran deeper into the dark zones of his psyche than most people realize.
Quentin Tarantino certainly took full cinematic license and ran with it in his Nazi-bashing big-screen extravaganza “Inglourious Basterds,” but as Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman explains, some people are getting pretty fired up about the film’s convention-busting climax, worrying that it could lead impressionable future generations astray about what really happened at the end of World War II.
Peter Richardson’s fascinating new book explores the short, unruly life of Ramparts Magazine and its extraordinary effect on American politics and media.
Are Americans sacrificing the possibility of a more tolerant humanity for a suffocating guarantee of fidelity, a frigid prospect that seemingly unites the commissars of the politically correct left as much as it does the thought police of the puritanical right?
Is it possible to pluck the Beatles’ psychedelic classic “Yellow Submarine” out of its original 1968 context, remake it and plunk it down somewhere around the year 2012 ... just in time for the London Olympics?
“Life and Fate” by Vasily Grossman is one of the greatest works of 20th century literature. A new theatrical adaptation is innovative, but ultimately loses the epic’s profound meditations on good and evil.
The American television industry is in crisis, according to Advertising Age critic Bob Garfield, who figures prominently in The Wrap’s two-part look into the future of the industry. In fact, says Garfield, we’re seeing early signs of “the total collapse of the network television model.”
Delay Tactics Worked for Kennedy
