Cultural News and informations

Books of The Times: At the Center of the Storm, but Still a Mystery
Tony Blair’s memoir, “A Journey,” sheds little light on his political vision or on why he took Britain to war against Iraq.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 02-sept.-2010 00:50

At Lincoln Center, Information Is Architecture
The architects behind the redesign say the media installations are an expression of an attempt to make the complex more inviting and immediate.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 02-sept.-2010 00:48

You Never Forget That Star-Struck Encounter With Your Idol
Actors recall how long-ago backstage encounters with their idols changed their lives.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 02-sept.-2010 00:47

Eco-radical killed by US police in TV station hostage drama

A radical environmentalist took three men hostage in a dramatic siege at the headquarters of a US television channel on Wednesday before being shot and killed by police.

All the hostages were unharmed after the four-hour standoff at the Discovery Channel in which suspected explosives strapped to the gunman's body apparently detonated in a cloud of smoke.

Police said SWAT teams had fired on the suspect, who was under video surveillance during hours of tense negotiations, when he pointed his gun at one of the hostages.

Source : www.france24.com | 02-sept.-2010 00:46

Video Games: Whose Side Are You On? It Might Be the Taliban?s
In Medal of Honor’s multiplayer mode, someone gets to play the role of Taliban fighters, and the outcry has begun.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 02-sept.-2010 00:33

Bridge: In Missouri, Card Playing for a Good Cause
At an event to benefit BackStoppers, a deal that shows bridge is a bidder’s game.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 02-sept.-2010 00:25

Music Review: Send in the Heartthrob, Cue the Shrieks
Justin Bieber performed his first headlining show at Madison Square Garden with guests including Usher and Miley Cyrus.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 02-sept.-2010 00:20

Immigrants' Oral Histories Going Online
More than 1,700 recordings of people who arrived at Ellis Island will be available.


Source : artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com | 02-sept.-2010 00:11

Jamaica's Brown likes test as next Murray foe

Jamaica's Dustin Brown has no coach, no extra money, no major financial backing and no experience in front of huge crowds like the one that will watch him play Britain's Andy Murray at the US Open.

But the 25-year-old German-born standout has no lack of confidence in facing the Scotsman after taking his first Grand Slam triumph on Wednesday, ousting Spain's Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-4, 7-6 (8/6), 7-5.

Source : www.france24.com | 02-sept.-2010 00:06

Arts & Leisure Preview: The Unfinished Tale of an Unlikely Hero
Harvey Pekar, the obsessive chronicler of everyday lives, was collaborating at the end of his life on a Web project whose fate in print remains uncertain.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 02-sept.-2010 00:04

Music Review: Donning Sinatra?s Mystique, From Movie Sailor to Saloon Dandy
The original cast of the revue “Our Sinatra” has reunited to celebrate Ol’ Blue Eyes, at the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 23:56

Music Review: Composers? Influences, Side by Side
The pianist Ian Hobson explored the Beethoven-Schumann link and the musical contrasts of Ignaz Moscheles and Chopin at the Dicapo Opera Theater on Tuesday evening.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 23:52

Carrying the Spear (and Dagger) for a Fading Art Form
Beijing opera’s luster has dimmed since its heyday as China’s most popular theatrical entertainment, and this ancient art forms struggles to attract a modern audience.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 23:47

Japanese-Argentine tango champs speak universal language

Chizuko Kuwamoto and Diego Ortega can barely understand each other, but no words can bring them closer than the sultry language of the tango, a shared passion that got them top prize in the 2010 Mundial de Tango.

"She speaks very little Spanish. I speak very little Japanese. And we communicate by touch, sharing our feelings when we dance," 21-year-old Argentine Ortega told reporters after Tuesday's final competition.

Source : www.france24.com | 01-sept.-2010 23:46

Chip revenue expected to grow 31.5 percent in 2010: Gartner

Worldwide semiconductor revenue is expected to grow 31.5 percent this year to 300 billion dollars, technology research firm Gartner said Wednesday.

Gartner also forecast computer chip revenue of 314 billion dollars in 2011, a 4.6 percent increase over this year. Worldwide semiconductor revenue totaled 228 billion dollars last year.

"Semiconductor growth in the first half of 2010 was very strong, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the industry cannot maintain the momentum in the second half of 2010 and into 2011," Gartner research vice president Bryan Lewis said.

Source : www.france24.com | 01-sept.-2010 23:26

Theater Talkback: Just When You Think You Know Somebody . . .
Sometimes performers make you see familiar characters in new ways.


Source : artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 23:24

Females more prone to knee injury in football: study

"Kicking like a girl" is a real phenomenon and may explain why females are more likely to suffer knee injuries in sports such as football, US researchers said Wednesday.

The researchers found significant differences in knee alignment and muscle activation between men and women while kicking a ball.

The study appearing in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery offers a possible explanation on why female players are more than twice as likely as males to sustain an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.

Source : www.france24.com | 01-sept.-2010 23:06

Publishers Struggle to Adapt to E-Books (and So Do Book Lovers)
The book business tries to serve two readers, the one who loves the tactile page and the one who loves the digital ease.
Source : www.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 22:52

'Cool It,' Film Rival to 'An Inconvenient Truth,' Gets a U.S. Distributor
The documentary is adapted from the writing of Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish statistician who has argued against what he believes are extreme and alarmist scenarios presented by other environmentalists.


Source : artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 20:58

Crescendo, in Double Time
Russians entered the French festival scene this summer with an open throttle and an open checkbook.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 13:43

Egyptian Minister Questioned in Van Gogh Theft
Egyptian prosecutors questioned the culture minister for three hours over the theft of a Vincent van...
Source : www.naharnet.com | 01-sept.-2010 13:22

S.Africa must borrow money to end strike: minister

South Africa's government will have to borrow money to fund a compromise wage offer aimed at ending a crippling civil servants' strike, the country's public service minister said Wednesday.

The government's latest bid to end the 15-day-old strike would cost an extra seven billion rands (950 million dollars, 747 million euros), Public Service Minister Richard Baloyi told Business Day.

"Obviously, we will have to borrow the money. We dragged ourselves to this point," Baloyi told the newspaper.

Source : www.france24.com | 01-sept.-2010 12:46

Sweden to reopen rape probe of WikiLeaks founder

Sweden's director of public prosecutions said Wednesday she would reopen a rape investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, overturning a previous ruling to quash the probe.

"There is reason to believe that a crime has been committed. Considering information available at present, my judgement is that the classification of the crime is rape," the prosecutions official Marianne Ny said in a statement.

Source : www.france24.com | 01-sept.-2010 12:46

Russia partially lifts grain export ban

Russia has partially lifted the temporary embargo on grain exports introduced last month, allowing the resumption of exports in special cases like humanitarian aid, the government said Wednesday.

The ban will not affect exports needed to fulfil a number of Russia's international agreements, including grain products for humanitarian aid, according to a government decree published on Wednesday.

Source : www.france24.com | 01-sept.-2010 12:46

Dutch probe continues into suspected plane plot

Two Yemenis arrested in Amsterdam on suspicion of terrorism will appear before a judge on Thursday, a Dutch prosecution spokesman said.

"They will appear before an examining judge on Thursday," prosecution spokesman Ernst Koelman told AFP on Wednesday. The men were arrested early Monday after a flight from Chicago. US security had found a mobile phone taped to a bottle in their luggage.

The judge would decide whether to free or charge the men, or extend the investigation period.

Source : www.france24.com | 01-sept.-2010 12:26

Kabul Bank safe, says central bank governor

Afghanistan's government will "never" allow the country's biggest bank to collapse, the central bank governor said Wednesday, following US media allegations of corruption at the well-connected lender.

Major US newspapers said the central bank had replaced the two top executives at Kabul Bank, partly owned by President Hamid Karzai's brother, and ordered its chairman to hand over 160 million dollars' worth of luxury property purchased in Dubai for himself and for cronies.

Source : www.france24.com | 01-sept.-2010 12:06

JK Rowling donates $15.4 million for multiple sclerosis center
LONDON - Author J.K. Rowling has given $15.4 million to set up a center to research multiple sclerosis, the disease...
Source : www.bostonherald.com | 01-sept.-2010 02:21

'Love Never Dies' Looking Less Likely for Broadway This Season
It looks increasingly like Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical sequel to "The Phantom of the Opera" will not be coming to Broadway in the spring of 2011 as planned.


Source : artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 01:13

Movie Review | 'The American': Traveling Man With Few Words and a Big Gun
This suspense thriller, directed by Anton Corbijn, is often more evocative of the art house than of the multiplex.


Source : movies.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 00:53

Grooming Home Cooks, and a Reality Franchise
“MasterChef,” Gordon Ramsay’s latest contest for amateur chefs, is Fox’s standout reality show of the summer.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 00:46

Researchers Start Job of Sorting Out Yiddish Writer's Papers
They will be moved from his apartment in the Bronx to the YIVO headquarters on West 16th Street.


Source : artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 00:44

Movie Review | 'My Dog Tulip': A Tender Love Story Between Man and Dog
“My Dog Tulip,” an animated film based on the 1956 memoir by J. R. Ackerley, explores a lonely man’s devotion toward his pet.


Source : movies.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 00:37

Blair 'desperately sorry' for Iraq war deaths: memoirs

Former British prime minister Tony Blair said he was "desperately sorry" over the deaths in the Iraq war, in extracts released Tuesday from his memoirs.

Blair said he was "sorry for the lives cut short", but maintained it was right to remove dictator Saddam Hussein from power, in extracts from "A Journey", his account of his decade in office.

He said the aftermath of the 2003 invasion was "terrible" and said he wept over the loss of life.

Blair said he still felt a sense of "anguish" for the relatives of those killed in the conflict.

Source : www.france24.com | 01-sept.-2010 00:26

Deep cutbacks at Utah newspaper Deseret News

The Salt Lake City newspaper Deseret News announced on Tuesday it was slashing 85 jobs, or nearly half its staff, in the latest deep cutbacks in the struggling US newspaper industry.

"Changes in the industry have forced some newspapers to fade or even close," the Utah daily quoted Deseret News chief executive and president Clark Gilbert as saying.

Gilbert said the "enormously difficult" decision to cut 57 full-time and 28 part-time jobs, or 43 percent of the workforce, would allow the publication to "run as a daily newspaper for the foreseeable future."

Source : www.france24.com | 01-sept.-2010 00:26

Breast, ovary removal can eliminate cancer risk for some

Women with a certain genetic predisposition to breast or ovarian cancer can dramatically reduce their risk of developing either by undergoing preventative surgeries, a study showed Tuesday.

The research, which tracked nearly 2,500 women with certain genetic mutations, found that preemptive mastectomies or surgeries to remove the ovaries or fallopian tubes nearly eliminated the incidence of either cancer.

Source : www.france24.com | 01-sept.-2010 00:26

Music Review: Satchmo?s Story, Music Substituting for Words
Wynton Marsalis and friends provided the live accompaniment for a silent film about Louis Armstrong’s childhood.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 00:25

Venice Gears Up for 67th Film Festival
The film festival opens Wednesday and continues through Sept. 11 and will present dozens of features from 34 countries.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 00:17

It?s Another Ride for Ben Affleck, Filmmaker-Star
“The Town” gives Ben Affleck another chance to shine as writer, director and star.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 00:12

P.S. 1 Welcomes Ann Liv Young
P.S. 1 has a change of heart and decides to allow the performance artist Ann Liv Young back to deliver a lecture after a contentious performance in February ended abruptly with the museum cutting off the electricity.


Source : artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 00:07

Books of The Times: Young Man Seeks Poetry in World War II?s Ruins
A British author links his grandfather’s World War II bombing missions to the war poetry of the time.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 01-sept.-2010 00:00

Giuliani daughter sentenced for shoplifting

A daughter of former New York mayor Rudolf Giuliani was sentenced Tuesday to one day's work in service to community for stealing items from a cosmetics store, the prosecutor's office said.

Caroline Giuliani, 21, was caught shoplifting earlier this month by employees of the store on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Her father became famous in the 1990s for cracking down on crime in New York with a "zero tolerance" policy.

Judge Jennifer Schecter sentenced the daughter to spend a day performing community service work.

Source : www.france24.com | 31-août-2010 23:46

Feet Often Still, but Hearts Leaping
For young performers joining New York’s ballet companies as apprentices and corps members, one of the main thrills is often just standing still onstage.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 31-août-2010 23:45

Pakistan says no suspensions over betting probe

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said Tuesday it would not suspend players embroiled in betting scam allegations while the claims are investigated, though they are set to miss the next match.

Meanwhile British authorities revealed they had made three arrests on money laundering grounds, which sources confirmed were linked to the cricket scandal.

Source : www.france24.com | 31-août-2010 23:26

Theater Review | 'Troilus and Cressida': The Cynical Side of Shakespeare, but With a River View
At the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, a “Troilus and Cressida” that doesn’t shortchange the title characters.


Source : theater.nytimes.com | 31-août-2010 23:10

Music Review: 6 Vivaldis, One of Them Arranged by Bach
A farewell-to-summer Vivaldi concert for early-music fans at the 4x4 Baroque Music Festival.


Source : www.nytimes.com | 31-août-2010 22:48

Margaret Cho finds comedy in serious topics on new album
NEW YORK - Margaret Cho combines comedy with music on her new album to address some somber topics: rejection,...
Source : www.bostonherald.com | 31-août-2010 21:51