Mary Ward Brown, Prize-Winning Short Story Author, Dead At 95 "[She was] a small-town farmer's daughter who resumed a literary career 25 years after putting it aside to run the family farm and raise a son, producing award-winning short stories set in the Deep South and a poignant memoir of life in rural Alabama."

The New York Times 05/23/13

email this story | Posted 05/24/13@01:01AM

Georges Moustaki, 79, French Singer-Songwriter "He was introduced to Edith Piaf in the late 1950s and started to write songs for the Parisian star, the most famous of which was 'Milord' ... Developing a reputation as a singer in his own right in the mid-1960s, the hirsute and heavily bearded Moustaki achieved fame with songs including the immigrant ballad 'Le Métèque' and 'Ma Liberté', a hymn to the 1960s free-living spirit."

Reuters 05/23/13

email this story | Posted 05/24/13@12:59AM

'A Terrible Evil': Edgar Allan Poe Writes About His Wife's Illness and Death "In a passage buried deep in this long letter full of business chatter and gossip, Edgar Allan Poe recounts the story of his wife Virginia's 1847 death from tuberculosis and describes his own desperate reaction" - and reveals some insight into his own use of alcohol.

Slate 05/23/13

email this story | Posted 05/24/13@12:53AM

Composer Henri Dutilleux, 97 "Known for his symphonies, concertos and other orchestral pieces, he was prized for his subtle blends of ear-catching colors and formal rigor. Though steeped in the French modernist tradition that spans Debussy through Messiaen and Boulez, Dutilleux was also notably independent minded, unwilling to chase the latest fashions."

WQXR (New York) 05/22/13

email this story | Posted 05/23/13@12:58AM

On Richard Wagner's 200th Birthday, His Great-Grandson Slams Him Again "The 66-year-old musicologist, writer and lecturer [Gottfried Wagner] sets himself apart from the other members of the sprawling Wagner clan by refusing, as he sees it, to sweep under the carpet the darker side of one of history's most controversial composers.

Expatica (AFP) 05/19/13

email this story | Posted 05/23/13@12:51AM

Wagner's Hitler Correspondence Will Not Be Published, Says Great-Granddaughter Katharina Wagner: "It's very difficult to make all the widely dispersed documents available to the public, because they are owned in part by all four branches [of the family] ... If even just one says 'No', then I can't do anything about it, no matter how outrageous I might find it."

Agence France-Presse 05/19/13

email this story | Posted 05/23/13@12:50AM

Researchers: Have Humans Become Dumber Since Victorian Era? "Our technology may be getting smarter, but a provocative new study suggests human intelligence is on the decline. In fact, it indicates that Westerners have lost 14 I.Q. points on average since the Victorian Era."

Huffington Post 05/22/13

email this story | Posted 05/22/13@06:34AM

Ai Weiwei Launches His Rock Star Career With 'Dumbass' "The Chinese artist ... has always had something of the rock star about him. Now his hotly anticipated musical debut has finally emerged blinking into the glare of international attention: the self-proclaimed heavy metal single 'Dumbass'" - complete with video by superstar cinematographer Christopher Doyle.

The Guardian (UK) 05/22/13 (includes video)

email this story | Posted 05/22/13@12:57AM

Hear The Voice Of Virginia Woolf "What follows is the only known surviving recording of Virginia Woolf, part of a BBC radio broadcast from 1937. The talk is titled 'Craftsmanship'."

The Paris Review 05/21/13 (audio)

email this story | Posted 05/22/13@12:53AM

The Battalion Of Artists That Tricked The Wehrmacht The soldiers of the "Ghost Army" were "artists and illustrators, radio people and sound guys. Handpicked for the job from New York and Philadelphia art schools in January 1944, their mission was to deceive the enemy with hand-made inflatable tanks, 500-pound speakers blasting the sounds of troops assembling and phony radio transmissions."

Smithsonian 05/21/13 (includes slide show and video)

email this story | Posted 05/22/13@12:49AM

Where Would We Be Without Kierkegaard? "The great Danish philosopher of subjectivity would have been two hundred years old on May 5th, and, looking back, we can see that ironic, angst-ridden modern literature begins with him. Strindberg, Ibsen, Nietzsche, Kafka, Borges, Camus, Sartre, and Wittgenstein are among his heirs - and without him, where would Woody Allen be?"

The New Yorker 05/21/13

email this story | Posted 05/21/13@12:55AM

Christine White, 86, Who Had A Starring Role In Classic 'Twilight Zone' "The show became a classic -- remade in a movie, honored in song and spoofed on 'Saturday Night Live,' '3rd Rock From the Sun' and 'The Simpsons.'"

The New York Times 05/18/13

email this story | Posted 05/19/13@09:09PM

Filmmaker Ken Jacobs Turns 80 And Speeds Up The Creative Process "It's an understatement to say that, given his accomplishments, Mr. Jacobs is not nearly as well known as he should be."

The New York Times 05/18/13

email this story | Posted 05/19/13@08:24PM

William Miles, 82, Who Brought Black History To The Big (And Small) Screen "Mr. Miles was part historical sleuth, part preservationist, part bard. His films, which combined archival footage, still photographs and fresh interviews, were triumphs of curiosity and persistence in unearthing lost material about forgotten subjects."

The New York Times 05/18/13

email this story | Posted 05/19/13@11:14AM

Was Artist Josef Beuys A Serial Liar Who Loved Totalitarian Ideas? Beuys "was obsessed with Steiner's occultism and his racial theories -- and with the abstruse ideas of a Germanic soul, a German spirit and a special mission for the German people."

Der Spiegel 05/17/13

email this story | Posted 05/19/13@09:40AM

Jacqueline Brooks, 82, Classical Stage Actress And Teacher "[She] appeared in films and on television but ... won her widest acclaim on the stage in New York and around the country, performing the work of Shakespeare, Molière, Pirandello, Edward Albee and other dramatists over a 60-year career."

The New York Times 05/13/13

email this story | Posted 05/17/13@12:55AM

Ai Weiwei Videotapes A Riot On Mother's Day The artist and his brother were walking to meet their mother at a restaurant when "they saw a commotion ahead of them. On the ground were overturned tables. There were people shouting and throwing chairs and waving sticks, Mr. Ai said. He got out his cell phone and began recording the scene."

The New York Times 05/16/13

email this story | Posted 05/17/13@12:46AM

Young German Leftists March On Barbie's Dream House Says one group leader: "It would be a huge danger for capitalism if working men and women were united, so one of the best ways to divide and conquer the workers is by enabling men to over-sexualize women and by preoccupying women with sexualizing themselves. This is why we need to oppose Barbie."

The Wall Street Journal 05/17/13

email this story | Posted 05/17/13@12:45AM

Thomas Messer, Longtime Guggenheim Director, Dead At 93 "During his [27-year] tenure - one of the longest of a director of any major American art museum - the Guggenheim deepened its collection, expanded its exhibitions program, vastly improved its publications and took its first step toward becoming a global institution."

The New York Times 05/16/13

email this story | Posted 05/16/13@12:53AM

Beau Brummell, The Founding Father Of Dandyism "It's unusual for a tribe or breed to have such a definitive beginning, but all agree that Brummell was It. This Englishman of middle-class birth climbed into Regency-era aristocratic circles based on no more than his verbal wit and the eloquence of his dress."

The Wall Street Journal 05/15/13

email this story | Posted 05/16/13@12:45AM

Eddie Izzard Wants To Be Mayor Of London "The 51-year-old [comedian] is seeking the Labour nomination for Mayor of London in 2019 and if he does not get the endorsement he hopes to stand as an MP."

The Independent (UK) 05/14/13

email this story | Posted 05/15/13@12:55AM

F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tense, Unhappy Relationship With Hollywood "The prime chronicler of the jazz age - a term he coined - came up around the same time that the American movie industry did, and spent much of his career linked with Hollywood. But Fitzgerald's intellectual snobbery and Puritanical prudery made for a strained relationship with the film world, one that began as dismissive and ended as dependent."

The Atlantic 05/07/13

email this story | Posted 05/15/13@12:54AM

'I Got A Haircut From Ai Weiwei' "On top of everything else, Ai Weiwei is a barber. A good one? Hm. Maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's start here: exactly what kind of haircuts does he give? 'The kind that will make you want to cry,' he said."

Beijing Cream 05/10/13 (includes video)

email this story | Posted 05/15/13@12:54AM

Charles Barzun's Moving Letter To His Grandfather Jacques "Amazingly, you played such an immense role in my life almost entirely through your letters. They were just words, but they were words written with care and attention and with the thought of a particular individual in mind."

Chronicle of Higher Education 05/13/13

email this story | Posted 05/14/13@07:03AM

Mo Yan Wants Us To Let Him Write And Stop Badgering Him About Human Rights In China "Whether or not I deserved the Nobel Prize, I already received it, and now it's time to get back to my writing desk and produce a good work. I hear that the 2013 list of Nobel Prize nominees has been finalized. I hope that once the new laureate is announced, no one will pay attention to me anymore."

The Atlantic 05/10/13

email this story | Posted 05/14/13@12:57AM

Filmmaker Bryan Forbes Dead At 86 "Together with Richard Attenborough, he set up Beaver Films in 1959. ... His directing career began in 1961 with Whistle Down the Wind, featuring child star Hayley Mills." Among the many films he helmed during the 1960s and '70s were Seance on a Wet Afternoon and The Stepford Wives.

BBC 05/09/13

email this story | Posted 05/14/13@12:56AM

Bing Crosby Helped To Create Silicon Valley You never thought of Der Bingle as being in the vanguard of anything, did you? Well, it turns out that - as a media star and as an investor - he was crucial to the development of the tech industry, both in general and as a mainstay of northern California.

The New Yorker 05/13/13

email this story | Posted 05/14/13@12:49AM

The Man At The Piano It seemed a miracle to me that the person trapped in this body was still such a stunning pianist. Yet when I asked him how long he expected to be able to continue playing, he said, "Forever."

The New York Times 05/11/13

email this story | Posted 05/13/13@09:41AM

A Surprisingly Delightful Q&A With Lucius Malfoy, Er, Jason Isaacs "People laugh at truth. They don't laugh at cheap gags - they laugh deepest and loudest at their own foibles. The same is true in drama: they are looking to recognise human behaviour."

The Observer (UK) 05/11/13

email this story | Posted 05/12/13@06:41PM

Merrill Brockway, 90, Who Brought Dance To Millions In The U.S. "Modeled after the dance numbers in Fred Astaire movies, 'Dance in America' became known for showing dancers' bodies mostly in full. Mr. Brockway said his collaboration with Balanchine influenced that approach."

The New York Times 05/09/13

email this story | Posted 05/12/13@06:34PM

An Obit Writer, And Her No-Longer-Lost-To-History Subject "The stories obit writers love best are those of history's backstage players, the unsung men and women who, though no one knows their names, have managed to put a wrinkle in the social fabric."

The New York Times 05/11/13

email this story | Posted 05/12/13@10:09AM

Jacqueline Brookes, 82, Who Played Equally Well In Hamlet and Naked Gun In 1955, "Theater World cited her as among 'the most promising personalities of the stage'; the others that year included Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer."

The New York Times 05/12/13

email this story | Posted 05/12/13@09:29AM

Søren Kierkegaard, The First New Atheist "Søren Kierkegaard was not an atheist. He was a Christian." Nevertheless, "today, at the 200th anniversary of his birth, Kierkegaard seems as relevant as ever. That's because there is a public discussion about faith in America today. Kierkegaard's central concern was faith and the problems of faith."

The Smart Set 05/08/13

email this story | Posted 05/10/13@12:57AM

Warhol Superstar Taylor Mead Dead At 88 "[He] was the quintessential Downtown figure. He read his poems in a Bowery bar, walked as many as 80 blocks a day and fed stray cats in a cemetery, usually after midnight." Mead estimated that he appeared in 130 films in all, including 11 by Warhol.

The New York Times 05/10/13

email this story | Posted 05/10/13@12:47AM

Jobless Professionals In Copenhagen Display Themselves In Storefront Window "Catching people's attention is exactly what more than a dozen job hopefuls in Denmark's capital are looking to do, even though they seem to be ripping a page from Amsterdam's famous red-light district to achieve their goal."

The Wall Street Journal 05/08/13

email this story | Posted 05/09/13@12:53AM

WTF Is Up With Marc Maron Anyway? "Prior to starting his podcast, WTF, [the comedian] resembled no one so much as he did a Sam Lipsyte character. Like many Lipsyte protagonists, he was a middle-aged guy with artistic aspirations who, despite some notable successes, considered himself, on some level, a failure."

Slate 05/07/13 (includes audio)

email this story | Posted 05/09/13@12:47AM

'My Psychic Garburator' - Margaret Atwood On Dreams "Last night's dream: 'The Forest of Misplaced Inventory,' said the dream voice. 'That shouldn't take much description!' The visual was a stack of shrink-wrapped red plastic garbage-can lids in a stand of green spruce trees." (Note: "garburator" is Canadian for kitchen garbage disposal.)

The New York Review of Books 05/06/13

email this story | Posted 05/09/13@12:42AM

What Is It About Baz Luhrmann That Rubs Critics Wrong? "Is it his love of bold, technicolour dance sequences? Perhaps it's his penchant for melodrama and theatrical characters? Or is it because he's not making gritty, hard-hitting films about life in the suburbs?"

The Australian 05/08/13

email this story | Posted 05/08/13@04:35AM

Ray Harryhausen, 92, Master Of Stop-Motion Animation With his Dynamation process, he became "the prime exponent of the [stop-motion] technique and its combination with live action" in fantasies such as The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts. Current cinema titans Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, among others, credit Harryhausen with making their work possible.

The Guardian (UK) 05/07/13 (includes video)

email this story | Posted 05/08/13@12:56AM

Composer Steve Martland Dead At 53 "Throughout a fruitful musical career he worked almost exclusively with artists outside of traditional classical institutions - in particular with Dutch and American groups, freelance musicians and especially his own Steve Martland Band. ... His works are frequently intended to be played amplified and their muscular and rhythmic forms led to many dance commissions."

Limelight (Australia) 05/07/13 (includes video)

email this story | Posted 05/08/13@12:55AM