Roundup: Pop Culture & the Arts ... Movies, Documentaries and Museum Exhibits

A play on Polish-Russian history policy

A play called "1612", the result of a cooperation project with Moscow's "Teatr.doc", is currently in rehearsal at the "Ad Spectatores" theatre in Breslau. The play is about the victory of the Russian army over the Polish invaders of Moscow on November 4, 1612 in the midst of the Polish-Russian war (1609-1618). In an interview with Joanna Dekaczew, director Krzysztof Kopka explains that the piece is intended as a response to the Polish and Russian policy on history.

Historic dolls--now celebrating the 1970s

Nine-year-old Julie Albright likes to wear her long blond hair loose, with a single thin braid in the front. With her parents divorcing, and with her move from a big house in San Francisco to a smaller apartment across town, she is trying to adapt to a bewildering web of changes, just like a lot of other children growing up in the 1970s. Except she is 18 inches tall. Julie and her Chinese-American friend, Ivy, are the latest additions to American Girl’s fabulously popul

The Diana Effect: 10 years later

Ten years on, there is still something dreamlike about the week that followed the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Was central London really carpeted with flowers? Did every U.S. TV network throw out its schedule to cover, at length, the funeral of an English divorcé of uncertain prospects? Did the most levelheaded folk you know choke up about 10 times that week, snuffling into their tissues,"I can't imagine why it's gotten to me so much"? Yes, and yes, and they probably did.

History Lessons about slavery (Review/Dance Performance)

BECKET, Mass., Aug. 21 — It would be nice to feel unmitigatedly positive about Joanna Haigood’s “Invisible Wings,” an ambitious site-specific evocation of slave culture and history, linked to the history of the land that the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival now inhabits. On Tuesday — a day late, after rain forced the cancellation of the scheduled opening — a new version of this open-air work, first presented at the Pillow in 1998, opened on the festival grounds amid a sense of excitement heightened

'Spruce up' for Culloden exhibits (UK)

Prime exhibits from Culloden are heading for a spring clean before returning to play a central role at a new visitor centre. Staff from the National Trust for Scotland have been packing up important items dating back to the battle. The exhibits include a sword seized from Bonnie Prince Charlie's baggage after the fight ended. It also features a letter from the prince to King Louis of France pleading for vital support to the Jacobite army.

Missing John Constable sketch is found

A missing sketch by celebrated artist John Constable has been rediscovered at the British Library in London. Scholars lost track of the drawing of a church after it was sold by Constable's grandson Eustace at Christie's in 1896. It was found in an elaborate sketchbook on the life of Constable's rival JMW Turner, which was bequeathed to the British Museum in 1919.

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Slate features his work

Photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson would have turned 99 today. A co-founder of Magnum Photos, he was both a remarkable photojournalist and an artist trained in the techniques of classic painting and the avant-garde juxtapositions of Surrealism. In February 2007, Meghan O'Rourke analyzed Cartier-Bresson's work, observing that "Carrtier-Bresson's work demonstrated two qualities that rarely go hand in hand: a formal, highly geometric acuity … in combination with an empathetic fascination with

New spas look to history for inspiration

Most spas take pride in keeping up with the latest trends, from organic ingredients to Asian massage. But a half-dozen new spas have opened this year in landmark hotels and historic places. While offering contemporary treatments and luxurious new facilities, spas in settings like Williamsburg, Virginia, and Plymouth, Massachusetts, are also looking to the past for inspiration in everything from decor to botanical remedies. In May, The Spa of Colonial Williamsburg opened

Terracotta warriors tear down British Museum

The British Museum started the delicate task of unpacking the vanguard of the largest consignment of China's terracotta army ever to leave its shores in preparation for its blockbuster exhibition The First Emperor, which opens on Sept 13. More than two dozen huge crates carrying the fragile, 2,000-year-old figures were delayed for two days in Beijing because they would not fit into the holds of two cargo planes chartered for the job. When the 20 figures - a dozen warrio

The Invisible Manuscript of Ralph Ellison

Ralph Ellison died leaving four decades'worth of scribbled notes, thousands of typed pages and 80 computer disks filled with work on an ambitious second novel. For 14 years,a pair of literary detectives labored to fit the pieces together. Now they're ready to share with the world.

Elvis Presley's gun found near portable toilets

A handgun stolen from an exhibit during last week's commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death has been recovered. Surveillance video showed a man reaching into a display case at the "Elvis After Dark" exhibit at Graceland, Presley's mansion, and removing a black, 9 mm Smith & Wesson pistol on August 14. Travis Brookins turned the gun over to police Monday after the theft was reported by news media.

The Untold Story of Sacco and Vanzetti (Documentary)

On the 80th anniversary of their execution, the new documentary SACCO AND VANZETTI brings to life the story of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists accused of a muder in 1920, and executed in Boston in 1927 after a notoriously prejudiced trial. It is the first major documentary film about this landmark story. The ordeal of Sacco and Vanzetti came to symbolize the bigotry and intolerance directed at immigrants and dissenters in America.  Millions of

Ten Years On: Why Diana Mattered

The British have always been good at silence ˜ at family meals spent wordlessly; intense emotions expressed through a hand on the shoulder ˜ but on Sept. 6, 1997, they surpassed themselves. London, the big, braying capital, was stilled as over a million mourners of Diana, Princess of Wales, kept vigil along the route to Westminster Abbey. The hush amplified the sounds of the cortège as it set out from Kensington Palace: the rumble of wheels on tarmac, the clopping of horses' hooves,

Unravelling a grand old mystery of Egyptian history (TV Documentary)

Discovery Channel will air a special programme titled ‘Secrets of Egypt’s Lost Queen’ this Sunday, identifying a 3,500-year-old mummy through archaeological, forensic and scientific evidence. Described as the most important find in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, the mummy being searched is of Hatshepsut, the queen who was the king of Egypt. Hatshepsut was no ordinary woman as she stole the throne from her young stepson, dressed herself as a man and in an unprecedented move declared he

Subtle Songs of Protest Hit a High Note

The Dixie Chicks nearly lost their careers after bad-mouthing President Bush on the eve of the war in Iraq, but today there is a surge in protest songs by popular artists. They’re not just penned by the people you’d expect to be topical, such as Neil Young or Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. Songs with anti-war sentiments are popping up from some unlikely places in the pop music marketplace: • With a casual listen, you might think Mat Kearney’s “Girl America” is

Arthur Miller's Missing Act (The son with Down syndrome he never talked about)

No photograph of him has ever been published, but those who know Daniel Miller say that he resembles his father. Some say it's the nose, others the mischievous glimmer in the eyes when he smiles, but the most telling feature, the one that clearly identifies him as Arthur Miller's son, is his high forehead and identically receding hairline. He is almost 41 now, but it's impossible to say whether his father's friends would notice the resemblance, because the few who have ever seen Daniel have not

Max Roach, Master of Modern Jazz, Dies at 83

Max Roach, a founder of modern jazz who rewrote the rules of drumming in the 1940s and spent the rest of his career breaking musical barriers and defying listeners’ expectations, died early yesterday in Manhattan. He was 83. His death, at an undisclosed hospital, was announced by a spokesman for Blue Note Records, Mr. Roach’s last label. No cause was given. Mr. Roach, who had lived on the Upper West Side for many years, had been known to be in poor health for some time.

Remembering Elvis: Long Live the King

The man born Andreas Cornelius van Kuijk may have been a thief. He may have been a swindler. He may have killed a woman. Whatever the case, he was without question a step ahead of the law when he hopped a ship from the Netherlands to America, where he then ran with the circus. By 1929, a carny with a healthy disdain for the patsies who mobbed the midway, the fugitive bore the name Tom Parker. In time, he would add the honorific “Colonel” to the identity, a title awarded by Louisiana

History TV to screen documentary on Partition today

A documentary on the partition of the Indian subcontinent billed “The Road to Partition” airs on Thursday in India and Pakistan, one day after the 60th anniversary of the partition, on History Television’s “Turning Points of History”. The documentary traces the events leading to the partition, and the issues involved in the decision-making process. It recalls the leading personalities involved, particularly three British-trained lawyers who spearheaded the movement to force the Br

Still Vital, ‘On the Road’ Turns 50

The best-selling novels of 1957 included “Peyton Place” by Grace Metalious and “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac. Both were cultural touchstones: “Peyton Place” as a precursor of the modern soap opera and “On the Road” as a clarion call for the Beat generation and, later, as an underground bible of the 1960s and ’70s. Today “Peyton Place” is mostly regarded as a historical curiosity, but “On the Road,” celebrating the 50th anniversary of its publication, still has a vibrant life on coll