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

Clint Eastwood brings bloody 1945 battle (Iwo Jima) to a new global audience

IWO JIMA -- By the time the guns had fallen silent at the end of one of the bloodiest battles in the history of modern warfare, Iwo Jima resembled the surface of the moon. The trees had been turned into scorched stumps and the hillsides flattened by relentless shelling from US gunboats. Now, almost 62 years after its fall changed the course of the second world war, Iwo Jima's physical scars have healed. Seen from the air, it is a pretty, teardrop-shaped speck in the Pacific Ocean 1

For sale: the pub Dylan Thomas called home

When Brown's Hotel, the legendary drinking haunt of Dylan Thomas in south Wales, last came on the market, it sparked a bidding war won by the television star Neil Morrissey, who fended off rivals said to include Pierce Brosnan. But should the former James Bond still be interested, he can have a second shot. Morrissey and his business partners are selling up only two years after purchasing the hotel in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire. Brown's is back on the market along with

Peter Pan's gift to children continues with a sequel--and children's hospital will benefit

For well over a century, a Christmas staple for children across Britain has been an annual trip to the theater to enter a magical yuletide world of villainous pirates, diaphanous fairies, and dashing heroes. But few have realized that a simple seasonal excursion to see one of Britain's best-loved Christmas plays, J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan," has for almost 80 years benefited thousands upon thousands of sick children. Now a sequel, "Peter Pan in Scarlet," is set to

Rock legends sue over online streams of historic concerts

Some of rock 'n' roll's biggest names have teamed up to sue the owner of a Web site that specializes in streaming rare concert recordings. Wolfgang's Vault offers thousands of recordings of rare audio and video music performances collected over 30 years by Bill Graham, a famous concert promoter who died in 1991. On Monday, major rock names including Grateful Dead Productions, Carlos Santana and members of Led Zeppelin and The Doors, sued the current owner, claiming it

Musical reveals Indonesia's heart of darkness

Filmmaker Garin Nugroho has turned to ancient Sanskrit legend and traditional Javanese culture to portray the inequality and violence that have plagued Indonesia's emergence as an independent nation. Nugroho has previously explored dark episodes in his country's history --"A Poet" was set in 1965 during the massacre of hundreds of thousands of" communists" and government opponents. But for his new film,"Opera Jawa" ("Requiem From Java"), Nugroho took his inspiration from

18th-century Goya to be exhibited for first time

A portrait by Spain's Francisco Goya, painted in 1783 but never shown in public will be exhibited this spring in Saragossa following minor restoration at the Prado Museum in Madrid."Portrait of Luis Maria de Borbon and Vallabriga," depicting a young child, was painted when Goya, born in 1746, was 37 years old. He died in 1828. The painting was recently acquired by public authorities in the region of Aragon in northeastern Spain for ten million euros (13 million dollars) from a branch

Jerry Stahl: You’ll Work in This Town Again (Hollywood)

[Jerry Stahl is the author, most recently, of “I, Fatty.”] GOD bless Mel Gibson. Of course, the deity doing the blessing is less likely to be Yahweh than Gukumatz, traditional Toltec god of culture, agriculture and opening weekend grosses. By now the miracles have been quantified. “Apocalypto,” when it opened, promptly took the top box office spot with $15 million. Plus — what are the odds? — his Joseph Campbell-meets-Mesoamerica epic has been nominated for

'Headless Mohammed opera' puts police on alert

Audience members at Monday's Deutsche Oper production of Mozart's "Idomeneo" will be kindly asked to empty their pockets of all metal objects. And they should be prepared to leave — quickly — in case of a bomb alert. The Austrian musical genius born 250 years ago was noted for an impish sense of humor and some directors take huge liberties with their interpretations of operas. But the security measures for the performance, which include electronic screening of opera goers

Liza Grandia: The Sober Racism of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto

[Liza Grandia is a cultural anthropologist who has worked with Maya peoples in Guatemala and Belize since 1993 and who speaks Q'eqchi' Maya fluently. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, writing a book called "Unsettling" about the repeated land dispossessions and enclosures of the Q'eqchi'.]   Film critics appear split on how to handle Mel Gibson's newest production, Apocalypto. A few refuse to patronize the film in symbolic protest of Gibson's drun

Khmer Rouge film reveals horrors

A documentary film dealing with the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime is opening in Cambodia. The film, Waiting To See The Truth, includes interviews with Cambodians who describe the forced labour, starvation and mass killings under Pol Pot's rule. But it also shows footage of young Cambodians who do not believe stories of the atrocities of the late 1970s. The period is not taught in schools, and the producers plan to screen it to children to boost

Movie crew gets rare Colosseum access

A U.S. movie crew shot part of a science-fiction flick inside the famed Colosseum in Rome. The company led by Doug Linman had three days of rare access to the ancient Roman landmark, including the underground chambers, thanks to the receptiveness of Rome's mayor and movie buff, Walter Veltroni. The New York Times said Veltroni has actively courted Hollywood and the rest of the international cinema industry and paved the way for the city to rent out the place.

Florence's 16th-century Uffizi will get modernist canopy

Critics have likened it to a bus shelter, a sardine tin and a slatted bed frame, and some of its detractors have threatened to bomb it if it was ever constructed. But after eight years of debate, the city of Florence has given the go-ahead to an enormous, modernist canopy to shade visitors at the Uffizi gallery. The planned seven-storey high structure, made from strips of polycarbonate and steel, has been loathed in most of Italy since its design was unveiled in 1998. However, despi

'Clash of Empires' (French & Indian War) Fills Out a Chapter in U.S. History (Exhibit/Smithsonian)

For most people, the French and Indian War is one of those distant, foggy, inscrutable, eye-crossing wars that seem to exist primarily as fodder for history textbooks written to bore the bejabbers out of sixth-graders. Most of us know only that it happened sometime before the American Revolution, and involved the French, and possibly the last of the Mohicans. The very phrase, "French and Indian War," is punch line material (e.g., "He hasn't had a hit movie since the F

Velvet Underground Record for Sale Again

The cyberspace saga of the Velvet Underground's 40-year-old first recording continued Thursday, with a new eBay auction that followed a false winning bid of more than $155,000. That bid last week bit the dust when a young man in California e-mailed the seller confessing he doesn't even have enough money to buy gas, never mind the rare recording. The first auction ended Dec. 8, with eBay showing a final bid of $155,401 for the music that ended up on the influential New York band'

Roberto Lovato: Mel Gibson Is Wrong about Who the Violent Americans Are

[Roberto Lovato is a Los Angeles-based writer.] After watching Mel Gibson's controversial film Apocalypto, I left the theater pondering the history of racism, pillage and apocalyptic war through my own blood and family history. Gibson, I concluded, would have been more accurate, his film more resonant, had he used another group of people, another culture – certainly not the Maya -- to depict his vision of the Apocalyse. Like many Central Americans born and categorized as mestizo

'Apocalypto' Tortures the Facts, Expert Says

Though it gave rise to awe-inspiring architecture and surprisingly advanced science, the Maya civilization—which thrived in what are now Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras—began declining around A.D. 800 (map of Central and North America). Archaeological evidence points to a multitude of factors that could have led to this decline, including internecine warfare, the loss of trade routes, drought, and disease. But before the fall, the Maya ruled the region from seat

A Greek vs. Turk 'Survivor' just may ease a bitter past

ISTANBUL, TURKEY -- Call it hyper-reality TV. For its second season, the Turkish version of the popular "Survivor" reality-TV series upped the ante. It deposited a group of 20 Greeks and Turks on a deserted island and pitted the historic rivals against each other in a battle to see who will be the last one standing. Taking ancient animosities and turning them into fodder for prime-time entertainment has certainly paid off. The show - a Turkish-Greek co-production running s

FBI Director: Hoffa Case Will Be Solved

FBI Director Robert Mueller said Tuesday the decades-old disappearance of Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa will eventually be solved. Mueller spoke during a question-and-answer session with reporters at the FBI's Detroit office, months after an expensive search at a southeastern Michigan horse farm turned up nothing. "We have a long, long memory," Mueller said. "We will continue to follow any lead that comes to our attention." Hoffa was l

Versailles to launch Marie-Antoinette perfume

The Palace of Versailles is set to launch a perfume based on the fragrance once used by Marie-Antoinette. The perfume will be sold only to order. It was developed by French perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, who combined the ingredients after detailed research. A 25ml bottle of M.A. Sillage de la Reine perfume will sell for 350 euros (£236; $463), the palace says.

A virgin birth, great parts for everyone and a happy ending ... so why aren't there more good plays about Jesus?

I was about six when I first wore a towel on my head and a cotton wool beard. It was the last week of term, and that meant the school Nativity play. This week kids up and down the country will be trying to carry myrrh while wearing a cardboard crown. Or turning away Mary and Joseph from the inn. Or putting the Tiny Tears Jesus in the manger for a bed. I'm not sure my early role as a shepherd taught me a lot that I was able to use in my later playwriting career. But for some of my f