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

The Mountaintop or the legacy of Martin Luther King play in London

Martin Luther King gave his ‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’ speech, the last of his career, at a rally during the sanitation workers’ strike at Mason Temple, the World Headquarters of the Church of God in Christ, in Memphis on April 3rd 1968. The Mountaintop by Katori Hall is on show at the Theatre503 until Saturday. The play is set in room 306 in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, the evening after King gave his ‘Mountaintop’ address and the night before his assassination. When King cal

Michael Jackson ... Why He's More Adored than Shakespeare

Related Links Blogger: The Circus of Death The first remarkable episode of global celebrity adoration, as we know it today, comes to us courtesy of the silent film era and Rudolph Valentino, a.k.a The Sheik. (While prodigious talents like Mozart, Michelangelo, and Charles Dickens enj

J.D. Salinger wins copyright case on 'The Catcher in the Rye sequel'

The publication of a book that novelist J.D. Salinger said ripped off his classic "The Catcher in the Rye" was halted by a US federal judge on Wednesday. The judge ruled in favour of Salinger after the reclusive writer last month sued to block publication of "60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye" by Fredrik Colting, a Swedish author writing under the pen name John David California. Deborah Batts, a US district judge, said the main character in Mr C

Yoko Ono wins rights to intimate footage of John Lennon

A federal court in Boston, Massachusetts last week ruled that Yoko Ono was the rightful copyright holder, according to her lawyer Jonathan Albano. However, he declined to say whether Ono would publicly release the documentary tapes, which includes scenes of Lennon smoking marijuana and composing. "Our client is very happy in winning the case," Mr Albano said. The lawsuit dated back to last year, when World Wide Video, a consortium of collectors of

Banned East German Comedy Premieres 40 Years Late

"Hands Up Or I'll Shoot." It's an unlikely title for a funny film made in the former East Germany and considered politically incorrect enough to be banned. Which is why this movie is only just making its big screen debut in Dresden on Wednesday night. It's the peculiar story of a policeman named Holms living in the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR). In a state controlled by the secret police and riddled with informers and spies, the poor man finds himself with no

Lod mosaic to be re-exposed (Israel)

The 1,700 year old mosaic floor, one of the most amazing and largest in Israel, is being exposed by the Israel Antiquities Authority, in cooperation with the Municipality of Lod and residents of the city. Thirteen years after one of the most beautiful mosaics ever to be seen in the country was covered over, the Israel Antiquities Authority, in cooperation with the municipality of Lod and its residents, is beginning an archaeological excavation that will re-expose the mosaic, once an

Michelangelo signed fresco with self-portrait

A painstaking five-year restoration of a massive fresco painted by Michelangelo in the Vatican has revealed what experts believe is a self-portrait of the Renaissance genius. Restorers claim that a bearded man wearing a blue turban in the Crucifixion of St Peter bears a striking resemblance to portraits and bronze busts of the artist. "It's an extraordinary and moving discovery," said the Vatican's chief restorer, Maurizio De Luca. "The self-portrait is o

A Cultural Autopsy of Michael Jackson

The year is 1972. Five young men are boosting the ratings of any one of the dozen-odd variety shows on which they appear regularly,

Identity of Beethoven's Für Elise revealed by music expert

Next to the opening of his Fifth Symphony, Für Elise is one of Beethoven’s best-known melodies, a mainstay of piano lessons for generations and a ringtone on millions of mobile phones. The identity of Elise, however, has eluded scholars down the years, hampered as they were by the loss of the original manuscript. Now Klaus Martin Kopitz, a German musicologist and Beethoven expert, believes he has identified the woman of the title as Elisabeth Röckel. If ri

Rare petroglyphs discovered in Cuban caves

Cuban archaeologists are studying the strange drawings found in caves in eastern Cuba. The petroglyphs, discovered in the Sierra del Rosario reserve located in Pinar del Rio province, have now motivated large-scale research in the area to establish the origin of the asymmetric carvings in the stalagmites. According to Cuba's renowned historian Luis Formigo, the carvings were made by pre-tribal aboriginal people who also carved stone to make fire, track time and follow the course of events betwee

St Paul's Cathedral sketches show how Sir Christopher Wren changed architecture

Sir Christopher Wren's final designs for St Paul's cathedral have gone on display for the first time, demostrating how his practices created a benchmark for modern architects. The sketches show how he introduced mathematical concepts into architecture and turned the design of buildings from being classed as being simply a part of the building trade to a profession in its own right.

Rembrandt: a portrait of the artist as a young lad

It is well known that the Dutch Master, Rembrandt, painted himself throughout his lifetime, from his early 20s to the year of his death in 1669, when he was established as one of the most influential artists of his age. Yet now, a portrait of the artist has been unearthed, which is the earliest depiction of Rembrandt as a hopeful teenager, not as he would have liked to have been seen but how he looked to a fellow art student in Amsterdam. Jan Lievens painted Rembrandt a

Cambridge bids to acquire wartime Sassoon archive

In July 1917, a young officer covered two pages with minute handwriting in a small, black leather-bound notebook. It could have cost him his life. The original of Siegfried Sassoon's Soldier's Declaration – a roar of defiance from the Western Front, which caused uproar when it was read aloud in parliament – is part of an extraordinary archive of one the most famous and best loved of the first world war soldier poets. Yesterday, Cambridge University launched a £1.25m appeal in order

Original manuscript of Auld Lang Syne could fetch £50,000 at auction

The original manuscript of one of the world's best-known songs could fetch £50,000 when it goes under the hammer later this year, auctioneers have said. But in an unusual twist, the buyer of the fragment of Robert Burns' manuscript for Auld Lang Syne will not be able to take it home. Instead, the winning bidder will become the"patron" of the rare Scottish artefact. The manuscript of the song – sung across the world at New Year – will be housed in a new museum dedicated

A century before Michael Jackson there was Bert Williams

As an historian, I tend to link events to their analogues in past times to draw meaning.So, the sudden passing of Michael Jackson at 50, when he was the most famous person in the world, recalls the similar tragic success of Bert Williams a century earlier.Bert Williams, whom I’ve been researching as part of Volume 2 of Our Roots Run Deep: the Black Experience in California, 1900-1950; and in the current context statement

Juan Cole on Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson's sad death at age 50 has provoked an outpouring of emotion around the whole world. Because of globalization, it is an event that affects fans in Asia and the Middle East, as well. In early 2007, his brother Jermaine, a Muslim, announced that Michael would embrace that religion. In November of 2008, just months before his death

New Mary Rose Museum gets final go-ahead

After a year in which we have been vigorously celebrating the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession to the English throne, today (June 24 2009) marks the actual anniversary of the event and it coincides with news that would have pleased the famously cantankerous Monarch. The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) have given the final go-ahead for a £21 million grant to the Mary Rose Trust to complete the conservation of Henry’s favourite warship, the Mary Rose, and to build a permanent

Michael Jackson: secret library of 100 songs could be released

A secret library of over a hundred songs recorded by Michael Jackson could now be released following his death. One of the singers biographers, Ian Halperin, claimed that the unheard songs had been made for his children. Mr Halperin, author of Unmasked, The Michael Jackson Story said before his death: “He wants to leave them for his kids, a very personal legacy to them. I was told he will not let them come out now.” Jackson leaves three children Prince,

9/11 Memorial Exhibition - 'A Space Within' - Opens at New York's Center for Architecture

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York Chapter has announced that "A Space Within: The National September 11 Memorial & Museum," a public showcase of the 8-acre memorial and museum taking shape at the heart of the World Trade Center site, will open to the public today, June 25th, at 6pm. The exhibition, curated by Thomas Mellins, contains new details of the memorial and museum plans. The exhibition will display scale models, construction photographs, draw

An Astronaut Goes From Walking on the Moon to Painting It

Alan L. Bean, the fourth man to walk on the Moon, has high hopes that the 40th anniversary of the moon landing may lure art critics to take a look at his paintings.