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| Art world scion gets one-year prison term for illegal gambling Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014 04:45 PM PDT By Lindsay Dunsmuir NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hillel "Helly" Nahmad, a prominent New York art dealer, was sentenced on Wednesday to one year and a day in federal prison for running an illegal high-stakes gambling ring that catered to movie stars, professional athletes and bank executives. Nahmad, 35, the son of a billionaire art dealer from Europe, had pleaded guilty to operating an illegal gambling business as part of a deal in which he acknowledged he led the ring, financed it and was entitled to a substantial share of its profits. In sending him to prison, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman rejected Nahmad's proposal to allow him to remain free and instead pay $100,000 a year to fund a program in which the convicted felon would teach underprivileged children about art. "There is only one way for Mr. Nahmad to understand his actions have consequences ... and that is to send him to prison," the judge said at the sentencing, in Manhattan federal court. Full Story | Top |
| Al Feldstein, former editor of Mad magazine, dies at age 88 Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014 03:11 PM PDT Al Feldstein, a longtime editor of U.S. humor magazine Mad who helped push it to its peak in popularity in the 1970s, died at his home in Montana, according to a funeral home announcement. Feldstein, who was editor of Mad during its 1960s-1970s heyday and also a comic book writer and artist, passed away at his home in Livingston, Montana, on Tuesday, according to a statement by jazz guitarist and Mad expert Grant Geissman posted on the website of funeral home Franzen-Davis. Feldstein worked at EC comics from 1948, launching horror titles that included "Tales from the Crypt," which was first adapted into a film in 1972. He left comics to become the editor of Mad in 1956, replacing founding editor Harvey Kurtzman, and led the magazine as it became influential in satirizing U.S. pop culture and a commercial success with a cult audience. Full Story | Top |
| Kurt Cobain's wallet note mocks marriage vow to Courtney Love Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014 02:45 PM PDT  (Please be advised that paragraph 3 contains strong language.) A note police found in Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain's wallet after his 1994 suicide derided rocker-wife Courtney Love and offered a possible view into the singer's turbulent personal life. The handwritten note, which was released on Wednesday by the Seattle Police Department, was part of evidence collected in the investigation into Cobain's death, which was ruled a suicide. "Do you Kurt Cobain take Courtney Michelle Love to be your lawful shredded wife even when shes (sic) a bitch with zits and siphoning all yr (sic) money for doping and whoring," reads a portion of the undated note written on stationery from the Phoenix hotel in San Francisco. Full Story | Top |
| COPY: Kurt Cobain's wallet note mocks marriage vow to Courtney Love Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014 02:44 PM PDT  (Please be advised that paragraph 3 contains strong language.) A note police found in Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain's wallet after his 1994 suicide derided rocker-wife Courtney Love and offered a possible view into the singer's turbulent personal life. The handwritten note, which was released on Wednesday by the Seattle Police Department, was part of evidence collected in the investigation into Cobain's death, which was ruled a suicide. "Do you Kurt Cobain take Courtney Michelle Love to be your lawful shredded wife even when shes (sic) a bitch with zits and siphoning all yr (sic) money for doping and whoring," reads a portion of the undated note written on stationery from the Phoenix hotel in San Francisco. Full Story | Top |
| British media mogul to sell Channel 5 to Viacom for 450 million stg Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014 02:32 PM PDT  (Reuters) - British media baron Richard Desmond will announce that he is selling free-to-air TV broadcaster Channel 5 to U.S.-based Viacom Inc for up to 450 million pounds ($760 million), The Guardian reported On Wednesday, without citing sources. Viacom, which owns cable networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, is also expected to announce the deal on Thursday when it reports its financial results, the paper said on its website. (http://link.reuters.com/fac98v) Channel 5, which broadcasts "Big Brother," was bought by Desmond's Northern & Shell media group in 2010 for 103. ... Full Story | Top |
| Whistler show focuses on Thames' inspiration of U.S. artist Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014 02:14 PM PDT By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - James McNeill Whistler, one of the United States' greatest artists, was never modest about his talent now on display in the biggest U.S. show of his work in almost 20 years. When an admirer told the 19th-century painter that a woman had remarked on her early morning walk about how closely nature came to some of his evocative canvases, Whistler was exultant. "So nature is catching up!" Whistler's evolving artistry and the inspiration he took from nature is on full display at the exhibition, "An American in London: Whistler and the Thames," in Washington. The show, opening on Saturday and running through Aug. 17 at the Smithsonian Institution's Sackler Gallery, is the first major exhibition devoted to his early years in London, with more than 80 Whistler works. Full Story | Top |
| Conductor Barenboim launches classical label with Universal Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014 02:11 PM PDT  By Anastasia Gorelova BERLIN (Reuters) - Israeli pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim announced on Wednesday the launch of a new classical music label in collaboration with Universal Music Group aimed at promoting high quality classical releases in digital space. Barenboim, 71, said at a ceremony in Berlin that his new venture Peral Music was "the future of the digital world." The label will be run by Barenboim and will distribute classical music releases via iTunes for the first two months, after which the standard digital albums will become available to other digital partners and streaming services. "I didn't want to accept such a negative verdict and therefore I wanted to find a way to start something that might get through to the younger generation who are completely at home in the digital world, and might get interested in a project like this that is exclusively in the digital space." The releases, however, will be aimed at the general public rather than just young people, Barenboim explained after the conference. Full Story | Top |
| 'Frozen' reigns atop Billboard 200, holds off Future, Iggy Azalea Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014 01:50 PM PDT  By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Disney princesses once again ruled the Billboard 200 on Wednesday as the "Frozen" soundtrack clocked a 12th week at No. 1 on the weekly album chart, holding off new entries. "Frozen," which features the Oscar-winning song "Let It Go," sold another 115,000 copies last week, bringing its cumulative U.S. sales to 2.5 million, according to figures from Nielsen Soundscan. Last week, "Frozen" ousted the soundtrack of Walt Disney Co's 1994 movie "The Lion King" to become the animated film soundtrack with the longest run at the top of the Billboard 200 chart. ... Full Story | Top |
| A Minute With: Composer Julian Anderson about his opera "Thebans" Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014 10:51 AM PDT  By Michael Roddy LONDON (Reuters) - Everyone knows what happened to Oedipus, the ancient king who angered the Fates by killing his father and marrying his mother. But Julian Anderson's opera "Thebans", based on Sophocles's versions of those ancient stories, still packs some surprises. Anderson, 47, who is often ranked among the top flight of British composers, has been writing music since he was 12. "Thebans", which will have its premiere at the English National Opera on Saturday, is his first opera - and is more than double the length of anything he has written before. Full Story | Top |
| Abu Dhabi's Louvre displays treasures at the Paris one Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014 10:17 AM PDT  By Johnny Cotton PARIS (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi hopes eventually to lure tourists to its own branch of the Louvre museum, but pending its opening in 2015 some of its treasures have gone on display at the place that inspired it - the Louvre in Paris. "Birth of a Museum: Louvre Abu Dhabi" is a presentation of works from across the globe, part of the Abu Dhabi museum's permanent collection which has been built up with the help of advisers from the Paris Louvre. Backers hope the pieces, once returned to Abu Dhabi, will help create a cultural hub in the Gulf Arab state. There they will bask under a giant dome by architect Jean Nouvel in a 64,000-square-meter (690,000-square-feet) museum, one of three museums planned on an island near the center of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Although the deal to open a Gulf branch of the Louvre originally sparked some concern that France was signing away its cultural heritage, such worries were brushed aside as French President Francois Hollande inaugurated the exhibition in Paris on Tuesday. "For France, the Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi is an exceptional building site," Hollande told the project's backers, including a delegation from the UAE. Full Story | Top |
| Actor Bob Hoskins, lauded for British mobster roles, dies aged 71 Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014 09:50 AM PDT  By Michael Roddy LONDON (Reuters) - British actor Bob Hoskins, whose roles ranged from London gangsters to FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover and who starred opposite a cast of cartoon characters in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", has died after a bout of pneumonia, his publicist said on Wednesday. A statement issued on behalf of his wife Linda and his children said: "We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Bob. Bob died peacefully at hospital last night surrounded by family, following a bout of pneumonia." Hoskins announced his retirement from acting in 2012, saying at the time that he was suffering from Parkinson's disease, an incurable muscular disorder. Moving into big film roles, his turn as a mobster in 1980s "The Long Good Friday" shot him to stardom and defined his tough guy persona. He was nominated for a best actor Oscar in 1987 for "Mona Lisa", in which he starred opposite Sir Michael Caine and Robbie Coltrane, and won a Golden Globe award. Full Story | Top |
| Spider-Man swings back to big screen, trapped in web of love Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014 04:13 AM PDT  Being Peter Parker however is much more difficult, especially when it comes to love. And it's Peter's conflicted, earth-bound romance with teen girlfriend Gwen Stacy that drives "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," opening in U.S. movie theaters on Friday. It is the heart of Peter and the heart of his story," said British-American actor Andrew Garfield, who dons the iconic super-hero's blue and red suit for a second time. Columbia Pictures' "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" reunites Garfield with Emma Stone as Gwen and director Marc Webb in another action-packed tale of the Marvel comic book crime fighter. Full Story | Top |
| A Minute With: Thomas Middleditch on nerding out in life and on TV Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014 04:11 AM PDT  By Mary Milliken LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As the star of the new HBO tech-world comedy "Silicon Valley," Thomas Middleditch might be channeling an early version of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, with his hoodie, ginger hair, social awkwardness and twitchy nervousness. "But it's not a one-to-one Zuckerberg," says show director Mike Judge (of "Beavis and Butt-head" fame), while Judge's collaborator Alec Berg says "there was never a moment in any of this that was like 'Do it more Zuckerberg.'" Until he landed the lead role of Richard, a computer programmer with a coveted compression algorithm, the 32-year-old Middleditch had played mostly smaller, "crazy guy" parts. Now, the comedy writer and actor gets a second season after HBO renewed "Silicon Valley" based on good reviews and ratings for the first few episodes of season one. Full Story | Top |
| Colorado symphony strikes high note in cannabis-friendly concert Tuesday, Apr 29, 2014 10:03 PM PDT The Colorado Symphony is giving new meaning to hitting a high note, announcing on Tuesday a bring-your-own marijuana concert series, the first of which features its chamber ensemble and South-of-the-border food and booze. The U.S. states of Colorado and Washington became the first to legalize the possession and use of recreational cannabis in 2012, and the first retail pot shops opened in Colorado in January. The orchestra's "Classically Cannabis: The High Note Series" seeks to tap the blossoming market in a series of summer fundraising concerts, at a time when more than half of Colorado voters believe legalizing recreational marijuana has been good for the state, a recent poll showed. The Denver Post newspaper reported the events are aimed at boosting attendance, including drawing younger concert-goers, at a time when the Colorado Symphony has struggled financially. Full Story | Top |
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