A new German study finds sleep is essential for creativity. Hmm, well that explains a lot over in these parts.
Category: Arts and Letters
Sigh.
More news on the Hitchhiker’s front: Apparently Warwick (Willow) Davis will be playing Marvin the Paranoid Android, and this Marvin prototype suit by Jim Henson’s workshop leaks online. I really like this look for Marv, not that he really cares one way or another what a pea-brained humanoid like me finds appealing, mind you.
6×7.
The forthcoming Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy film gets its Arthur Dent, and it’s apparently this fellow: Martin Freeman, of Love Actually and The Office, neither of which I’ve seen. Well, he looks like an ordinary bloke, which is half the battle. (The other half is straight-man timing.) Apparently, Bill Nighy (also of Love Actually, but I only know him as the Big Bad in the very lame Underworld) is playing Slartibartfast, and I also think that’s pretty good casting. Now for Ford Prefect…Steve Coogan? Keira Knightley as Trillian? Andy Serkis as Zaphod Beeblebrox’s second head?
Now what?
With the Lord of the Rings sadly, inevitably drawing to its conclusion, the Post delves into His Dark Materials. Hopefully, the powers-that-be will have the sense to get Brett Ratner the hell away from this project.
Inklings and Linklings.
Two recent items of interest from Salon: Steven Hart explores the Christian feuds and friendship of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, while Michelle Goldberg examines the rise of the right’s worst nightmare, MoveOn.org.
Watercolor on Vinyl.
By way of Scrubbles, the Greatest Album Covers that never were, including Kurt Vonnegut’s Phish cover.
Revisionist History.
After several notable historians question the case in the NY Times, Tim Noah of Slate revisits the plagiarism allegations surrounding Doris Kearns Goodwin. I must say, it still looks pretty ugly, although I am curious to read her forthcoming Lincoln book.
Pillars of Fire.
ABT and Gill‘s City Center season opens to grand reviews: “Gillian Murphy as Hagar, the repressed heroine, knew that a Tudor dancer emotes through movement, not the face, and much of her impact came through sheer muscular power, especially in her space-devouring leaps…The beauty of Ms. Murphy’s performance was in its contrast, between her dazed outcast and a desperate but not hysterical woman whose emotions visibly surge through her body.” Also in dance news, the Globe profiles Ethan Stiefel, my sister’s boyfriend.
White Bear Down.
Will Ridley Scott direct His Dark Materials? Monty Python‘s Terry Jones seems to think so. Hmmm, I dunno…I suppose a Scott Materials might be interesting, but it might also be Legend. Update: Debunked.
Hari and the Mule.
On the heels of the Rings trilogy, Isaac Asimov‘s Foundation gets the green light, with Jeff Vintar writing (with I, Robot, this will be his second Asimov project) and Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) directing. I’m down, although I’d think much of the first book will be particularly hard to translate into cinema.