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

Photographic Exhibition Marks Centenary of Scott's Voyage to South Pole (UK)

Marking the centenary of Scott's epic voyage to the South Pole, the Getty Images Gallery, in association with the Scott Polar Research Institute, is presenting a new photographic exhibition which will feature the work of Herbert Ponting, the photographer who accompanied the expedition. "The Journey South" will run from 4th February until 6th March. Herbert Ponting's beautiful and graphic photographs record the conditions faced by Robert Falcon Scott's team of men before t

Jews in Oscar films: Are they vile throwbacks to Jewish stereotypes?

Three of this year's Oscar best picture nominees have something unusual in common -- they have leading characters who are open, self-proclaimed Jews. Think about it: It's almost impossible to find any goyim in the Coen brothers' "A Serious Man," a slyly satiric look at the Jewish community in a 1967-era Midwestern town. A big chunk of Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" revolves around a raucous band of Nazi-scalping Jewish soldiers who've been assembled t

Brooklyn's Loew's Kings Theater to finally get a makeover

The rusting, dirt-caked marquee that hangs outside the Loew’s Kings Theater over a bustling commercial stretch of Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn last promoted a film in 1977. Years of neglect have left the interior rotted by time, stripped by thieves and desecrated by vandals and pigeons. New York City, which seized the building decades ago in lieu of back taxes, has long teased the neighborhood with proposals to restore the lost luster of a local landmark. But this time, the city says

Getty Museum to Explore Representations of Medieval Architecture

The architectural wonders of soaring cathedrals and majestic palaces are some of the greatest achievements of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. On view at the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Center, March 2–May 16, 2010, Building the Medieval World: Architecture in Illuminated Manuscripts explores representations of medieval architecture in manuscript illumination where artists incorporated examples of medieval church and domestic architecture into scenes drawn from scripture, literature, and

E. Boston students make game of 1775 Revolutionary War battle

History has paid little heed to the Battle of Chelsea Creek, a skirmish off East Boston in 1775 often overshadowed by more famous milestones of the American Revolution. The future may change that: A group of students at the Umana Middle School Academy have helped create a video game that may soon be available for free download to mobile devices. Impatient riders stuck on the Blue Line will be able to relive the battle on an iPhone, tapping on the touch screen as Minutemen with muske

'Drunk History' with Will Ferrell gulps down Sundance short film prize

The Sundance Film Festival is awarding some drunken ramblings with a prize. Really. "Drunk History: Douglass and Lincoln," directed by Jeremy Konner, has taken home the Sundance Jury Prize in short filmmaking, while Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland's "The Six Dollar Fifty Man" took home the international short prize. For those not familiar with the "Drunk History" shorts that have become a YouTube sensation, the premise is simple: Someone

Terracotta Army to Conquer Canada from 2010 - 2012

The launch of the 2010-2012 Canadian national tour of The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army was announced this morning at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). At the event, attended by media and special guests including The Honourable Michael Chan, Ontario Minister of Tourism and Culture, it was confirmed that the Government of China has named the ROM as the Canadian tour’s organizing museum, as well as its premiere venue. The national tour, marking the first time that the Terracotta Army h

Huntington Acquires Extensive Collection of Charles Dickens' Letters

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens announced today it will add to its Library holdings an extraordinary group of 35 letters written by Charles Dickens (1812-1870). The set of letters is one of four new acquisitions selected by the Library Collectors’ Council at its 13th annual meeting on Jan. 16. Also selected were A Monograph of the Paradiseidae, or Birds of Paradise, a spectacularly illustrated, hand-colored ornithological book published in 1873; an important group

Selection of French Masterpieces from the Pushkin Museum on View in Budapest

In its exhibition the Museum of Fine Arts will display selected masterpieces from the uniquely wealthy collection of the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. The fifty-five works in the exhibition provide an overview of French painting from the middle of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth. The show runs until the middle of April and will greet visitors with prominent works of Impressionism, Symbolism from the last decade of the nineteenth century, and the first avant-garde movements b

Simon Schama’s “Obama's America” on BBC TV

“The Administration has a long way to go to meet the Truman Standard, and its most serious impediment is the Iraq problem.” ―James M. Goldgeier and Derek H. Chollet, American Interest (2006) A year on from Barack Obama’s inauguration, Simon Schama presents a thought-provoking two-part film in which the British historian analyses the daunting challenges faced by the current administration, starting with the war in Afghanistan and asking: “What price should America

'Sphinx Alley' Gives Egypt Large Open-Air Museum

Luxor is set to become one of the world's largest open-air museums when a multimillion dollar project to restore the "Sphinx Alley" is complete in March, the governor of Luxor, Samir Farag, said Sunday. The project to restore the two-mile (three-kilometer) alley that links the grand temples of Luxor and Karnak on the east bank of the River Nile in Luxor has cost $45 million. Sphinx Alley was originally built with 1,200 statues, with one side lined up with ra

Will Winne Mandela biopic focus on heroism or crimes?

She was known to many as the Mother of the Nation, but Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the once celebrated heroine of the anti-apartheid struggle, is no stranger to controversy. Now it seems that film-makers on both sides of the Atlantic have seen the dramatic potential. Jennifer Hudson has been lined up to play the lead role in a Hollywood film of the revolutionary firebrand's life, and the BBC has filmed its own drama, Mrs Mandela, with Sophie Okonedo in the lead role.

Long Beach Museum of Art Celebrates 60th Anniversary of the Museum's Impressive Permanent Collection

The Long Beach Museum of Art announced that 2010 marks the 60th Anniversary of the Museum’s impressive permanent collection. To celebrate this exciting milestone, the Museum will present an extended exhibition series titled Celebrating Sixty, which will feature eight rotating exhibitions that respectively highlight specific elements of the rich history of the Museum’s collection. The first installment of Celebrating Sixty will offer a glimpse into the past of the Long Beach Museum

A new take on black history at the California Science Center

My visit to the California Science Center's black history exhibit this week was intended as rainy day relief; an emotional lift and respite for me from those relentless images of Haitian grief.... This exhibit -- "American I AM: The African American Imprint" -- leaves no doubt about its vision: to "celebrate nearly 500 years of African American contributions to the U.S."... The exhibit, created by broadcaster Tavis Smiley, is on its third stop in a 1

Cambridge Exhibition Drags Spies in From the Cold

The shadowy world of espionage is dragged into the spotlight at a new exhibition from the British university which gave the world the Cold War double spies Philby, Burgess and Blunt. Cambridge University Library will use recently declassified documents and "top secret" material from its own archives in its free exhibition "Under Covers: Documenting Spies" to examine the art of espionage from Biblical times to the modern era. The show draws on perso

AMC to develop miniseries on Teapot Dome scandal

AMC is set to announce a new miniseries in development -- "Black Gold: The Teapot Dome Scandal." The project from Kirk Ellis (HBO's "John Adams," TNT's "Into the West") is adapted from a nonfiction book by Laton McCartney. "Black Gold" is set in the 1920s following a scandal when big oil companies orchestrated the election of President Warren G. Harding. Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank will serve as executive producers.

Online, It’s the Mouse That Runs the Museum

...Mr. [Judson] Box’s son, Gary, died on Sept. 11, 2001, along with 11 of his fellow firefighters from Squad 1 in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Now, eight years later, Mr. Box has discovered the only known photo taken of his son that day. A few days earlier a Web user named Erik Troelsen had uploaded the image to Make History (makehistory.national911memorial.org), the Web site of the future National September 11 Museum and Memorial. Since the Make History site began in September, about 1,00

Mel Gibson to make Viking blockbuster

The Hollywood actor and director was panned by scholars for his 1995 biopic of William Wallace, amid claims it contained major historical inaccuracies. However, it went on to win five Oscars, including best picture, and took $200 million at the box office. Gibson's fascination with British history has led him to develop his new film, which will chronicle the Viking raids on England and Scotland in the ninth century.... Of the as-yet-untitled Viking epic, Gibson said: &q

Descendants of Göring, Eichmann speak out in Israeli documentary

More than sixty years after World War II, a small group of German men and women are coming to grips with the crimes of their fathers, uncles, and grandfathers. Israeli director Chanoch Zeevi engages us with the descendants of the most powerful figures in the Nazi regime, who were left a legacy that permanently associates them with one of the greatest crimes in history.... Niklas Frank, son of Hans Frank and godson of Adolf Hitler, despises his father’s past and spent much of his adu

Sotheby's to Offer the James S. Copley Library's Original Manuscripts

Beginning in April 2010, Sotheby’s New York will have the privilege of offering the James S. Copley Library, an astonishing survey in original manuscripts of American history and worldwide literary, artistic and scientific achievement. The core of the collection is its remarkable range of handwritten letters, documents, and other manuscripts which trace this history of America from the earliest incursions of Jesuit missionaries into California through the archive of letters sent by General Eisen