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

History channel announces new original programming

History (formerly known as The History Channel) unveiled its most aggressive slate of original programming to date today. The network's 2009-2010 schedule will include: the 12-part series America: The Story of Us, which chronicles the rise of the United States; Pawning History, about a family of Las Vegas pawn shop operators; Madhouse, which follows the action at a North Carolina racetrack; and WWII in HD, which offers up color footage from the 1940s war in high-definition. History also will ai

How Avedon Blurred His Own Image

His gift was not merely for the alive moment — the model, her chin up, leaping cleanly over a puddle. Rather, it was for knowing which of the myriad of gestures produced the truest sense of the moment. Whiteside found Avedon’s process utterly unique, explaining he “exercised meticulous control over his model, almost as though he were working from a blueprint.” That blueprint is, broadly, the subject of a retrospective at the International Center of Photography, from May 15 to Sept.

The President And The Pirate

Pity the poor historian a couple hundred years from now, at a loss to figure out why Barack Obama, an American president at the start of the 21st century, was photographed meeting in the Oval Office with – a pirate. What kind of unexplained policy initiative was being played out in this photo, the historian might wonder, perhaps confusing it for something other than what it was: a gag – one of doze

Forget Tom Cruise--Read The True Story Of The Nazi Plot To Assassinate Hitler

Try to imagine the following scenario. It is the winter of 1944 and the great German offensive in the Ardennes is threatening to push the Allied forces into the sea. To avert this disaster, General Patton, commander of the US Third Army, approaches General Bradley, commander of the 12th Army Group, and General Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, with the proposition that they assist in the assassination of President Roosevelt. He holds the president responsible for America's part

Is it a Michelangelo? Done when he was a teen?

The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth has acquired what some scholars now say is the first known painting made by Michelangelo. And if he created it, he did so when he was only 12 or 13. This latest research holds that Michelangelo painted “The Torment of St. Anthony” between 1487 and 1488. That would make it one of only four known easel paintings by Michelangelo — another is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and two unfinished ones are in the National Gallery of Art in London — and

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: The Concert

The Public LAB presentation of Alex Timbers and Michael Friedman's Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: The Concert Version begins its limited engagement May 5 downtown. The rock musical, which made its world premiere in January 2008 at the Center Theatre Group, has been reconfigured for the Public LAB presentation, which is directed by book writer Timbers. Featuring music and lyrics by the Civilians' Friedman, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson runs though May 24 at the Public. The

Ben Hur: The blockbuster no one will understand

On-stage chariot races, herds of horses, camels, vultures, eagles, 400 performers and a supporting cast which includes Jesus Christ, Tiberius Julius Caesar and Pontius Pilate ... What else to do but set Ben-Hur the stage show in Latin and Aramaic? The £5m production will show at the 20,000-seat O2 arena in London from 15-19 September. Only one song in the score – written by Stewart Copeland, formerly a rock drummer for the Police – will be composed in English. Actors

AHR Forum: “Simon Schama’s A History of Britain”

Interestingly, the AHR Forum on “Simon Schama’s A History of Britain,” like the Roundtable, “Historians and Biography,” also deals with a genre of historical representation about which historians are somewhat ambivalent. Though it also appeared as a three-volume publication, Schama’s A History of Britain is most widely known as a BBC production in 15 episodes. We asked three historians to consider this popular program, as well as the book. Miri Rubin looks at it from the perspective of a medieva

High Noon, Godfather II, Grand Illusion, and 22 other indispensable movies for understanding war and diplomacy.

Last week, in the online edition of Slate's sister publication Foreign Policy, two of its regular bloggers, Stephen M. Walt and Daniel W. Drezner, drew up lists of what they regard as the best movies ever made about international relations. Both are eminent international-relations professors, Walt at Harvard, Drezner at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. It's no surprise that neither of them gives our own film critic, Dana Stevens—or, for that matter, Gene Shalit—the slightest cause for worry. It is a shock, though, how lightly they've dipped into their own profession's vast cultural pool. Walt was inspired to compile the list after a friend told him about a film festival featuring more than 30 movies about wine. "That got me thinking," he writes. "If Foreign Policy had a film festival, what movies should we show?" A couple of his selections are no-brainers: Dr. Strangelove, the ultimate satire of the nuclear arms race and the Cold War mentality; and Casablanca, the ultimate romance (though far from the best movie) about occupation and resistance. The rest, however, range from lame to puzzling.

Jon Stewart to Make History Special

Jon Stewart, who knows a thing or two about irony, will create a two-hour special on a perfect target—the U.S. naturalization process—for History Channel, to air in the fourth quarter. Stewart's show, The Naturalized, is among the highlights of History's most substantial programming investment ever. The network's robust slate of specials and series, to be announced May 14 at History's upfront presentation, ranges from a sweeping 12-part series about the creation of America, to a cri

CBS feature on Walker Evans's postcards--now on exhibit at the Met

Old postcards are not what you would expect to find exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City — except these came from the collection of Walker Evans, one of the most important photographers in 20th century America.

The Eiffel Tower wasn't always a beloved icon

[Ms. Jonnes is the author of "Eiffel's Tower" just out from Viking Press.] On May 15, the Eiffel Tower, the world's most celebrated monument and the iconic symbol of Paris, celebrates its 120th anniversary. Strikingly, the fame and allure of this improbable wrought-iron masterpiece have only grown with the passing decades. The tower, built by railway-bridge engineer Gustave Eiffel, has become a ubiquitous global image connoting modernity and glamour, while visitors who exp

Iran: Preservation Techniques for “Salt Men” to Be Upgraded

Iran plans to improve preservation efforts for its ancient salt men. The first step has been taken by making cases for four of them being kept at Zanjan’s Zolfaqari Museum in a critical condition. Six salt men, known as Iranian mummies, were discovered over the past 12 years at the Chehrabad Salt Mine around a place, which is surmised to be a collapsed tunnel built by the Achaemenids and was also in use during the Sassanid era. The salt mine is located in t

Biocides inducing resistance in Lascaux cave’s microbes

Biocides used in recent years to treat the growth of a black fungus on the cave-art-festooned walls of France’s Lascaux cave have eradicated some populations of human-introduced bacteria and fungi. However, those that remain — including some related to known human pathogens — are becoming biocide-resistant, researchers report in an upcoming issue of Naturwissenschaften. The new findings come from analyses of around a dozen samples taken from several areas in the cave between April 2

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio help pay nursing home fees for last Titanic survivor

Hollywood actors Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio have given cash to help pay the nursing home fees of the last survivor of the Titanic. Oscar winner Winslet, 33, and DiCaprio, 34, who made their international names in the 1997 film about the sinking of the liner were approached by a charity to help 97-year-old Millvina Dean. The film's director James Cameron has also made a donation. Miss Dean from the New Forest, Hampshire, was just nine weeks old when

Controversy over cleaning of ancient art in Utah

An archaeologist claims someone has been secretly cleaning a Utah tourist attraction. If so, the mysterious high-pressure washes may be damaging world-famous rock art in Nine Mile Canyon. A tourist-friendly development was just completed near the rock art. Fence-rails were put up, a pedestrian walkway was created, and the gravel road was moved further away from ancient Indian art called The Great Hunt Panel. It was a collaborative effort by government, industry and archeology lovers to preserve

Tearful Yoko Ono defends John Lennon murder clothes exhibit

A tearful Yoko Ono has defended the inclusion of a paper bag containing the bloody clothes of murdered husband - singer John Lennon in a new exhibition. Ono received the items from the medical examiner in December 1980, when the 40-year-old former Beatle was gunned down in New York City. "It was hard to include," Ono said. "And I thought it might be criticised as well." But ultimately, Ono said she thought it was important to let people

Liverpool Museums will give Aboriginal remains back to Australia

A HUMAN skull will be the first of three sets of remains returned to the Australian nation by National Museums Liverpool this year. It will be handed over to representatives of the Ngarrindjeri indigenous people in a traditional ceremony held at World Museum Liverpool tomorrow. The event, which follows a private commemoration, involves rituals including a smoking ceremony using smouldering eucalyptus leaves in a bowl. Dates for returning the remains of two

NYT Critic: Post-9/11 Realities Warp a Soaring Memorial Design

When Santiago Calatrava unveiled his design for a luminous glass-and-steel transportation hub for ground zero in January 2004, government officials touted it as a 21st-century version of Grand Central Terminal — one of the few bright spots in a development plan crippled by politics, petty self-interests and the weight of the site’s history. We should have known better. During the next several years the project’s cost spiraled to $3.2 billion from $2 billion. The scheduled completion

Does literary tourism enhance or cheapen the experience of reading?

Arriving in London for the first time many years ago, I hadn't shaken off my jet lag before heading directly to London Bridge, where I walked with the morning crowds ("so many, / I had not thought death had undone so many"), and, fixing my eyes before my feet, "flowed up the hill and down King William Street, / to where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours / With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine." Following in the footsteps of T.S. Eliot's dreary commute to his tedious