Lenny Kravitz cancels Asia tour, blames scheduling issues |
- Lenny Kravitz cancels Asia tour, blames scheduling issues
- Prince William and Japan emperor swaps royal notes
- How Leonard Nimoy’s Spock became a sex symbol — Virginia Postrel
- Thief returns Lupita Nyong’o’s US$150,000 Oscar gown ― via TMZ (VIDEO)
- Two killed, one hurt in two-vehicle collision at Gurun
- Ever present reminder of US$500m Boston art heist mystery
| Lenny Kravitz cancels Asia tour, blames scheduling issues Posted: 27 Feb 2015 05:08 PM PST
The singer-songwriter, whose mix of rock with soul and funk elements has won him a wide international following, had been scheduled to head in March to Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia before a series of dates in Australia. "Unfortunately, due to contractual scheduling conflicts beyond my control I will not be able to come," Kravitz said in a statement, apologising to fans. Kravitz said he hoped to reschedule the concerts but did not immediately announce new dates. Tickets will be refunded. The 50-year-old musician recently took to the stage with mega pop star Katy Perry at the Super Bowl, the American football title match which is the most-watched annual event in the United States. Kravitz has kept a 21-date tour of Europe starting in June, as well as an appearance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in early May. ― AFP  |
| Prince William and Japan emperor swaps royal notes Posted: 27 Feb 2015 05:02 PM PST
The young scion of the House of Windsor was welcomed by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at the entrance of the imposing palace, which is cut off from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo by a large moat. Akihito, whose family claims to be able to trace its imperial ancestry for thousands of years looked frail next to the hearty former helicopter pilot, whose wife, Kate, is due to give birth to the couple's second child in April. Pictures showed William, 32, shaking hands with the 81-year-old emperor, and Japanese media reported he had thanked the royal couple for an invitation that had brought him to Japan for the first time. Speaking at a reception later in the day, William said he was "immensely honoured to have been received by Their Majesties". William, who is also Duke of Cambridge, later met Crown Prince Naruhito at a separate palace for a tea ceremony. The younger prince towered above his Japanese counterpart, standing a good head and shoulders taller than a man who lives a different, more cloistered existence than the jet-set lifestyles of William and his brother, Harry. On the death of his father, Naruhito will inherit the Chrysanthemum Throne, a role that was largely stripped of its quasi-religious mystique by American occupiers after World War II. William had spent the morning paying tribute to British and other soldiers who gave their lives during those hostilities over seven decades ago, laying a wreath at a Commonwealth War Cemetery in Yokohama, near Tokyo. The cemetery is the resting place of 1,700 prisoners of war brought to Japan as forced labourers during Tokyo's ill-fated stomp through Asia, which ended in brutal atomic defeat in 1945. Memories of Diana The young prince became the latest in a line of distinguished British visitors to the cemetery, after former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Queen Elizabeth, and his mother, the late Princess Diana. William looked at pictures of his mother's visits — in 1990 and 1995 — and footage of her trip was replayed on Japanese television. The Princess of Wales was immensely popular in Japan, her visits setting off so-called "Diana Fever" as tens of thousands flocked to meet her and as women sought to copy her carefully-coiffured hair and stylish dress-sense. The young prince has something of that star power for many Japanese, who speak admiringly of his apparent warmth and ease with members of the public, although the absence of Kate and baby George has dimmed the appeal a little. At a function to promote British industry in the afternoon, William looked slightly sheepish in a bright red "happi", a traditional Japanese housecoat, as he joined a Japanese astronaut to swing a wooden hammer and crack open a barrel of sake. Following a reception at the British Embassy later, William was due to set off today for Japan's northeast, the area that was devastated by a huge earthquake and tsunami in 2011. More than 19,000 people died in the natural disaster, which also set off a nuclear emergency in Fukushima. Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes when three of the plant's reactors went into meltdown, spewing toxic radiation over a large area. Many of those made homeless by the disaster remain displaced, and scientists say it could be decades before some areas are safe for human habitation again. William is due to leave Japan tomorrow, bound for Beijing. — AFP |
| How Leonard Nimoy’s Spock became a sex symbol — Virginia Postrel Posted: 27 Feb 2015 04:59 PM PST FEBRUARY 28 — When "Star Trek" debuted in 1966, showing a beautiful black woman and a dashing Asian man as bridge officers was an idealistic political statement. Turning someone who looked like Leonard Nimoy into a sex symbol, however, was entirely unintentional.
That's why he fit the part of Spock. "All I wanted at first was pointed ears and a faintly satanic appearance," said series creator Gene Roddenberry in "The Making of Star Trek," published in 1968. Spock's "alien features"—as Roddenberry called them in the book—weren't limited to prostheses. Nimoy was handsome, but not in a way that Hollywood in 1966 recognized. He didn't look like a leading man. He looked like what he was: the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. And if you looked like that, you were a character actor, not a star. But Nimoy became a star. He was a Method actor and in creating Spock, he gave what could have been a gimmicky, two— dimensional character hidden depths. Those hidden depths in turn gave him sex appeal. Within the show's plots, Captain Kirk was the lady killer. But Spock was the one who made female viewers swoon. Spock offered alienated nerds a glamorous role model—an ideal self in ideal circumstances. Nimoy had to remind fans that the character wasn't real and wasn't him: His 1975 memoir was titled "I Am Not Spock."
But in an important way, he was. Not only was the actor largely responsible for the character's compelling personality. Nimoy also provided Spock's physical form—and by doing so helped change the face of Hollywood. If actors like Jeff Goldblum and Adrien Brody aren't stuck playing villains, it's partly because Nimoy proved that looks like theirs could be not satanic but sexy. * To contact the author on this story: Virginia Postrel at vpostrel@bloomberg.net. ** This is the personal opinion of the columnist. |
| Thief returns Lupita Nyong’o’s US$150,000 Oscar gown ― via TMZ (VIDEO) Posted: 27 Feb 2015 04:55 PM PST LOS ANGELES, Feb 28 ― The US$150,000 (RM541,499) Oscar gown worn by actress Lupita Nyong'o that was stolen two days ago was returned yesterday by the thief, who tipped off celebrity news site TMZ.com after finding out that the pearls on the dress were fake. TMZ said the thief took the Calvin Klein dress from Nyong'o's hotel room on Wednesday after finding the door ajar. The Kenyan actress had worn the dress adorned with 6,000 pearls to Sunday's Academy Awards in one of the most commented looks of the night. The thief and others removed two pearls from the dress and took them to the Garment District in downtown Los Angeles where they were told they were not real, according to TMZ. The thief then took the dress back to the London West Hollywood hotel and told TMZ it was in a garment bag inside a trash bag in a bathroom.
TMZ then tipped off the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in West Hollywood, which was investigating the theft. The website shows grainy footage of an unidentified person opening the bag and finding a white dress. Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Guillermina Saldana said they were "in the process of confirming" the story. ― Reuters |
| Two killed, one hurt in two-vehicle collision at Gurun Posted: 27 Feb 2015 04:49 PM PST
Kuala Muda District Police chief, ACP Khalil Arifin said two male occupants who were pinned inside the car were killed and the driver of the four-wheel-drive vehicle was slightly hurt in the 3.46 pm incident. "The road was slippery because it was raining when the mishap took place. It is believed the car had entered the opposite lane and collided with the other vehicle. The four-wheel-drive vehicle burst in flames but the driver was rescued in the nick of time. "We have yet to identify all of the victims. The two trapped bodies which were retrieved from the car by firemen and the injured victim were sent to the Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital," he told Bernama when contacted here, yesterday. Meanwhile, Guar Chempedak Fire and Rescue station Senior Fire Officer II P. Manimaran said 12 firemen with two fire engines rushed to the scene after receiving a distress call at 3.46 pm and arrived, at the scene 20 minutes later. — Bernama |
| Ever present reminder of US$500m Boston art heist mystery Posted: 27 Feb 2015 04:48 PM PST
It has been almost 25 years since 13 artworks worth some US$500 million (RM1.8b) were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in the largest art heist in US history. The statute of limitations for prosecuting the thieves has long expired but officials at the private museum and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have not given up hope of recovering the missing works, which include including Rembrandt's "Storm on the Sea of Galilee," Vermeer's "The Concert" and Manet's "Chez Tortoni." The Gardner's remaining collection is sizable, boasting some 2,500 pieces that range from a Roman mosaic of Medusa to ancient Chinese bronzes, reflecting the eclectic tastes of the turn-of-the-century collector from whom it takes its name. More unusual are the four empty frames that hang in the galleries. They are a quirk of Gardner's will that turned the building she called home in her final years over to the public as a museum after her 1924 death, on the condition that the collection not be changed. Anthony Amore, the museum's chief of security, described the empty frames as "placeholders, signs of hope" that the missing art would one day be recovered. "The investigation is very active and very methodical," said Amore, a former Department of Homeland Security official who has spent much of the past decade trying to track down the missing art. "We need those works." The mystery dates to the rainy night of March 18, 1990, when two men dressed as police officers arrived at the museum's front door and security guards let them in. The pair allegedly overpowered the guards, who were found duct-taped to chairs in the museum's basement the next morning. There have been glimmers of hope of solving the crime. In March 2013, FBI officials said they had identified the thieves and asked anyone who seen the missing work, which includes etchings and other historic objects, to come forward. But a month later Boston law enforcement's attention was refocused on the fatal bombing attack at the Boston Marathon and no artwork has been recovered. The investigation has taken FBI agents as far afield as Ireland and Japan, but in recent years has been focused on the northeastern and central United States, said Geoff Kelly, the special agent in charge of the case. "It's like looking for a needle in a haystack," Kelly said. "We've been able to narrow the haystack." Eccentric patron Gardner's life was as distinctive as her art collection. A native of New York who moved north after marrying businessman Jack Gardner in 1860, she did not comport to the dour standards of the wealthy in 19th century Boston. Gardner, who had been educated in Paris, served donuts at flamboyant parties and competed with male art collectors for prize pieces. After her first and only child died at the age of two, the Gardners toured Europe extensively, adding to their collection of art and antiques. The couple commissioned the building that now houses the museum after their art holdings outgrew their home. The museum opened in 1903, five years after Jack's death. Her orders that the museum remain unchanged means that, a quarter-century on, the theft is a raw experience for first-time visitors. "Any other museum would simply paper over the loss and take down the frames and put something else up," said Andrew McClellan, a Tufts University professor specializing in museum history. "At the Gardner, it's a haunting presence that will only ever be healed by the return of the paintings." Kelly would say little about who the FBI suspects stole the art, other than allude to the Mafia. But he contends the thieves likely were not art connoisseurs, given that they left behind some its most prized pieces, including Titian's "The Rape of Europa." "These thieves were not sophisticated criminals, as evidenced by the fact that two of the paintings were cut out of their frames," Kelly said. "The significant value of the stolen artwork seems to have elevated the status of the thieves to master criminals but that's a specious assumption." — Reuters |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malay Mail Online | All To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
