dirac

Fair enough, but Disney didn’t create the character, the name, or anything apart from that one particular image of Aurora, and they appear to be trying to copyright the name. It can be very hard to say in advance what Disney’s lawyers will or will not care about. The foregoing list is pretty wide-ranging. I would also think that their trademark on the character as they’ve designed her is already on the books or should be??

Thanks, smitty1931. A dramatization or biopic doesn't have to be phony (although all too often they are). A good, or even mediocre, movie about Fonteyn would bring her name and story to people who might not know much about her and might even be fun to watch.

Tired or no, it was a remarkably insensitive and undiplomatic thing to say. Even after the most savage layoffs employers generally manage to summon up some boilerplate about the former employees' value to the organization, etc.

Yes, I couldn't believe that one when I posted it yesterday on the Links. An awful thing to say.

Orlando Ballet is losing a third of its dancers. Some are leaving voluntarily, others are fired. Nice quote from Hill. Don't let the door hit you on your way out, etc. At least he seems to have told the dismissed dancers himself.

Thanks for the heads up, Hans, even after the fact. I hope they can do the same for ballet.

Yes it looks very strange - as if there's some kind of a growth on the foot.

Thank you for starting the topic, smitty1931. I too wish that more imagination was shown in these matters. There seems to be a prejudice in favor of well known evening long ballets (even mediocre ones such as the Lubovitch Othello performed by San Francisco Ballet and broadcast on PBS).

Thanks for the links, iinnopac, I enjoyed reading them. Interesting comments on Balanchine. Greetings and welcome to the board, darlindancer.

Christopher Tolkien publishes a long verse poem, ‘The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún,’ by his father. If any Tolkien fans read it I hope they will tell us about it here. Review in brief.

Agreed. Housekeeping is a classic already, but Gilead put me to sleep and I can only attribute the hosannas it received from critics as a "welcome back, don't go away" message to Robinson. Never got around to Home. That's a good question. I'm not sure.

It’s customary now. If you watch reruns of older sitcoms like Seinfeld, Friends, and Frasier, you’ll note that there are follow up jokes that run through the credits, but those are pretty much out the window. The running times of shows are shorter now and to keep people from channel surfing the beginning of one show often follows the end of the previous show immediately, and the closing credits can be used to promote other shows.

One of the chief amusements of "I Married a Communist" for me was observing Roth hit back at Claire Bloom for her memoir, "Leaving a Doll's House," which, among other things, recounted how a bad review from John Updike sent him into an emotional tailspin. (Although there is a splendid passage in IMAC about Nixon's funeral, now that I think about it.) "The Name of the Rose" didn't hold my attention, either, although I thought I would like it.

I gave up on Roth after "I Married a Communist" and I find the glowing reviews he tends to receive nowadays a little puzzling. Would be interested to hear from those with a differing view! I think 'Great Books' is a a fine idea for a thread (and I think we may even have one, I'll have to check) but let's keep to the topic here as much as we can. Thanks, all.

Thanks for posting, Ray. I had meant to put something up but hadn't gotten around to it. Duffy seems a solid choice, a poet with popular and critical appeal. It's a tough role because as Andrew Motion points out in the article you linked to, the British press seem to enjoy kicking around the poet laureate's official efforts. Times have changed and it seems both poet and public are understandably less comfortable with the idea of nuzzling up to royalty in verse, although some great poetry in that vein was produced in centuries past. Related story.

Thanks for the link, Fleegull. Let's hope the trademark Nazis over at Disney have finally overstepped with this one.

I'm sure you're right. The only continuation of a famous book I was ever tempted to try was the Gone with the Wind sequel, out of curiosity, and I was unable to finish it. I love Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea, which is a kind of prequel to Jane Eyre, but it's far above other books of that ilk.

Thanks, AnthonyNYC. I see what you mean. I liked Porter, too, although I respected his knowledge, passion, and judgment better that some of his actual writing, which could often be on the dullish side, I regret to say. (Ross sometimes tries to hard in the opposite direction.) That's a time-honored view, whetherwax. I go back and forth on that one, myself. I think that's true, leonid. Any other authors/works of repute or high buzz content that you didn't like as much as others did, BTers?

"Black Book" is very entertaining, on its own movie-movie terms. Paul Verhoeven and Ang Lee have very different artistic priorities. I'm sorry I missed it during its theatrical run.

Often as not the 'buzz' is skillful marketing as opposed to real word-of-mouth. And the Rest is Noise is one of those books I've been meaning to get to, etc. Ross is a pretty good writer and it's one of those books that I would expect to like. What made it so hard to get through? I couldn't make it through The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen when it seemed everyone was talking about it. The politics of book clubs are an interesting subject. (I tried joining two, and dropped out quickly. In both cases the selections were much as you describe.)

Thanks for posting, Cristian. Tragic, indeed.

Sometimes I'm afraid to go back. I went back to "Little Women" and was sorry I did. Are there contemporary books that anyone has read out of duty? A best seller or widely praised book that everyone seems to be talking about?

I recently saw "Black Book" on cable. It's kind of like "Lust, Caution" on steroids. If I got my history only from movies, I would assume that resistance movements are full of beautiful women going undercover and falling madly in love with the oppressor. Well, all I can say is that if joining the resistance involves romantic evenings with Sebastian Koch and a little roughhouse from Tony Leung, just tell me where to sign up.

You might try "The Golden Girls" one of these days. They've been repeating the shows on cable recently in Arthur's memory and they hold up well. Some really excellent writing and ensemble acting.

Thanks for that quote, Quiggin. I hate the word “evocative” but it fits. I’ll have to look up the whole thing. It was a piece by Kleinzahler that directed me to Kenneth Cox. Kleinzahler and I are both devoted to “Briggflatts” but Gunn leaves me cold, too. I didn’t know he’d called Bishop twee but it doesn’t surprise me. But then poets aren’t always to be trusted when criticizing each other. Robert Graves had some very odd views on his fellows, but in terms of his own aesthetic they made sense. But I don’t see how twee and Bishop go together no matter where you’re coming from.