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12 Bloodbath! tom Wolfe mauled for new novel Back to Blood NEWS DESK
Sharmila Tagore gets honorary doctorate
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eTeran actress Sharmila Tagore has been awarded honorary doctorate of arts by theedinburgh napier University for heroutstanding contribution to Indian cinema. The 67year-old, the great-grand niece of noted poet rabindranath Tagore, received the honour Thursday. "It is indeed a privilege to be conferred an Honorary degree by edinburgh napier University. It recognises the significant influence of Indian Cinema on the global cultural arena and the small role that I have played in its history. as we celebrate a hundred years of Indian Cinema, this is both a happy and humbling moment," Sharmila said in a statement. The honour comes just months after the university's Institute for Creative Industries opened the Scottish Centre for Tagore Studies (SCoTS), the first centre of its kind in Britain. SCoTS promotes Indian culture, education, philosophy, art and literature by highlighting the legacy of rabindranath Tagore, the first asian to win the nobel Prize for literature in 1913. "Sharmila has had an astonishing career and her films are enjoyed all over the world. She is an excellent ambassador for Indian culture and at the same time, through her various charity endeavours, is a strong advocate for the educational rights of children in India," said dame Joan Stringer, principal and vice-chancellor of edinburgh napier University. nEWS DESK
Jessica Biel changing surname to Timberlake
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ewlywed Jessica Biel is ready for all the changes that come with married life including taking her hubby Justin Timberlake's last name as her surname. The 30-yearold actress who wed the 'Friends with Benefits' star on October 19 in Italy said, "yes, I'm changing my name." "My professional name will still be the same, but for life, yes, I think it sounds great," People magazine quoted her as saying. "I think I really won the jackpot of names," she added. nEWS DESK
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E MAY BE the founder of New Journalism and a master of social satire but American literary critics have slammed Tom Wolfe's fourth novel, the Miami-set Back to Blood, expressing disappointment at the glib plot, "unpleasant cardboard characters" and chaotic, contrived writing. Panned variously as "preposterous", "contrived" and "utterly unbelievable", the 722-page novel tackles the disparate nature of modern Miami, a melting pot of young, ambitious Cuban Americans, image-obsessed Wasps basking in the spotlight of celebrity and bawdy Russian oligarchs who control the city's multi-million dollar art scene. After his 2004 novel I Am Charlotte Simmons was similarly savaged for its heavy-handed moralising and sensationalised portrayal of college life, fans hoped Back to Blood would be a return to form for Wolfe, 81, who has attempted to excavate the world of Miami in much the same way he did New York in his much-lauded first novel, Bonfire of the Vanities. But Back to Blood is no Bonfire, says USA Today's Deirdre Donahue, who pointed out that although Wolfe has "never written realistic fiction", in his previous novels you "believed the characters could exist and, more importantly, you cared about their fates". Esquire's Benjamin Alsup agreed, saying there are "no characters in Back to Blood, only caricatures, cartoonish stereotypes that are little more than reflections of their sociocultural contexts". It's like a "camp skit that drags on till long after the fire has burned out", moans The Washington Post, despairing that Wolfe's "essentialist statements – about the way Cubans are, the way blacks are, even the way men and women are – reduce everyone to not-
very-interesting types". Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times was not much kinder, comparing its "predictable set-pieces" to the same sort of "smarmy voyeurism that weighed down I Am Charlotte Simmons", though she did commend the portrayal of Wolfe's two main characters: Nestor Camacho, a macho Cuban-American cop, and his ambitious former sweetheart, Magdelena. "[Wolfe] portrays them with genuine sympathy, using their earnest idealism as a prism by which to view the pretensions, social climbing and Machiavellian manipulation that burbles all around them". While many critics have deplored the book's peculiarly slow pace, Thomas Mallon in the New York Times Sunday Book Review praised Wolfe's ability to "texture the novel's terrain", and his ability to unfold the story with "a lot of leisure and recap". Littered with Wolfe's trademark cacophonous punctuation, Back to Blood will occasionally cause the reader to "balk at a clumsy amalgamation", says Mallon. "I doubt Nestor would know the word ‘aubergine' — or think of a woman's ‘loamy loins'." Esquire, Woolf's publishing birthplace, lamented that the novel lacks the kind of "deep reporting that Wolfe prides himself on. "I don't think the world that Wolfe depicts exists anywhere," says Alsup. "The guy needs to get out more."
ASIN hAS A wOrKINg bIrThdAY,TurNS 26 ON SETS Today, Asin will bring in her birthday minus friends, family and time to relax. She’ll be on the sets of Khiladi 786, in which she is paired with Akshay Kumar. But if the actor’s disappointed, she isn’t showing it. “I was on the sets since 5 pm and will be shooting till morning, so I’ve had no option but to bring in my birthday on the sets.
Since Akshay is away shooting for another film in Delhi, I’m shooting my solo scenes now,” she says, adding that this is the first time she’s celebrating a birthday at work. Asin claims she isn’t a big fan of the annual celebrations, but nonetheless, she tries to spend as much time as she can with her family and friends. “What can I do about
it (having to work)? I can’t shirk it. I’ve never been too high on getting gifts and having people wish me, but of course, it feels good when they do,” says the actor, unaware if her family has made any plans for the day. On the work front, there’s only Khiladi 786 as of now. “Till I sign on the dotted line, it doesn’t make sense for me to talk about a film.” news desk
rOme: british actors daniel craig (l) and naomie harris pose during the photocall for the new James bond film Skyfall at a hotel in rome. critics in britain have declared the 23rd bond film one of the finest in the british secret agent's half century on the silver screen. AFP
Elizabeth Taylor tops Forbes dead celebrity rich list Daniel Craig was shy doing intimate scenes: Marloh
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ew Bond girl, actress Berenice Marloh says her co-star daniel Craig was very shy during a lovemaking scene in the latest spy movie Skyfall and she promised to make him comfortable. Craig, 44, was hesitant in taking off his boxers during the scene. "He was very shy and when he saw me entering the shower, he was like, 'Oh my god'. He tried to keep his underpants on for the shower scenes but I said, 'no, come on, don't be shy. I will do anything to make you feel comfortable'," thesun.co.uk quoted Marloh as saying. Skyfall is Craig's third Bond movie. He has played the iconic character in 2006 movie Casino royale and 2008 release Quantum Of Solace. Skyfall premiered in london on Oct 23. nEWS DESK
Saturday, 27 October, 2012
Elizabeth Taylor surpassed Michael Jackson as the highestearning dead celebrity in the past year, with her estate pulling in 210 million dollars, much of it from the auction of her jewels, costumes and artwork, Forbes said on Wednesday. Jackson, who died in 2009, dropped into second place with earnings of 145 million, followed by Elvis Presley with 55 million dollars. Elizabeth’s most expensive item to go under the hammer was an 1889 Van Gogh painting which sold for 16 million dollars, while her perfume, White Diamonds, made around 75 million dollars in 2011. According to the publication, Elizabeth’s estate also made money from property sales and from her films as after starring in 1963 drama ‘Cleopatra’, the actress - who died in March 2011 aged 79 - negotiated a 10 per cent ownership stake in each of her movies. news desk
Pattinson waxwork unveiled at Madame tussauds
Full lIST OF FOrbES MAgAzINE’S TOP-EArNINg dEAd CElEbrITIES: 1. dame Elizabeth (210m dollars) 2. Michael Jackson (140m dollars) 3. Elvis Presley (55m dollars) 4. Charles Schulz (37m dollars) 5. bob Marley (17 million dollars) 6. John lennon (12m dollars) 7. Marilyn Monroe (10m dollars) 8. Albert Einstein (10m dollars) 9. dr. Seuss (9 million dollars) 10. Steve Mcqueen (8m dollars) 11. bettie Page (8 million dollars) 12. richard rogers (6m dollars) 13. george harrison (5.5m dollars)
Fans of Twilight hottie Robert Pattinson swamped Madame Tussauds in the city of Blackpool on Tuesday to get their photo taken with the institution's latest famous wax figure. The 26-year-old actor’s lifesized “likeness” was guarded by four extra bouncers- hired by Managers at Madame Tussauds- to stop frenzied Twi-hards from damaging the waxwork - which took four months and a staggering 150,000 pounds to create, reports the Sun. Tussauds’ wizards of wax even dressed the figure in Rob’s trademark suit jacket, jeans and skinny tie. The wax R-Patz will mingle with the likes of the Queen, Will and Kate and The Beatles in Blackpool until November - when the figure will embark on a tour of other Madame Tussauds museums around the world. news desk