Madonna’s Second Date in Israel

Madonna will resume her international Sweet & Sticky Tour in London on the 4th of July. The tour will end in Israel. After the September 1, 2009, concert in Tel Aviv quickly sold out, a second performance date was added for September 2, 2009. It has been 16 years since the pop diva last performed [...]

Hollywood Walk of Fame 2010

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce released the names of the 28 celebrities who will be honored with a pink terrazzo five-pointed star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010, the Walk’s 50th anniversary. The 2010 Hollywood Walk of Fame recipients are: Motion Pictures: James Cameron, Russell Crowe, John Cusack, Colin Firth, Gale Anne Hurd, [...]

Andrea Bocelli & Gianluca Ginoble

He is being called “the new Andrea Bocelli,” and if you watch a couple of the performance videos on YouTube of 14-year old singing prodigy Gianluca Ginoble performing in Ti Lascio Una Canzone, you will know why. The video below shows Andrea Bocelli addressing a very surprised and emotional Gianluca Ginoble. If, like mine, your [...]

The New Italian Trio, Leaving Us a Song

A friend recently shared this video on Facebook. This trio of tenors, Ignazio Boschetto, 14, Gianluca Ginoble, 14, and Piero Barone, 15, perform O Sole Mio in Italy’s talent show, Ti Lascio Una Canzone. They will amaze you: The young man in the middle, Gianluca Ginoble, was the winner of the 2009 talent show. Not [...]

Israeli or Palestinian?

Do you know the difference between an Israeli and a Palestinian? That’s not a joke and there is no punch line. It’s a question raised by Swiss photographer Olivier Suter in his project Enemies. Last March while on a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, Mr. Suter asked Palestinians for photographs that he could [...]

Mona Lisa Revealed

An exhibit entitled Joconde: From the Mona Lisa to the Nude Gioconda is on display from June 14 through September 30, 2009, at the Museo Ideale Leonardo Da Vinci in Vinci, Italy, Leonardo’s birthplace. It features 5,000 paintings, sculpture and new media created over the past 500 years, inspired by Leonardo’s immortal portrait of Mona [...]

Stupid Cellphone Tricks

TrixCell, established in 2007, is the first company to introduce the concept of mobile magic. The company was founded by its Chief Executive Officer, Shlomi Grandes, who is a lawyer and media producer, and Menny Lindenfeld, TrixCell’s Chief Creative Officer, who is an artist, graphic designer and magician. The company develops magic trick applications for [...]

Flatpack: An IKEA Opera

The opera “Flatpack” sets Swedish furniture names to song while it poses the musical question, “What is domestic harmony?” It “explores issues encountered in everyday modern life and how our consumer decisions and domestic interaction with others are indicators of more profound life choices and personalities.” Performed live by Mammoth Music Theater at IKEA Wembley [...]

Congressman Comments on Ronald Reagan Statue

Congressman Wally Herger, representing the people of California’s District 2, was on hand at the unveiling of the Ronald Reagan statue in the Capitol Rotunda on June 3, 2009. Below are his written comments about the event, and a video he recorded as he stood in front of the statue: I wanted to let you [...]

Yale, Van Gogh, Lenin and the Nationalization of Art

At first Chairman Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks seized private land and “redistributed” it to the Russian peasants. They nationalized the banks and industry. Personal property was confiscated for the state, including the art collections of the Russian industrialists. General Secretary of the Communist Party Josef Stalin sold off some of the “nationalized” art treasures [...]