Popular Culture

8 December 2003


AIDS Concert Footage Disappoints, And Yet. . .
World AIDS Day saw a concert at Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa that pointed up why musicians should sing rather than talk about political issues. And why they shouldn't write songs specifically to suit the latest political fad. In the most noble cause going at the moment, a number of artists put on a weak show that won't make anyone's greatest hits album, with one notable exception. For more, click here.

Lincoln Center's Henry IV Abridgement Almost Works
Part of the problem with performing Shakespeare's history plays is their connectedness. Henry V and Richard III stand on their own but are part of the larger Plantagenet saga, while the three parts of Henry IV only work if taken as a whole, easily a multi-night event or a day-long marathon. Alternatively, as at New York's Lincoln Center, the three can be shortened and the story told in one shot. While not descending close to the level of Reader's Digest condensed fiction, the adaptation just doesn't quite get it right. Click here to read on.

Bad Sex in Fiction Award Goes to India's Aniruddha Bahal
As if there weren't enough glory and money in writing (Director's Note: deliver with sarcasm), the good people at the Literary Review in London have handed out another award for Bad Sex in Fiction. This year's prize goes to Indian journalist and novelist Aniruddha Bahal for his particularly bad passage in his work Bunker 13. He also wins the Kensington Review Good Grace Award. Click here to read more.