Literary Pick (****)

The Pleasures of the Damned
-Charles Bukowski

The best book of poetry of all time.

Literary Pick (**)

Freakonomics
-Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Cultural News

Kate Middleton, Wife Of Prince William, Has A Baby Girl

 

The Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to a girl, Kensington Palace has announced.

The princess - who is fourth in line to the throne - was "safely delivered" at 08:34 BST, the palace statement said.
The Duke of Cambridge, who was present for the birth of the 8lbs 3oz (3.7kg) baby girl, brought his 21-month-old son Prince George to visit his sister at St Mary's Hospital, west London.
The couple and their daughter will leave hospital on Saturday evening.
They will travel home to Kensington Palace, where Prince George has now returned.
In a statement, Kensington Palace said: "Their Royal Highnesses would like to thank all staff at the hospital for the care and treatment they have all received.
"They would also like to thank everyone for their warm wishes."
As he left the hospital briefly to pick up his son, Prince William told the waiting crowds the couple were "very happy".
Both Catherine and her daughter are "doing well", Kensington Palace said. The name of the baby will be announced in due course.
For live updates click here and for the royal baby special report, click here.
The Prince of Wales, who had earlier said he was hoping for a grand-daughter, and the Duchess of Cornwall said they were "absolutely delighted".

The duchess had been admitted to the private Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, west London, at 06:00 BST.
The birth announcement came just after 11:00 BST.
The statement from Kensington Palace added: "The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry and members of both families have been informed and are delighted with the news."
The latest royal joins the line of succession behind her grandfather Prince Charles, father Prince William and brother Prince George, who was born at the same hospital in July 2013.
The princess is the Queen's fifth great-grandchild.

Hundreds of well-wishers have gathered outside St Mary's Hospital to catch a first glimpse of the new princess.
Some are seasoned royal watchers. Margaret Tyler, 71 from Wembley, north-west London, has been waiting for the last 11 days: "But no nights, I'm too old for that now".
Meanwhile, Ash decided to bring his young daughter Ankita to mark the historic event. "We moved to London from the US nine years ago," he said. "I wanted to go and see Will and Kate's wedding but my wife thought I was mad."
There has been lots of speculation about a name from small girls in the crowd, from Disney-inspired Belle and Ariel to Alex, Stella and Rose.
And everyone wants a selfie with Tony Appleton, who runs a care home in Chelmsford, Essex, but has been a town crier for 30 years and stood on the steps of the Lindo wing to announce the news. 

Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: "Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of their baby girl. I'm absolutely delighted for them."
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg tweeted that he and his wife Miriam wished the family "all the best".
And Labour leader Ed Miliband wrote: "Congratulations to the duke and duchess on the birth of their daughter. Wishing them lots of joy and happiness - and hopefully some sleep!"
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: "It's wonderful news that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have a healthy new baby girl.
"Like many here and abroad, I'm delighted for the royal couple on this special day. May God bless them and both of their children with love, health and joy."

A large number of journalists, photographers and broadcasters had gathered after the announcement that Catherine was in labour.
Following the announcement of the birth, standing on the steps of the Lindo Wing, unofficial town crier Tony Appleton told crowds: "We welcome with humble duty the new baby of their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

"The princess is fourth in line to the throne."
BBC royal correspondent Daniela Relph said the decision to leave the hospital would ultimately be a medical decision, but the duke and duchess would be acutely aware of the disruption their presence brings to the hospital.
There has been much speculation about the princess's name, with Alice being the favourite with several bookmakers. Charlotte, Elizabeth and Diana have also been popular with punters.
Prince George's name was announced two days after his birth, which is a relatively quick turnaround compared with previous royal babies.
It was seven days before the name of a newborn Prince William was announced in 1982, and there was a wait of a month following Prince Charles's birth in 1948.

The new royal will not be overtaken in the line of succession by any future younger brothers.
Under new rules which came into force in March, male bias was removed from the succession rules.
She will also be known as Princess of Cambridge after a letters patent were issued by the Queen.
It declared: "All the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales should have and enjoy the style, title and attribute of royal highness with the titular dignity of prince or princess prefixed to their Christian names or with such other titles of honour".
And the princess will also be able to marry a Roman Catholic without losing her place in line to the throne.

~BBC

Literary Pick of the Day (***)

The Book of Joan
-Melissa Rivers

RIP

Omar Sharif

Born: April 10, 1932, Alexandria, Egypt

Died: July 10, 2015, Cairo, Egypt

  

Remembering Omar Sharif, A Star In Two Skies

Legendary Egyptian actor Omar Sharif died today in Cairo, according to his agent. He was 83.
Sharif hit it big starring in 1960s epic dramas such as Doctor Zhivago, and the movie that introduced him to world audiences: Lawrence of Arabia.
In that film, he first appears on the back of a camel, dressed as a Bedouin in headscarf and robes, brandishing a rifle as he rides toward a well where Peter O'Toole's Lawrence and his guide are drinking. He drops the guide with one shot.

As Sharif emerges from the desert, you see an actor who looks nothing like the movie stars audiences were used to, nothing like O'Toole's blond, blue-eyed good looks. Sharif is handsome, with a square face, dark, moody eyes, the signature mustache — and, the moment he opens his mouth, that accent.
"The scene at the well is a clip, whenever they show the Academy Awards, it's used continuously," says film scholar Jack Shaheen. The brutal scene is iconic, he adds, but it doesn't do justice to Sharif's performance. "He's really sort of like the nonviolent second protagonist of the film. He's articulate, he's sensitive, he's bright, he shows compassion for other people." And you can see how his relationship to the Englishman becomes much richer over the course of the movie.
"He was selected by David Lean not to portray the stereotypical Arab — the Arab sheik, the Arab terrorist, the Arab buffoon — rather, in Lawrence of Arabia you have a bona fide Arab freedom fighter," Shaheen continues. In 1962, not long after Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser set off an international crisis by nationalizing the Suez Canal, an Egyptian actor might not have been a popular choice. "And yet he took, I think, audiences by storm."
While to Hollywood audiences it might have seemed that Sharif appeared out of nowhere, he had actually done more than 20 black-and-white dramas in Cairo, the film capital of the Arab world. And even in his Arabic films, there's a clue he was going for international appeal: his billing. "Omar Sharif" was not the name given to him by his well-to-do, Catholic parents.

"My name was Michel," he told NPR in 2012. Michel Shalhoub, to be exact. In his memoir, he wrote about wanting an Arab-sounding name that was easy to pronounce in different languages — essential to a man who spoke not just Arabic but also French and English. "I went to the school where the priests were French. And then after, when I was 9 or 8 years old, I went to an English school — thank God. And there was a theater there. And that's how I started to become an actor."

Egyptian director Asaad Kelada says this multicultural preparation meant Sharif "was able to travel from nationality to nationality with conviction in the roles that he played. And so he was really the go-to person for any role that was of an exotic or different nature at that time."
For his next big film after Lawrence of Arabia, Sharif transformed himself from an Arab freedom fighter to a Russian revolutionary poet in Doctor Zhivago. For three hours, Sharif carries this film — he treats patients and navigates politics, dotes on his wife and dreams with his mistress.

Jack Shaheen says that over the course of Sharif's decades-long career, the range of his roles only expanded. "Well, he played Che Guevara. He played a German officer, and a Turkish Muslim, and the Jew Nicky Arnstein," opposite Barbra Streisand in 1968's Funny Girl. She plays comedienne and radio star Fanny Brice; he's her love interest — a dark and handsome gambler.
Though in some ways it may have been a stretch for him, the role of Nicky Arnstein had some echoes of Sharif's real life. That's because outside of acting, playing cards was his other love. He wrote a slew of books — including a memoir titled Omar Sharif's Life in Bridge — and even made instructional videos. So during the poker scenes in Funny Girl, it can feel like a glimpse of Sharif doing both things he loved at once.
Delightful though it was, Funny Girl caused some political ripples when it came out in 1968. Here was an Egyptian actor singing duets and kissing a Jewish woman not long after the Six Day War between Israel and Arab nations. Asaad Kelada says the movie caused Sharif a lot of trouble back home in Egypt. "But as an artist, he played that role of Nicky Arnstein and was able to make it accessible and believable to audiences worldwide."
Sharif will be remembered for being the first to make that remarkable leap — from Cairo to Hollywood, and on to a place in history as one of the most famous movie stars of his time.

~NPR

Cultural News

Maria Leaves Sesame Street After 44 Years On The Block

 Gordon (played by Roscoe Orman), Maria (played by Sonia Manzano), and The Count on Sesame Street's 42nd season. Manzano is closing out a Sesame Street career that began in 1971.

Zach Hyman/Sesame Street 

For the last 44 years, you could ask Maria how to get to Sesame Street, but not any more. Sonia Manzano, the actress who has played the character since 1971, is retiring and won't be part of the next season.
Manzano, 65, announced the news earlier this week at the American Library Association Annual Conference.
On the show, Maria owned the Fix-It shop, repairing all sorts of things, including a lot of toasters, with her husband Luis, writes the Associated Press:

"In confirming Manzano's retirement, Sesame Workshop said 'she will always be a part of the fabric of our neighborhood. During her 44-year career as the iconic "Maria," and the first leading Latina woman on television, she was a role model for young girls and women for generations.' "

The AV Club writes that she was nominated for an Emmy Award twice as an actress but didn't win. She did win 15 of the awards as a scriptwriter for the show.
Manzano grew up in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in the Bronx. She attended Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Her acting career began when she was in the original cast of Godspell, a musical which began as a student production on campus, according to the AP.
She talked about Sesame Street at the ALA conference:

"Sesame Street, as everyone knows, was set in the inner city and there was a particular reason for that. Our first target audience were the children in the inner city that were underserved. And we thought that if they learned their basic cognitive skills, they could start kindergarten on an even level with their middle-class peers. And it was a very idealistic time — we thought we'd, like, close the education gap by doing that.
"But the first thing we had do to was make sure kids in the inner city could relate to us, and what better way to do that than have the show come to them from a place that was familiar to them. And the stoop in Harlem was the most familiar to them."

Here's a clip of Maria helping Oscar the Grouch:

 

How will Sesame Street solve the problem of Maria's absence? The AP says that Sesame Workshop hasn't explained how that will play out on the show.

 ~NPR