Thank you Baker
Dark Mofo numbers break records, as thousands brave Hobart's wintery weather
By Lucy MacDonald
Posted 48 minutes ago
PHOTO: The three-week festival culminated in the burning of the ogah ogah. (Supplied: Dark Mofo)
MONA's Dark Mofo festival has ended its seventh year with record-breaking crowds and sales, but next year's event might not get much bigger, organisers say.
The annual winter festival has once again successfully drawn thousands of interstate and overseas visitors to the island state in a time where locals are rarely brave enough to venture outside past 6:00pm.
Perhaps more impressively though, it convinced those same locals, in droves, to exchange the warmth of their homes for nights filled with darkness, debauchery and just the right amount of weird.
But while the record-breaking tickets sales might be a cause for celebration —they clocked up over $4 million at the box office with more than 100,000 tickets sold, a 25 per cent increase on last year — festival director Leigh Carmichael said it feels like they have reached capacity in some areas.
article continues
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-24/dark-mofo-wraps-up-record-breaking-crowds-for-hobart/11239196
Barack Obama and George Clooney Take a Boat Ride in Italian Lake
https://www.tmz.com/2019/06/23/barack-obama-george-clooney-boat-ride-suits-italy-lake-como/
Barack Obama is continuing his European vacation with a stop in Italy – where he and George Clooney are taking suited-and-booted boat rides together … comfortably, of course.
Both guys were wearing jackets and dress pants – but neither appear to be rockin' ties, as their collars are open and unbuttoned. Gotta keep it business caj for those Italian lake views, right? No sign of Michelle, Amal or the kids here … might've just been a bro sesh.
Barack and his fam were seen in the south of France earlier this week, where they grabbed dinner with friends … and Barack showed off his many faces of delight at the table. A few days later, they kept the dream vacay going by hanging out with Bono and co.
At this rate, there's no telling which famous faces the Obamas will be meeting with next. Checks Rolodex for celebs that stay in Europe … lots more to come, probably.
The former POTUS was spotted getting off a vessel with his actor pal Sunday near a dock on Lake Como in Cernobbio. It's a gorgeous area at the foot of the Alps – right next to Switzerland's southern border – and 44 and George were dressed for the occasion.
Not my favorite part of the movie either, anon.
University of Michigan receives 2 separate $10M gifts (AP)
Jun 23, 2019 Updated 16 min ago
http://www.ccenterdispatch.com/news/state/article_2059d2e1-494c-5d3b-8fa1-3b1acd0c2ba1.html
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The University of Michigan says it's received two separate, $10 million gifts designed to benefit a campus library as well as its business school and film and television department.
The Ann Arbor school's William C. Clements Library has accepted $10 million from the Avenir Foundation. It recognizes the university's founding director, Randolph Adams, by naming the directorship after him.
The university says the gift also will spur the acquisition and conservation of primary source materials and making collections more accessible.
The other $10 million comes from the Patricia W. Mitchell Trusts. It's intended to honor the legacy of Mitchell's late husband, Columbia Pictures Television founder John Mitchell.
That gift will go toward creating a business and communications ethics program, as well as scholarships, internships, visiting professorships and a speaker series.
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JUNE 23, 2019 2:45PM PT
Judith Krantz, Best-Selling Author and Columnist, Dies at 91
https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/judith-krantz-best-selling-author-and-columnist-dies-at-91-1203251126/
Judith Krantz, a best-selling author known for her novels “Scruples” and “Princess Daisy,” died Saturday from natural causes, surrounded by family, friends and her four dogs at her Bel Air, California home, her publicist John Tellem confirmed. She was 91.
Krantz began her career in journalism, working for Good Housekeeping writing freelance articles for Macleans, McCalls, Ladies Home Journal and Cosmopolitan. She would remain in the industry for the next 27 years, interviewing a number of prominent women and writing numerous articles — her most popular of which was “The Myth of the Multiple Orgasm.”
In 1977, Krantz completed her first novel, “Scruples,” turning 50 the same year that it was published. In four months, the book reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list, beginning a new career for the famed journalist.
When asked about “Scruples” in a New York Times interview, she said, “My novel gives women a big bubble bath. It’s a chocolate eclair. It’s the kind of novel people love. I loved it myself.”
Soon after, Krantz’s second novel, “Princess Daisy,” also topped the bestseller list, setting the record for the highest price ever paid for a novel at the time.
Currently, Krantz’s books number more than 80 million in print, encompassing over 50 languages. Seven of her novels have been adapted for television as miniseries, with her husband serving as Executive Producer for most of them, and she also wrote one original miniseries for television, “Judith Krantz’s ‘Secrets’,” in 1992.
Krantz is survived by her son, Tony, daughter-in-law Kristin Dornig Krantz and son Nicholas.