Shorts #5

Shorts or 5 Things to Know This Week is a weekly posting that features short blurbs on interesting topics related to film and theatre studies, research and resources, theatre goings on in New York City, lots of library-related news and other stuff.

 1.  Acclaimed documentary maker Les Blank dies at 77.  Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers -- Blank was a true original.

2.  Elaine Stritch left New York City! Doesn't that sound like a bad dream? If you are already missing her -- check out the new documentary Elaine Stritch: So Shoot Me at the Tribeca Film Festival on Monday, April 22.

3.  A Late Quartet available on DVD -- members of a world-renowned string quartet learn that the cellist may soon have to retire -- news that challenges the group to get past their egos and work through long-held resentments.

4.  Journal of American Folklore is the official journal of the American Folklore Society. In publication since 1888, this quarterly journal publishes significant research findings on folklore, U.S. and the world, and related fields. In the "Notes and Queries" section from Volume 1, Issue 1 -- "the credit of originating the term 'folk-lore' belongs to a  correspondent of  'the Athenaeum,' London, 22d August, 1846, who signed his article Ambrose Merton. The object of the communication was to urge the collection, to quote the writer's words, 'of what we in England designate as Popular Antiquities, or Popular Literature (though by-the-bye, it is more a lore than a literature, and would be most aptly designated by a good Saxon compound, 'Folk-Lore,' the lore of the people)." The journal is available online through JSTOR.  For more on the man who invented the word "folklore" -- see OUPblog.

5.  NEW YORK THEATRE GOINGS ON --  Shaheed: The Dream and Death of Benazir Bhutto onstage at Culture Project. Written and performed by Anna Khaja, this one-woman play recreates the world surrounding Benazir Bhutto just minutes before her death. The play has been extended through April 21.