Innholdsfortegnelse for #048 i eNews Magazine

A painting Vincent van Gogh created while briefly working side-by-side with his friend Paul Gauguin in the south of France could sell for more than $40 million at auction Tuesday evening. “The Allee of Alyscamps” is being offered at Sotheby’s impressionist and modern art sale. The autumnal scene was painted in 1888 during a two-month period when van Gogh and Gauguin worked together in Arles, France. The auction record for a van Gogh, who died in 1890, is $82.5 million. “To have a canvas from Arles by that very self-taught artist at the height of his work marks the sale as momentous,” said Clifford Edwards, a van Gogh expert and professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. The sale also features six paintings spanning four decades of Claude Monet’s career for an…

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival wraps up its last of seven days of music, food and culture on Sunday. The festival, a celebration of Louisiana’s heritage, features music stages dotted around the city’s fairgrounds and booths selling food. A few things to watch for on the last day of the festival: - Lenny Kravitz, rock musician hot off his 2014 album “Strut” and roles in the “Hunger Games” movie franchise, might be the headliner at most music festivals but in a city where jazz reigns supreme, New Orleans’ Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and his Orleans Avenue band will close out the main stage. The two have a connection. Trombone Shorty performed in Kravitz’s horn section during a 2005-2006 tour. His music incorporates various musical styles from New Orleans…

FINANCING APPLE WATCH ADAPTERS, VR HEADSETS AND MORE You may not have heard of crowdfunding, or if you have, you may have understood it as merely 'funding', or 'donating'. Alternatively, you might have imagined it to be of only minor interest, relevant merely to young adventurers trying to pay for an around-the-world trek. Alas, none of these things are quite true - it is actually gaining more significance than ever, with the Apple Watch playing its own modest role. First, let's give crowdfunding a proper definition. It is a means by which a project or venture may be funded through the raising of monetary contributions from a large number of people, typically online. There only really needs to be two or more financial contributors to your project via the Internet…

David McCullough’s latest work of history followed a spontaneous path, from a book about many Americans in Paris in the 20th century to the biography of just two. “Among the people I turned up were the Wright brothers, and it just astonished me that they were even in France, let alone that it had an important part to play in their story,” says the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, a Boston resident visiting New York to promote “The Wright Brothers,” coming out this week. “Just reading about them, I realized how much more interesting they were, how much more compelling than I had any idea. And I thought, No, this is the book.’” The 81-year-old McCullough was interviewed recently in a private study at the Yale Club in Manhattan, a favorite…

It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights. It’s time to stream the video. The Muppets are appearing in skits and other online videos with several YouTube stars. The collaboration kicked off last month when Gonzo, Rizzo and Kermit doppelgänger Constantine popped up in a detective-themed video on YouTube’s VSauce3 channel. Other upcoming appearances will include Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker answering science-related questions on the Mental Floss channel and the whole Muppet gang performing “Pure Imagination” with violinist Stirling on her channel. The videos were filmed on location at YouTube Space LA, a new studio operated by the streaming service in West Los Angeles. YouTube is celebrating its 10th anniversary throughout the month of May. It opened with its public beta launch in May 2005.…

Rihanna shut down the Met Gala’s red carpet in a regal yellow coat. And then came Bey. Dressed lavishly by Chinese designer Guo Pei, Rihanna clutched her fur-trim frock closed and dragged a mammoth train up the grand staircase Monday during one of fashion’s biggest nights of the year. She was a latecomer, but Beyonce was even later, wearing a peekaboo custom Givenchy Haute Couture by Riccardo Tisci adorned with multicolored crystals and stones. Her high ponytail and barely there ensemble were playful counterpoints to Rihanna’s swirls of royal gold and matching headpiece. (Note: No Bey-Jay-Solange elevator smackdowns like last year, as far as we know.) The evening, aimed at raising millions for the museum’s Anna Wintour Costume Center, was inspired by the Met’s new exhibit, “China: Through the Looking…

An actor who plays a priest on the AMC drama “The Walking Dead” is facing drunken driving and drug charges after police say he was clocked going 107 mph on a Georgia highway. Seth Gilliam, 46, was stopped shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday on Georgia Highway 74 in the Peachtree City area, authorities said. “The driver applied the brakes prior to passing my vehicle and was still traveling at 107 mph,” a Peachtree City police officer, who was in his patrol car and running radar, wrote in a report. The speed limit on that stretch of highway is 55 mph. It is not far from the set where much of the TV show is filmed in the nearby town of Senoia. Gilliam plays Father Gabriel on a drama that portrays…

THE NEXT BIG STEP FOR TAXI SERVICES For more than a century now, we have had taxis in some shape or form. They've always been pretty much the same - sure, the cars have become more sophisticated, safer and economical with the passing of the years, but otherwise, the basic premise of the taxi service has long been familiar. Things look like changing now though, in large part thanks to a certain service known as Uber. Certainly, one might have thought that the technology associated with taxi services - even the very ways in which they operate - would have changed more profoundly over the years, at least when one considers that our city streets are more choked up than ever with cars. The need for quick and convenient urban…

Britain’s newborn princess has been named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana - seen as a tribute to Prince William’s parents and grandmother. The princess is the second child of William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. The baby will be known as Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, royal officials said Monday. Charlotte, the feminine form of Charles, appears to be a nod to the newborn’s grandfather, Prince Charles. The middle names honor Queen Elizabeth II, the infant’s 89-year-old great-grandmother, and the late Princess Diana, William’s mother. The princess is fourth in line to the throne after Charles, William and her older brother Prince George. William and Kate introduced the baby princess to the world Saturday evening, just 12 hours after Kate checked into a London hospital to give…

Fifty Shades of Grey The international literary phenomenon hits the big - or perhaps that should be the iDevice - screen. Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan take on the iconic roles of the inexperienced college graduate Anastasia Steele and the young business magnate Christian Grey, who begin an all-consuming sadomasochistic relationship soon after meeting in a business interview. FIVE FACTS: The film is based on the global bestsellingE. L. James novel of the same name. The erotic romance was released in 2011, and The movie premiered at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival on February 11, 2015. It Two sequels have been announced: Black or White The death of his wife in a car crash leaves widower Elliot Anderson (Kevin Costner) raising his beloved…

When Janeane Garofalo asked Brad Bird, the director of “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol,” about Tom Cruise at a recent Tribeca Film Festival event, she peppered Bird with allusions to the Scientology documentary “Going Clear.” Bird called it “a very inside reference,” but Garofalo quickly disagreed. “Not anymore,” she said. “That documentary ... wooo! `Going Clear,’ we could talk about that all day!” That’s probably not what Tom Cruise or the makers of the next “Mission: Impossible” film, “Rogue Nation,” want to hear. “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” Alex Gibney’s documentary based on the book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lawrence Wright, was a revelation to many and a certain challenge to Cruise, who in recent years has quieted his public advocacy for Scientology. The film and…

The Avengers are mighty, but not enough to beat themselves. The Marvel and Disney sequel earned a staggering $187.7 million in its debut weekend, making it the second biggest U.S. opening of all time according to Rentrak estimates Sunday. But “Avengers: Age of Ultron” failed to top the all-time record of the first film’s $207.4 million debut in 2012. Although “Ultron” was the only new film in wide release this weekend, it had some significant small screen competition: The Kentucky Derby, the NBA playoffs, and the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight. Numbers could shift by the time Monday actuals roll in, but it seems the robust counter-programming may have blockaded another record for Marvel and Disney. Still, for Disney’s head of distribution Dave Hollis, the weekend was a…

Celebrities are taking sides in the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao matchup just like everyone else. Unlike most of us, some of the stars are close friends of the fighters, can scoff at a $100,000 wager or a $10,000 ticket and will get to be center stage on the Las Vegas club scene during a weekend where watchers are willing to pony up $50,000 for a table. It’s impossible to list all of them, but here are some headliners: JAY-Z APPEARANCE NOT A PERFORMANCE Got a spare $5,000 to $50,0000 for booze? Superstar rapper and music streaming service provider Jay-Z is commanding some of the highest prices to reserve table-side bottle-service for his appearance at the Marquee nightclub at The Cosmopolitan. General admission tickets cost $250. But here’s the thing - it’s…

The state of Texas and telemedicine advocates are in a legal tussle over patients who receive doctor consultations through video. The state’s medical board has implemented rules scheduled to take effect in June that place restrictions on the practice, drawing a rebuke from those who say the technology serves a crucial role, particularly in remote regions where doctors are few. A Dallas company, Teladoc, has filed a lawsuit to block the state’s action, arguing that it “would raise prices and reduce access to physician services in Texas.” The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Austin, against the backdrop of the growing use of telemedicine in physician care. “It is clear that the medical board acted only when Teladoc consultations became sufficiently numerous to be perceived as a competitive…

Wilder Mind (Deluxe Version) Mumford & Sons The British folk rockers switch producers for their third studio album, from Markus Dravs to James Ford. Sure enough, it also brings a major change in the band’s sound, from banjo-plucking neo-folk to boldly electrifying alt-rock worthy of filling a stadium. Mumford & Sons are clearly still distinctive, but they’ve ramped up the power. FIVE FACTS: Mumford & Sons were formed in London, England in 2007. The group’s members are Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, Winston Marshall and Ted Dwane. The band’s second studio album, Babel won the 2013 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Wilder Mind’s lead single, “Believe”, peaked at number one on the US iTunes chart. Additional musicians on the album include Tom Hobden on violin, Thomas Bartlett on keyboards…

When Miley Cyrus wears pasties or posts photos of her pink armpits, it’s not to be a provocateur. The 22-year-old says she’s just being herself, and she wants all young people to have that same opportunity. That’s why she’s launching the Happy Hippie Foundation to help homeless and LGBT youth, adding that not all her past relationships were “straight, heterosexual” ones. Cyrus didn’t elaborate. “The position I’m in, I feel like I’ve got a lot of power,” she said in a Monday phone interview with The Associated Press. “But so many kids don’t feel that way. They’re under their parents’ rule.” Cyrus, who famously asked a homeless man to accept her Video of the Year trophy at the 2014 Video Music Awards, said she was inspired by the attention generated…