A new iPad app intended to make William Shakespeare's works more accessible is being launched by actor Ian McKellen and director Richard Loncraine on Saturday, the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death.

The app users see actors reading out "The Tempest", facing the camera with no costume or staging as the text scrolls, and its developers said they hope eventually to cover all of Shakespeare's 37 plays.

"This is not a production. We're in our own clothes, the actors are not relating to each other. The person we're relating to is you, the person at the other end of the app," said McKellen, who worked with Loncraine on a production of "Richard III" 20 years ago.

"We're trying to help you," he said.

"Shakespeare did not mean you to read it. He wanted the actors to read it, learn it, put the script aside and speak it to the audience," he added.

"The Tempest" was chosen because it is Shakespeare's last play but also the one that appears first in a compilation of Shakespeare works put together in 1623 -- seven years after the famous playwright's death.

Users can pause the readings to click on notes whose level of detail can be adapted if the viewers are schoolchildren or university students.

Loncraine, who set up Heuristic Media, said the app "helps people to comprehend" Shakespeare but was "not meant to be a substitute" for watching a play.

"It was written 400 years ago so it's very, very difficult for modern audiences who haven't studied it," he said.

The programme "strips away elements that you don't need to understand the text," he said.

Published: 24 April 2016

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An unflattering painting depicting a nude Donald Trump went on show in London this weekend having being censored in the United States, where its creator claims to have received a thousand death threats from his supporters.

Los-Angeles based artist Illma Gore's Make America Great Again, named after the Republican candidate's campaign slogan, went on display at the Maddox gallery in the exclusive Mayfair neighbourhood on Friday, and is valued at £1 million (S$1.9 million).

"Make America Great Again was created to evoke a reaction from its audience, good or bad, about the significance we place on our physical selves," said the 24-year-old artist.

"I drew Trump nude, I was evoking a reaction from people... so I tried not to think about it until I spoke to a lawyer who suggested I go to the police about it and file a report in case something happens," she said of the death threats, which came after posting the painting online.

Published: 11 April 2016

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Harper Lee, one of America's most celebrated novelists who died in February, thought Donald Trump's infamous Taj Mahal casino was hell on Earth, a stash of her private correspondence revealed Monday.

The "To Kill a Mockingbird" author, whose masterpiece about racial injustice was read by millions, slammed the billionaire presidential hopeful's boardwalk resort in New Jersey in a letter to a friend in 1990.

"The worst punishment God can devise for this sinner is to make her spirit reside eternally at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City," Lee wrote in the missive, recovered along with several others from her New York apartment.

Lee, who was apparently entertaining visitors, stayed at the $1 billion gambling spot a few months after its April 1990 inauguration.

The resort is now owned by billionaire Carl Icahn, who took over in February after Trump Entertainment Resorts came out of bankruptcy, though it still bears the Republican frontrunner's name.

Published: 29 March 2016

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Did you hear the one about the Irishwoman who taught the French how to cook?

It may sound like some sort of dubious Irish joke. But in the case of Trish Deseine there is more than a grain of truth to the tale.

The farmer's daughter from County Antrim is France's bestselling food writer, having sold more than a million copies of her cookbooks.

She is also credited with fundamentally changing the way millions of ordinary French people cook by taking away the fear of living up to one of the world's greatest culinary traditions.

With books like "Petits Plats entre Amis" (Little Dishes Between Friends) and "Je Veux du Chocolat!" (I Want Chocolate!), she taught a generation intimidated by long shadow of France's gastronomic greats to dare.

For Deborah Dupont-Daguet, the owner of La Librarie Gourmande in Paris -- which claims to be the world's biggest culinary bookshop -- Deseine was nothing short of an inspiration with her clever, unashamedly simple takes on French classics and recipes from around the world

The first cookbook Dupont-Daguet ever bought was "Little Dishes Between Friends".

"It's weird but I learned French cooking from that book. You would never see those types of tips in a French cookbook 15 years ago. It's completely crazy," she said, "but it took an Irishwoman to tell us these things."

Even Deseine is still slighty bemused by her success. "I have theories, but I really don't know why," she told AFP. "People felt liberated because I was taking the fuss out of cooking. I think maybe it was okay for an outsider to say you don't have to go through 50 complicated steps. My approach was very natural and direct and sensual."

But having been France's Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson rolled into one, Deseine is now trying to crack an even harder nut.

Her new book, "Mon Irlande", or "Home" in its English translation, is an attempt to bring the simple virtues of Irish cooking to the French and the rest of the world.

No easy task for a country more synonymous with a certain black liquid refreshment and a long history of famine and hunger than its food.

But Deseine, 51, is convinced its time has come.

Published: 17 March 2016

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Frank Sinatra, Jr. died of a heart attack while on tour in the US state of Florida, his sister Nancy said. He was 72.

"The Sinatra family mourn the untimely passing of their son, brother, father, uncle Frank Sinatra, Jr. of cardiac arrest while in tour in Daytona, Florida," Nancy Sinatra said in a statement posted on Facebook on Wednesday. "Sleep warm, Frankie."

Sinatra followed his famous father's footsteps into the music business, beginning his singing career in his teens.

Starting in 1988, Sinatra served as conductor and musical director for his father in his final years of performing live.

Frank Sinatra, Sr., the Rat Pack star of the 1960s, died in 1998.

Sinatra was meant to perform at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach, Florida on Wednesday night as part of the "Sinatra Sings Sinatra" tour.

The theater announced his death on its Facebook page, after posting earlier in the evening that the show was cancelled because the singer had fallen ill after arriving in town.

The younger Sinatra might be best remembered for being kidnapped at age 19 by a pair of young men hoping to extort money from his famous father.

Published: 17 March 2016

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A surprise new album by Kendrick Lamar opened Sunday at number one on the US chart in the latest triumph for the critically acclaimed rapper.

The album -- the fourth by the 28-year-old, entitled "untitled unmastered." -- sold 178,000 copies or the equivalent in streaming in the United States in the week through Thursday, Nielsen Music said.

Lamar released "untitled unmastered." without previous notice on March 4 in the wake of the Grammys, where he was the music industry gala's biggest winner with five awards.

He characterized the album as a series of rough works from the studio, although the songs take on heavy themes including an opening track that mixes images of the biblical apocalypse and contemporary social ills.

Published: 14 March 2016

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A herd of elephants romped across a Bangkok pitch Thursday for the first match of a four-day polo tournament raising money for the animals, which are heralded as a national symbol but often subject to abuse.

Eighteen pachyderms are playing in the annual King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament, held this year on a large field in the heart of the Thai capital.

During the lumbering and unsurprisingly slow-paced matches, a "mahout" handler controls the beasts while a polo player who is also riding on the elephant's back concentrates on scoring.

This year's tournament sees a motley mix of humans competing, including professional polo players, New Zealand rugby stars, Thai celebrities and members of a transgender cabaret troupe.

Some of the competing elephants are taking time out from their day jobs in the tourist industry, while others are domesticated but currently unemployed, according to the event's organisers, the luxury hotel group Anantara.

Published: 11 March 2016

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Menswear or womenswear -- who cares? Genderless fashion is the buzzword for many of today's top designers, highlighted at London Fashion Week by a string of androgynous touches on the catwalks.

From Christopher Kane's heavy, dark, asymmetric tailoring to Burberry's parade of male and female models in military overcoats and aviator jackets, masculine styling repeatedly stood out in the women's autumn/winter collections.

It's not just in London where designers are experimenting with preconceptions about gender and identity.

Gucci has sent men down the catwalks in pussybows and hot pink suits under new creative director Alessandro Michele while Jaden Smith, son of US actor Will Smith, was unveiled as the face of Louis Vuitton womenswear last month.

Transgender models such as Andreja Pejic and Lea T are among the most sought after in the industry.

One of its rising stars is US model Rain Dove, who, standing at six foot two inches with chiselled features, models in both male and female fashion shows.

Published: 27 February 2016

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Once it would have been career suicide, but Hollywood star Ellen Page is convinced that "the best decision I ever took" was to come out.

The elfin actress, who made her name as a pregnant high school teen in the off-beat Canadian comedy "Juno", has not looked back since she went public two years ago and only to be later named the world's "sexiest celebrity vegetarian" alongside Jared Leto.

In September she took another step into the light by walking the red carpet with her partner, artist and surfer Samantha Thomas, for the premiere of "Freeheld", which tells the true story of a lesbian couple in New Jersey fighting for equal pension rights as one of them dies of cancer.

But the 28-year-old star of blockbusting action films like "X-Men" and "Inception" told AFP that plucking up the courage wasn't easy. "I was very closeted. And obviously something about Hollywood and the film industry made me feel like I couldn't be out," she said in an interview while visiting Paris.

"Now that I am out, it's the best decision I've ever made. I think it sucks that anyone has to live that way. I wish no one had to."

The Canadian actress, who is also vegan, has since become a vocal advocate of equality for the LGBT community.

"Obviously there's been progress, because we now have marriage equality in America. But there's still so much to do. You can still be fired and denied housing in 35 US states if you're an LGBT person, and trans women of colour have a life expectancy of 35, which is appalling. We're far from true equality."

Published: 12 February 2016

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34^th Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide

Millersville University of Pennsylvania

April 6–8, 2016

Aftermath of the Holocaust and Genocide

Director: Victoria Khiterer

Advisory Board: Lawrence Baron (San Diego State University), Holli Levitsky (Loyola Marymount University), Antony Polonsky (Brandeis University), David Shneer (University of Colorado Boulder), Maxim D. Shrayer (Boston College)

Committee Members: Onek Adyanga, Tanya Kevorkian

Administrative Assistant: Maggie Eichler

Graduate Assistant: Abigail Gruber

==============CONFERENCE PATRONS===============

Richard Welkowitz

Congregation Shaarai Shomayim

Jonathan Lichter

Please see the conference addendum insert for the full list of conference donors

since January 2016.

The 34^th Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide Committee is pleased to acknowledge the support of the Offices of the President and Provost.

Transportation:

Limited shuttle transportation from and to Heritage Hotel – Lancaster (500 Centerville Road, Lancaster, PA 17601) will be provided at night on April 6 (before and after the conference opening), and before and after conference sessions on April 7 and April 8.

All conference sessions will be at the Bolger Conference Center (Gordinier Hall), Millersville University, 2^nd floor

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Wednesday, April 6, 2016, Opening Night, 6:30-10:00 pm

6:30-7:00 pm Opening Reception, Lehr Room

7:00-7:10 pm Welcoming Remarks by Victoria Khiterer, Millersville University

Plenary talk 7:10-7:50 pm, Lehr Room

Gabriel Finder, University of Virginia, Jewish Honor Courts: Revenge, Retribution, and Reconciliation in Europe and Israel after the Holocaust (The Jack Fischel Lecture)

8:05 - 10:00 pm Documentary Film “The Long Way Home” (1997, Writer/Director Mark Jonathan Harris, Running time 1 hour, 54 minutes), Lehr Room

Thursday, April 7, 2016

8:30 am-5 pm Registration of conference participants

9:00-10:30 am

Panel 1: Aftermath of the Holocaust and Modern Anti-Semitism in Russia, Ukraine and Poland, University Room

Chair: Victoria Khiterer, Millersville University

Alexander Prusin, New Mexico Tech, The Holocaust in the Polish War Crimes Trials

Anya Quilitzsch, Indiana University Bloomington, Returning Home? Jewish Life in Soviet Transcarpathia after the Catastrophe

Igor Kotler, Museum of Human Rights, Freedom and Tolerance, Holocaust Denial and anti-Semitic Propaganda in Russia: A Case of YouTube

Panel 2: Aftermath of the Holocaust and its Commemoration in Western Europe, Old Main Room

Chair: Michael C. Hickey, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

David H Weinberg, Wayne State University, Recovering a Voice: West European Jewish Communities after World War II

Annette Finley-Croswhite, Old Dominion University, Moveable Memory: Commemorating the Shoah in Paris

Annemarike Stremmelaar, Leiden University, The Netherlands, “Anne Frank speaks Turkish.” Retelling the Story of the Holocaust in the Netherlands

10:45 am- 12:30 pm

Panel 3: Holocaust and Anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union, University Room

Chair: Victoria Khiterer, Millersville University

Zvi Gitelman, University of Michigan, Antisemitism and its Consequences in the Soviet Military in World War Two (The Reynold Koppel Lecture)

Polly Zavadivker, University of Delaware, The Language of Genocide and Soviet Postwar Antisemitism

Maxim D. Shrayer, Boston College, A Footnote to the Shema in a Moscow Magazine: July 1946

Discussant: Brian Horowitz, Tulane University

Panel 4: The Holocaust in American Life, Matisse Room

Chair: Jeffrey Scott Demsky, San Bernardino Valley College

Bat-Ami Zucker, Bar-Ilan University, The Harrison Report and its Impact on the Creation of the State of Israel

Cynthia A. Crane, University of Cincinnati, Cultural Consequences/Legacy and Impact of the Holocaust on Immigrants to America

N. Ann Rider, Indiana State University, Cultural Mental Schemas of American Holocaust Reception: Ruth Klüger’s Still Alive

Panel 5: Resistance and its Representation in Film, Old Main Room

Chair: Lawrence Baron, San Diego State University

Paul R. Bartrop, Florida Gulf Coast University, St. Hedwig’s Cathedral, Berlin as a Focus of Anti-Nazi Opposition during the Holocaust

Michael Rubinoff, Arizona State University, Jewish Resistance Depicted on Film

12:30-1:30 pm Lunch for the Invited Conference Participants, Lehr Room

1:30-3:15 pm

Panel 6: Polish Jewish Refugees and Displaced Persons, University Room

Chair: Zvi Gitelman, University of Michigan

Eliyana R. Adler, Penn State University, Displaced Children: Polish Jewish Youth on the Margins of the War

Ellen G. Friedman, The College of New Jersey, Writing About Other People’s Memories

Gennady Estraikh, New York University, The Second Repatriation of Polish Jews from the Soviet Union (The Miriam Fischel Lecture)

Discussant: Michael C. Hickey, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

Panel 7: The Armenian Genocide and its Commemoration, Matisse Room

Chair: Sylvia A. Alajaji, Franklin and Marshall College

Elke Heckner, University of Iowa, Tehlirian on Trial: The Public Production of Testimony to Genocide

Jeffrey Scott Demsky, San Bernardino Valley College, A Duty To Remember, A Duty To Forget: Examining Americans' Unequal Memories of the War on Armenians and the War on Jews

Published: 11 February 2016

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