Arts in the News - 2/2/2011

LITERATURE

The Poetry Society of America recently awarded Charles Simic the 2011 Frost Medal for poetry. Simic, currently teaching at the University of New Hampshire, previously won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for "The World Doesn't End" and was the U.S. Poet Laureate in 2007. The Poetry Society will present Simic the award at a ceremony in April. Past winners of the Frost Medal include Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, Allen Ginsberg, and Marianne Moore.

FILM

Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards. Notable nominees for Best Picture include "Black Swan," "Inception," "The Fighter," "The King's Speech," "The Social Network," "True Grit" and "Toy Story 3." This year, James Franco and Anne Hathaway are expected to co-host the Oscars.

ART

Amidst anti-government protests, vandals broke into the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, damaging two mummies and other small artifacts. The vandals did not, however, manage to steal anything and were detained by soldiers. Military guards have since secured the museum.

MUSIC

Gladys Horton, lead singer of the Marvelettes, died on January 26th at the age of 66. The all-girl Marvelettes were most known for their hits like "Please Mr. Postman," "Playboy" and "Don't Mess with Bill." Achieving 23 Billboard Hot 100 hit singles, the group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.