Weekend News Roundup! Ai Weiwei Detained; Gauguin Attacked; Charlie Sheen Fans Disappointed
By
April 4, 2011
FACES OF EVIL? PAUL GAUGUIN’S TWO TAHITIAN WOMEN, WHICH WAS ATTACKED BY A VISITOR WHILE ON LOAN TO THE NATIONAL GALLERY LAST WEEK.
IMAGE COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM
• Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei was prevented from boarding a flight to Hong Kong on Sunday and was taken, long with his wife and eight assistants, for questioning. The assistants and his wife have been released, but Ai remains in police custody. Human-rights experts are concerned that Ai’s detention signals a shift in Chinese policy; because of his fame and his father’s, Ai’s activism had been mostly tolerated by Chinese power in the past. [WSJ]
• A visitor to the National Gallery in Washington, DC last week attacked a Paul Gauguin painting, Two Tahitian Women, shouting “This is evil,” apparently upset by the nudity in it. The painting was on loan from the Met. [WaPo]
• Hop topped the weekend box office with $38.1M, handily beating Source Code, which came in second with $15.1M. Insidious also opened with $13.5M; Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Limitless finished out the top 5. [BOM]
• Katie Couric is leaving her position as anchor at the CBS Evening News. She became the first woman to anchor an evening newscast alone, about four-and-a-half years ago. She may launch a syndicated talk show next year. [AP]
• Charlie Sheen’s Violent Torpedo of Truth tour began in Detroit over the weekend, and it did not go well. “The experience is taking on a Clockwork Orange quality,” EW liveblogged; people who apparently didn’t know what they were in for when they bought tickets to a live Charlie Sheen stage show booed and walked out. [EW]
• Hilary Alexander, fashion director of British rag The Telegraph, has announced her retirement. She’ll continue to freelance one page a month for a year, and plans to go back to school for archaeology. [The Cut/NYM]
