Author Salman Rushdie gestures during an interview with Reuters in central London, September 28, 2012.

MUMBAI | Tue Oct 9, 2012 9:55am EDT

MUMBAI (Reuters) - A film based on Salman Rushdie's novel "Midnight's Children" is set to be screened in India, its distributor said, a month after the movie's director said she feared "insecure politicians" could prevent it from being shown.

The film, which chronicles the story of an Indian family living through the tumultuous events from India's recent past including the partition in 1947 and 1970s state of emergency, features a voiceover by Rushdie.

The British author, who won the coveted Booker Prize for Midnight's Children in 1981, was forced to cancel a visit to a literature festival in his native India earlier this year after assassination threats were made against him.

Rushdie's 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses", which many Muslims deemed blasphemous, is banned in India, and his depiction of sensitive issues like former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's role during the Emergency in Midnight's Children had thrown the film's screening into doubt.

Director Deepa Mehta chose to film the movie in Sri Lanka instead of India, after her previous production in the country was hit by protests from right-wing Hindu groups.

But PVR Pictures, the distribution company that has acquired the film in India, does not expect any problems.

"We are not (expecting any trouble). We don't think the film is controversial," Kamal Gianchandani, PVR's president, told Reuters, adding that the film was expected to be released in India in December.

He declined to say whether Rushdie, who has promoted the movie at festivals such as Toronto and Telluride, would be in India to launch it there.

"If the censor board has a perspective, it will be respected," Gianchandani added. "Whatever is the law of the land will be followed in (its) entirety."

Last month, Mehta said she feared "insecure politicians" might derail the film's release plans in India.

(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Henry Foy and Paul Casciato)

View the original article here

A gallery worker walks past Seagram murals by Russian-born American painter Mark Rothko during a media view of the first major exhibition dedicated to his late works at the Tate Modern in London September 24, 2008.

LONDON | Mon Oct 8, 2012 7:13am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - A man who claims to have defaced a major painting by Mark Rothko over the weekend in London said on Monday that Marcel Duchamp, the French artist most famous for his 1917 urinal that shocked the art establishment, would be "happy" at what he had done.

Police are investigating the incident on Sunday at Tate Modern gallery on the River Thames, where witnesses saw a man approach Rothko's 1958 canvas "Black on Maroon" and inscribe it with black ink in the lower right-hand corner.

Although the ink had run down the canvas, a photograph posted by a witness on the Twitter website showed the words: "VLADIMIR UMANETS '12, A POTENTIAL PIECE OF YELLOWISM."

A man answering a mobile phone number provided via a link on the website of the "Yellowism" movement (www.thisisyellowism.com) answered to the name of Vladimir Umanets and told Reuters he had carried out the attack.

"I'm aware they (the police) will come at some point and arrest me," he said, speaking in an eastern European accent.

"It was an artistic statement, but it was more about having the opportunity to speak about galleries and art," he added, explaining his actions.

"Marcel Duchamp, when he made 'readymades' (art), everyone was shocked. I don't want to be considered a vandal or someone who wants to destroy something, especially such a valuable painting.

"It's more about to change perception of things, of spectators. It's more about an idea."

Duchamp's iconoclastic urinal, entitled "Fountain" and featuring the words "R.Mutt", is considered one of the most influential works of the 20th century by challenging people's understanding of what constitutes art.

"What I do believe is the most creative thing left to do in contemporary art today is to abandon this (art) and Marcel Duchamp was trying to do this," Umanets said.

"I'm not saying I'm another Marcel Duchamp. I'm not a tag-maker. I'm doing my own thing ... After Duchamp, nothing actually happened. I definitely believe that Marcel Duchamp would be really happy."

In its online manifesto, "Yellowism" is described as neither art nor anti-art and that the "context for works of art is already art".

The Metropolitan Police said the suspect was a white man believed to be in his late-20s. No arrest has been made.

A Tate Modern spokeswoman said the painting would be repaired by an in-house team of experts. Asked whether the gallery, one of the world's most popular, was considering beefing up its security, she replied in a statement:

"Tate has strong security systems in place including physical barriers, security officers in the galleries, alarms and CCTV."

In the case of the Rothkos, which are hanging on Level 3 of the converted power station, the barrier is a low wire.

The damaged work was one of the "Seagram Murals" the Russian-American artist was commissioned to paint in the 1950s for the new Four Seasons restaurant in New York.

Several ended up in the Tate collection after they were given as gifts before Rothko took his life, and Tate describes the famous series of soft-edged rectangles as "iconic".

No one knows why the artist abandoned the bright, intense colors of his earlier canvases and painted in dark maroons, reds and black, but one theory is that he said he wanted to "ruin the appetite of every son of a bitch who ever eats in that room."

Rothko is considered one of the 20th century's most important artists, and in May, his "Orange, Red, Yellow" sold for $86.9 million, a new auction record for the artist, at Christie's in New York.

Tim Wright, who witnessed Sunday's attack, wrote on Twitter: "This guy calmly walked up, took out a marker pen and tagged it. Surreal ... Very bizarre, he sat there for a while then just went for it and made a quick exit."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White)

View the original article here

LONDON | Tue Oct 9, 2012 9:45am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Central banks, among the most conservative asset managers in the world, are buying more stocks because of the paltry returns and negative yields available from top-rated sovereign bonds.

It is a move that may at first seem counterintuitive given that most are required to focus on capital preservation and take little risk to ensure quick access to national hard currency stockpiles in the event of a national emergency.

There is also a degree of irony in their finding scant attractiveness in low-yielding fixed income, which they themselves helped engender with rock bottom interest rates.

But changing tack they are - at least some of them.

Israel's central bank started buying equities this year, investing 2 percent of its foreign exchange reserves in U.S. stocks. Eventually, it plans to raise this to 10 percent, or nearly $8 billion.

South Korea's central bank's share of stocks in its reserves grew to 5.4 percent last year from 3.1 percent in 2009 and the Czech Republic's bank has increased its equities holdings to 10 percent of its foreign reserves over the past three years.

"The goalposts have been moved," said Gary Smith, head of official institutions at BNP Paribas Investment Partners, pointing at very low to negative yields on bonds issued by the United States, Germany and other sought-after sovereigns.

"If risk-free assets start to be riskier, what we used to view as risky assets, like equity, appears relatively less risky ... The push away factor is negative yields."

Germany and even France are among the top-rated sovereigns issuing debt at negative yield, meaning investors will not get all their capital back. There is also the fear of major sell off at a later date.

By contrast, the S&P 500 .SPX offers on average a dividend yield of 2.2 percent, half a percentage more than 10-year U.S. treasuries. For two-year U.S. bonds, the real yield - nominal yield minus inflation - is negative by about half a percentage point.

"The share of equity (in central banks reserves) five years ago was almost zero ..., There is significant potential for the equity allocation to grow," BNP Paribas' Smith said.

HIGHER YIELDS

Stocks may still be only a tiny fraction of overall foreign exchange reserves, estimated by the International Monetary Fund to be in excess of $10.5 trillion in the second quarter of 2012, but even small increases in share can equate to vast sums.

Czech National Bank board member Eva Zamrazilova says her country chose in the mid-2000s to buy stocks because it had reserves beyond its monetary policy needs. It has increased the exposure gradually from 2008 to 2011.

"Bond yields are very low in absolute terms and dividend yields are exceeding bond yields," Zamrazilova told Reuters, adding that the central bank had maintained a "stable market risk profile" while buying stocks.

The Czech bank defines itself as a "risk-aversed investor" using a purely passive management, simply tracking the likes of the MSCI Euro, S&P 500, FTSE 100 .FTSE and Nikkei 225 .N225.

"Equities are an efficient diversifier with a potential to enhance returns (equity premium) and smoothen volatility of returns (negative correlation)," Zamrazilova said.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Graphic on asset performance link.reuters.com/muc46s

U.S. dividend yield vs. bond yield link.reuters.com/dat23t

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

EXCESS RESERVES

Buying equities is growing in parallel with the increase in foreign exchange reserves, said Patrick Thomson, global head of sovereigns at JP Morgan Asset Management.

"It's mostly the large reserve holders, people with excess reserves ... diversifying and looking for higher yield than currently available in the bond markets," Thomson said, adding that his firm advises reserve managers to diversify to account for the risk of negative return on bond portfolios.

Most central banks do not spell out where and how they invest their reserves. Buying equities is not a traditional way to manage reserves and some who could afford it decide not to so, Thomson said, but Asian central banks, in particular, have been fairly active in their reserve management policies.

Reserve managers' investments in equities usually start with large global brands, he said.

"It's global to begin with but once they become more comfortable we've seen strong interest in emerging market equity over the last couple of years. That's a fairly significant asset allocation change, taking advantage of growth in those economies."

Investing in equities clearly has its risks and the Swiss National Bank, which had 9 percent of foreign currency investments in stocks last year, saw price losses on equity exceed dividends, the bank said in its annual report.

Still, its report said that share price risk "contributed very little to total risk" in contrast with gold prices and exchange rates because the portfolio only accounted for nine percent foreign currency investments.

Sixty percent of reserve managers consider that equities are more attractive than a year before, according to a survey of 54 central banks, who control 49 percent of global reserves, carried out in January by Central Banking Publications.

"Overwhelmingly reserve managers feel their central bank need to diversify - or in some cases resume more active diversification. This is their dominant long-term reaction to the crisis," the survey published in April said.

(Graphics by Scott Barber. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

View the original article here

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Narayana Kocherlakota (far R) poses with board members at a drilling site near Stanley, North Dakota, August 16, 2012 in this handout photo supplied by Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank.

CHICAGO | Tue Oct 9, 2012 8:55am EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Narayana Kocherlakota surprised economists around the world last month when he called on the U.S. central bank to hold interest rates near zero, possibly for several years to come.

One of the newest members of the Federal Reserve's top table had been seen by many in financial markets as one of its more inflation-focused "hawks."

Only six months earlier, the head of the Minneapolis Fed had been calling for a tightening of monetary policy by the end of this year.

So it was considered an unusually swift about-face when Kocherlakota proposed keeping the Fed's benchmark rate near zero until unemployment is brought way below its current level.

For those who know him well, it was no surprise.

"Narayana was a very independent student. That was something I saw at a very young age," said Lars Peter Hansen, a professor at the University of Chicago, where Kocherlakota completed his dissertation at age 23, having entered Princeton University just before his 16th birthday.

"I've never really seen him as a person who is rigid."

Kocherlakota was unusually eclectic in his research and he jumped from one discipline to another with ease, Hansen said.

Born in Baltimore, Kocherlakota spent most of his childhood in Winnipeg, Canada, where his parents taught statistics at the University of Manitoba. His father was an immigrant from India and his mother hailed from a Pittsburgh suburb.

Kocherlakota now lives with his wife, also an economist, and two Australian shepherd dogs in the Minneapolis suburb of Golden Valley, where he watches "a totally embarrassing amount of sports on TV," as he told an employee newsletter after taking the top job at the Minneapolis Fed in 2009.

As Wall Street Fed-watchers reassessed him after his headline-grabbing speech last month, Kocherlakota said he had been persuaded by fellow economists that lower interest rates could indeed boost employment, despite his previous skepticism.

Work by Edward Lazear, a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a speech by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke at this year's Jackson Hole conference convinced him that the U.S. labor market had not undergone such major, structural changes that monetary policy would not help reduce joblessness, he said.

He was also struck by how inflation had ticked down more than he had expected.

Kocherlakota was keen to downplay talk of a sudden conversion to a new view on the economy. "I wouldn't say I woke up one morning and thought it; it was more a cumulative process," he told reporters.

THE VIEW FROM THE BUS

Colleagues put it simply: he cares about on-the-ground data, and he knows how to listen.

That much was clear in August when Kocherlakota, who turns 49 on Friday, donned a pair of jeans and took his board's nine directors on a tour of the booming oil fields of North Dakota.

In a 14-hour, 300-mile bus trek, they visited a fracking rig, a pipeline, a workers' camp, and a natural gas plant. They heard locals speak of life in the heart of the U.S. energy boom.

"His style is to let everybody else do the talking and he listens intently," said Lawrence Simkins, one of the board members and president of Montana-based Washington Cos, a privately owned transportation and equipment firm.

As the bus maneuvered truck-clogged roads, Kocherlakota got into a discussion with another director about the mental health toll on workers separated for months on end from their families.

Despite his reputation as an inflation hawk, Kocherlakota's push for the Fed to do more to stimulate the economy was not a bolt from the blue. He praised its first round of bond buying, which began in 2008, and backed its second round in 2010.

Those programs took place against the backdrop of a U.S. economy in crisis or still limping its way back to recovery.

Last year Kocherlakota opposed further Fed easing because the economy, in his view, was mending.

At the same time, he liked the thinking behind a proposal from Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, one of the Fed's most dovishly growth-focused policymakers, to promise to keep interest rates low until unemployment fell below 7 percent, as long as inflation did not threaten to breach 3 percent.

Tying policy to economic milestones, Evans argued, boosts its effectiveness.

"I thought he framed things pretty nicely," Kocherlakota said last October. "But actually getting into the quantities, that's something I'd have to think about more, and also discuss with my colleagues more."

Less than two months later, he had his own outline: The Fed should spell out how it would respond to a rise or decline in unemployment, and to changes in the inflation outlook.

UNLIKELY PARTNERS

Kocherlakota and Evans sit next to one another at the 27-foot-long elliptical mahogany table around which Fed officials gather every six weeks in Washington to decide monetary policy.

They had made an unlikely couple, given their long contrasting views on the role of interest rates in stirring jobs growth.

That changed at the Fed's meeting last month. As fellow policymakers agreed to a third and this time open-ended round of bond-buying to spur the U.S. economy, Kocherlakota said inflation running below his forecast left room for the Fed to keep rates low for years.

For a week, he kept his plan under wraps before announcing it to an audience of roughly 80 people at a community college in Western Michigan, known locally for training ski-lift operators.

He said the Fed should not even start talking about tightening monetary policy until the jobless rate dropped to 5.5 percent - a big drop from just under 8 percent in September -- or until the medium-term outlook for inflation topped 2.25 percent.

The plan drew immediate criticism.

If the Fed adopted it, "inflation credibility would not be eroded. It would be exploded," said Eric Green of TD Securities, a former senior economist at the New York Fed. "His views were quite different six months ago and will no doubt be very different again" when he rotates into a voting spot on the Fed's policy-setting panel in 2014.

But Kocherlakota's former professor Hansen said the plan is not a radical shift, noting it allows very little deviance from the Fed's 2-percent inflation goal.

So far, Kocherlakota has won little public backing from Fed colleagues.

Hawkish policymakers worry that more Fed easing will not help the economy and could fuel inflation expectations.

San Francisco Fed President John Williams, a centrist, said the plan risks overheating the economy.

By contrast, Chicago's dovish Evans fears it could cause the Fed to tighten too soon because it only allows "a very modest increase in inflation" over its 2-percent target.

Nonetheless, the relatively new idea of tying Fed policy to specific economic turning points is gaining traction.

Fed policymakers left out any numerical thresholds for joblessness and inflation when they began their new round of asset purchases last month. But most still think doing so would be useful in providing more clarity about their policy intentions, minutes of their most recent meeting show.

Those who know Kocherlakota caution against discounting his persuasive powers, which helped him get his job in the first place, according to Mary Brainerd, chief executive of health-insurance firm HealthPartners and Minneapolis Fed Board chair.

"Because he communicates clearly and thoughtfully, he's very compelling," she said.

(Additional reporting by Pedro da Costa in Washington; editing by William Schomberg, Tim Ahmann and Gerald E. McCormick)

View the original article here

A ''for sale'' sign is seen outside a home in New York June 19, 2012. U.S. housing starts fell in May from a 3-1/2 year high, although permits to build new homes rose sharply, suggesting a nascent housing recovery remains on track.

NEW YORK | Tue Oct 9, 2012 9:48am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of U.S. homes that could soon come onto the market fell to the lowest in more than three years as of July as distressed sales offset new delinquencies in an encouraging sign for the housing market, a data analyst firm said on Tuesday.

The pending supply of homes, also known as shadow inventory, fell to 2.3 million units as of the end of July, down 10.2 percent from 2.6 million units a year ago and at the same level as March 2009, CoreLogic said. The July data is the most recent available.

Shadow inventory includes the number of properties that are seriously delinquent or behind with loan payments, in foreclosure or held by lenders and servicers but not currently listed on the market. At the end of July it was equal to about six months' supply, CoreLogic said.

While many economists believe the housing market has finally turned a corner as prices have stabilized, the sector still faces many challenges including the swollen pipeline of foreclosures that need to be absorbed by the market.

A decline in shadow inventory should help the nascent recovery as fewer properties coming onto the market means less downward pressure on prices.

"Broadly speaking, the shadow inventory continued to shrink in July," Anand Nallathambi, chief executive of CoreLogic said in a statement. "This is yet another hopeful sign that the housing market is slowly healing."

Of the properties in shadow inventory, one million homeowners were 90 days or more behind on their mortgage payments, considered to be seriously delinquent. As well, 900,000 homes were in some stage of foreclosure, and 345,000 had already been seized by the banks.

The dollar volume of shadow inventory was $382 billion, down from $397 billion a year ago.

CoreLogic revised its methodology for the report and updated previous figures.

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by James Dalgleish)

View the original article here

1 of 2. Gustav Klimt's 1911 oil painting, ''Ria Munk'', is seen in this handout picture released in London October 8, 2012.

LONDON | Mon Oct 8, 2012 11:41am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - A U.S. art collector whose 20th century paintings from Germany and Austria are valued at more than 100 million pounds ($160 million) has attacked what he called "trophy hunters" who have driven prices higher and created a bubble in the market.

Benedict Silverman, a property developer and philanthropist, has decided to put his collection of works by artists including Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Otto Dix up for sale to raise funds for an education fund called Reading Rescue.

The 83-year-old is fully aware that rising prices for the kind of art he has collected over the course of nearly half a century will benefit his charity work.

But in an outspoken criticism of the market, he accused many buyers of being interested in art mainly as an investment.

"The prices paid these days are for trophies, not for art," Silverman told Reuters in emailed responses to questions.

Around 25 paintings, drawings and pieces of furniture are on display at the Richard Nagy gallery in central London and will be sold privately over a period of time.

"You ask if it (the strength of the art market) is a positive development. It is not. Connoisseur collectors are left in the dust snapping at the heels of these trophy hunters.

"I think there is a bubble and I can't wait for it to break as real collectors are interested in the art, not the price."

Auction houses and many market experts argue that there is no bubble in the art market, and that a growing number of collectors across an increasing geographical spread are creating a solid foundation for rising prices.

"LAST SUPPER"

But Silverman's unusually frank opinion, expressed as London gears up for Frieze art week when hundreds of wealthy buyers descend on the capital for a whirlwind of auctions, viewings and parties, is a reminder that not everyone is so sanguine.

"Collectors like me will always exist, but they are being knocked aside by the sharp elbows of speculators and professional collection builders who employ more knowledgeable people to make their decisions for them," Silverman said.

"Clearly if I was starting today I would not be able to build the sort of collection I have and few others will."

Nagy, a long-time collaborator with Silverman, said the collector had avoided auction houses to sell his art, preferring the discretion of a gallery and private sales.

"There has been a huge amount of interest, including from museums," Nagy told Reuters at his gallery in Old Bond Street.

Not all of the works have been priced, but a large 1917/18 Schiele depicting the artist and some of his peers in a version of the "Last Supper" is on offer at around 30 million pounds.

"Today these artists are seen as part of the mainstream of 20th century art, whereas 30 years ago it was thought of as an eccentric side-channel," Nagy added of the period and style of art on show.

Among the highlights are Ludwig Meidner's "The Incident in the Suburbs" of 1915, a dark-hued canvas depicting a man pushing aside another figure who has fallen to the ground against a backdrop of distorted buildings.

The picture, the first bought by Silverman in the late 1960s, reminded him of himself starting out in real estate and "pushing down" the competition to get ahead.

Schiele's "Around the Table" appears to equate the gathering of a group of artists with the communion of the Last Supper, and coming as it did so soon before his death in 1918, it was the final work in a long sequence of religious allegories.

His "Woman with Homunculus" of 1910 depicts a semi-nude young woman looking seductively over her shoulder yet also turning away from a deformed, child-like creature, while Klimt's "Ria Munk I" of 1912 is a striking deathbed portrait.

Reminiscent of John Everett Millais's "Ophelia", the square canvas depicts the daughter of a wealthy Viennese businessman who shot herself in the heart after falling out with her lover.

MUSEUMS "DRY AND EMOTIONLESS"

For Silverman, private collections would be the ideal home for his beloved possessions.

"I lived with all my works, looked at them all every day I was in the apartment and hope that the new buyers will do the same," he explained.

"I prefer the idea of them going to another collector who imposes his taste on a group of art works and for whom it will have a resonance even if it is different to mine.

"Do I want them to go to a museum? Probably not, even though I know they will eventually end up in museums," added the collector, who regularly loans his works out to museums.

"Generally I think museums are rather dry and emotionless places that do not bring any personality to the rooms in which they are hung, apart from their innate genius."

Asked how he thought he would feel when his art was sold, he replied: "I will try not to think about it. I have other pursuits to follow now. Having decided to sell, I'm turning the page ... and starting a new chapter."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

View the original article here

NEW YORK | Mon Oct 8, 2012 11:25am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group's asset management unit on Monday named a former head of the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission's investment management division as its deputy general counsel.

Andrew "Buddy" Donohue, who most recently was a partner in the New York office of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, will join Goldman Sachs Asset Management effective November 1.

Donohue said he decided to make the change because he believes he can make more of an impact in-house. "I like being part of the discussions with management about issues and approaches the firm can take early on," he told Reuters.

Donohue will report to Ellen Porges, general counsel for Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

He was head of the division of investment management at the SEC from May 2006 to November 2010. In his role, he spearheaded an initiative to restrict how much mutual fund companies could charge in marketing and servicing fees, known as 12b-1 fees. The proposal was met with vehement opposition and ultimately never passed.

Donohue also led the SEC's examination of how ETFs use derivatives, which is ongoing. Prior to the SEC, Donohue served as global general counsel for Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and before that as general counsel at OppenheimerFunds.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management has $702 billion in assets, according to the firm's website. The firm's 75 mutual funds alone have $190 billion, according to Lipper.

(Editing by Leslie Adler)

View the original article here

Cast member Michael C. Hall attends a panel for ''Dexter'' during the Showtime television portion of the Television Critics Association Summer press tour in Beverly Hills, California July 30, 2012.

LOS ANGELES | Mon Oct 8, 2012 4:54pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Dexter" star Michael C. Hall has always been attracted to cutting-edge projects, so it's no surprise to see the actor who plays the blood spatter analyst/serial killer pop up in the edgy, dark comedy Web series "Ruth & Erica".

Starring "ER's" Maura Tierney as a lonely middle-aged woman trying to deal with her increasingly frail parents, the 13-episode show debuted on WIGS, YouTube's No. 1 channel for scripted drama, last month.

Hall, who won a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award for his role on "Dexter" and who previously appeared in "Six Feet Under," joins the "Ruth & Erica" cast on Wednesday as Tierney's loser, ex-drug addict realtor and would-be boyfriend.

Hall, 41, spoke with Reuters about switching gears for a new comedic role, the new season of "Dexter," and foot tattoos.

Q: This is not your usual TV show - was that the appeal?

A: "Absolutely. The format is unique and you can tell the story in much briefer sketches than in series TV. Each one is just five to seven minutes long, and I did three of them. And then there's the amazing cast, the fact that it won't take over your life for five or more years if it's successful like a network show, and the writing (by "Party of Five"'s Amy Lippman) was so strong and compelling."

Q: The loser realtor is another juicy role for you. How much of you is there in him?

A: (Laughs) "I'm not as organized or fastidious as maybe the average person, and I can certainly relate to his general dishevelment. And after playing someone as remarkably capable as Dexter, it's nice to play someone who's anything but."

Q: Your character's beard is a nice touch. Whose idea was that?

A: "I just happened to have one when they called me about this, and Amy and I just decided it really fit the character."

Q: Despite all the humor, the WIGS show tackles some serious issues - aging parents, illness, healthcare.

A: "Exactly, it tackles those baby boomer fears about getting older and our parents getting sick and how we adjust to that. And my character, like the others, feels the wheel of his life turning in a way that makes him realize that when you lose your parents, you're next."

Q: Have you gone through a similar situation in real life?

A: "My mother's still alive but my father passed away when I was still quite young. She's thankfully in very good health, but you do feel a sense of the finite time that remains for them, and then the finite time you have left. The show did make me think, and I feel very thankful for the relationship I have with my mother."

Q: Is doing an Internet show like this very different from a network or cable show?

A: "Not really. It's pretty much the same process and we moved at a comparable pace - but with a smaller crew. I'd definitely do it again."

Q: It's season 7 for "Dexter," and there's quite a situation now between Dexter and his sister Debra, who's onto his secrets. Has that re-energized the show?

A: "It really has, and we all feel so excited about it now the playing field has fundamentally changed. All the relationships have also changed as a result, and to have that happen this late in a series is almost unheard of."

Q: So what can fans expect?

A: "You'll see both of them negotiate this new information being out there. And I've heard that if there's any major theme in this new season, it's to do with love - its meaning, its nature, familial love, romantic love, all kinds of love."

Q: You excel at playing these wild characters. What's the wildest thing you've done recently?

A: (Laughs) "I got a tattoo on my foot. It looks like a mixture of a doodle and the map to an alien planet. That was pretty crazy!"

Q: How painful was it?

A: "Just painful enough." (Editing by Chris Michaud and Kenneth Barry)

View the original article here

1 of 10. Visitors look at Raphael's ''Auxiliary cartoon for the Head of a Young Apostle from 1519-1520 which has an estimated value of £10 to £15 million (US$16 - $24 million) at Sotheby's London October 8, 2012.

LONDON | Tue Oct 9, 2012 10:02am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - The most surprising thing about this year's Frieze art week, which puts London at the cutting edge of the contemporary art world every October, is that there is so much old art around.

The annual Frieze Art Fair will go ahead as usual in a giant marquee in Regent's Park, a grid of 175 galleries teeming with potential buyers and thousands of contemporary art lovers keen to keep up with the latest trends in a fast-moving world.

And there are the spin-off events across the capital designed to lure the world's wealthiest buyers - auctions, rival fairs, parties, gallery openings, exhibitions and discreet viewings far from the hullabaloo.

But unlike previous editions, the October 11-14 fair this year comes with a separate Frieze Masters event featuring 96 galleries offering works from across the last 4,000 years.

The reasons for the shift are both commercial and cultural.

Organizers and exhibiting galleries are hoping for more crossover business between contemporary art collectors and those more interested in older works.

They also want to explore art's relationship with the past, representing an acceptance that what came before should be appreciated as well as challenged by iconoclastic young artists.

"I suppose what makes it interesting is what's come out of conversations with contemporary artists," said Victoria Siddall, director of the new fair. "It becomes apparent that a lot of them are looking at works that were made a long time ago.

"All galleries are interested in meeting new clients," she told Reuters. "There are old master and contemporary galleries, and I hope there will be a crossover. It would be great to broaden people's horizons in terms of what they collect."

"MEDICI" BUYERS

That crossover is already happening.

Among the most coveted clients for auction houses and galleries are so-called "Medici"-style buyers who acquire art across different periods and genres.

Sotheby's said 30 percent of buyers at its old master drawing sales had also bought art at its contemporary auctions, compared with seven percent in 2007.

It is no coincidence that it is displaying Raphael's 1519 "Head of an Apostle", which is worth up to $24 million, alongside Jackson Pollock, Francis Bacon and Gerhard Richter at its London headquarters this week.

Artists are also embracing Frieze's shift to the past.

The fair has organized a series of conversations bringing together leading contemporary artists with major curators.

On Thursday, London-born contemporary painter Cecily Brown talks with National Gallery director Nicholas Penny who is more used to talking about Raphael than Richter.

For Matthew Slotover, who with Amanda Sharp started Frieze Art Fair in 2003 and launched a New York edition this year, the new-look format was a way of keeping the event fresh.

"We think it's always good to innovate and try new things, as it keeps people interested and excited and us interested and excited too," he told Reuters.

"What we thought we could do with (Frieze Masters) was to animate all of this art that was radical when it was made."

RIVAL FAIRS

Rival fairs like PAD London, held in the exclusive Berkeley Square from October 10-14 and best known for showcasing 20th century art and design, will also delve into the past.

Galerie Mermoz, based in Paris, will present tribal art including a ceremonial head of Hacha representing the god Xipe Totec, dated 450-750 AD, from Mexico.

Modern PAD highlights include Alexander Calder's 1943 "Constellation with Red Knife" valued at $3.5 million.

Sotheby's offers Richter's "Abstraktes Bild (809-4)" for $14-19 million at its contemporary auction on October 12.

The painting has the added buzz of belonging to guitarist Eric Clapton who bought it and two other works by the German artist for $3.4 million in 2001.

That kind of price rise underlines how the top end of the art market has largely defied broader economic gloom.

Auction records have tumbled as buyers from the Middle East, Russia and China snap up top lots for private collections, long-term investments or to fill new museums and galleries.

"There's a lot of confidence in London at the moment," Slotover said of the art market. "London is a brilliant gateway to the rest of the world."

Not everyone is celebrating the boom.

Benedict Silverman, whose $160 million collection of works from early 20th century Germany and Austria is being sold for charity, blamed "speculators" for driving prices higher and making life difficult for collectors like himself.

"The prices paid these days are for trophies, not for art," he said.

"I think there is a bubble and I can't wait for it to break as real collectors are interested in the art, not the price."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

View the original article here

NEW YORK | Tue Oct 9, 2012 5:06am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Vietnamese-born chef Charles Phan shares his passion for his homeland and tips about how to cook its delicious food in his first cookbook, "Vietnamese Home Cooking".

Phan and his family fled to Guam from Vietnam in 1975 before settling in San Francisco a couple of years later. In 1995 he opened his restaurant Slanted Door, which has won acclaim for its modern interpretation of traditional Vietnamese food. He now runs six other eateries in San Francisco.

The 50-year-old spoke to Reuters about his passion for Vietnamese food, his plan to open a New Orleans-inspired bar and his future plans.

Q: What is the goal of your first cookbook?

A: "It's way to spread the gospel, if you will, about Vietnamese culture and food. We try to do that with our restaurant. The book is another way of bringing that culture to you."

Q: What makes Vietnamese cuisine unique?

A: "The Vietnamese were conquered by the French and the Chinese. On a Vietnamese table, there is always a big platter of fresh vegetable and herbs. In Vietnam, up north, the food is a bit different from the south. You have different climates. In Saigon, it's hot and muggy and tropical so the country ranges pretty widely with its food."

Q: What does Vietnamese cooking have in common with others in Southeast Asia?

A: "Obviously, rice is the common link across these cultures. They use meat as condiments rather than a main course. We don't have ovens so we don't bake things. We steam things. Fuel is scarce so we use very little wood. You have the fruits and vegetables that come from Southeast Asia you use over there. When you compare all of Southeast Asia with Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, they are very similar. Things get different when you get into China."

Q: You have plans to open another restaurant?

A: "We are about to open to Creole bar concept. I happen to like bourbon a lot; so does my architect. So this bar will have an extensive bourbon list and interesting bourbon from the last three years. It's tiny. It's only 1,300 square feet. So the bar drives the concept. It's inspired by New Orleans. There will be oysters from New Orleans. We'll have gumbo. We'll make a mean fried chicken."

Q: Do you have second thoughts about serving Creole food?

A: "I cook all this food at home all the time. I'm not saying I'm an expert at it but it's simple enough and it's high quality food .... You don't have be Vietnamese to cook Vietnamese food as long as you understand the sensibility."

Q: What should one be mindful of in making Vietnamese food?

A: "You have to learn how to eat Vietnamese food before you cook it. You have to understand what the sensibility is or what I call the gold standard. This is how the Vietnamese want it. This is how people in Vietnam treat their food. You might not agree.

"In Vietnam people like their meat medium to well done. You could change that. There's nothing wrong with that. Again in Vietnam, people eat their soup with herbs and lemon in it. But you don't have to do it. Cooking is knowing where you are going and achieving that goal."

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce (Makes 20 to 25 skewers; serves 10 to 12 as an appetizer)

2½ pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs

¾ cup sliced shallots

¾ cup shallot oil or canola oil

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1½ tablespoons roasted chili paste

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons mild Madras curry powder

Peanut sauce (see below)

Sriracha sauce, for seasoning

20 to 25 (10-inch) bamboo skewers

1. Trim any visible fat from the chicken thighs, then cut the thighs into long strips, about 1-inch wide. Put the chicken into a bowl and set aside.

2. To make the marinade, in a food processor or blender, combine the shallots and shallot oil and process until smooth. Add the garlic, chili paste, sugar, salt, and curry powder and process until smooth.

3. Add the marinade to the chicken and mix well to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours. In a shallow dish, immerse the bamboo skewers in water to cover.

4. Prepare a medium-hot fire for direct-heat grilling in a charcoal grill (you should be able to hold your hand 1 inch above the grate for only 3 to 4 seconds).

5. Just before the coals are ready, drain the skewers and thread 1 strip of chicken lengthwise onto each skewer, taking care to insert the skewer through the center of each strip. Do not leave the tip of the skewer exposed or it will burn.

6. Place the skewers on the grill grate and cook, turning once, for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until well browned and opaque throughout.

7. In a small bowl, stir together the peanut sauce with Sriracha to taste. Transfer the skewers to a large platter and serve immediately, accompanied with the sauce.

PEANUT SAUCE (makes about 2 cups)

1 cup sweet (glutinous) rice

1/2 cup roasted peanuts

2 cloves garlic

1 Thai chili, stemmed

3 tablespoons red miso

3 tablespoons ketchup

3 tablespoons canola oil

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons vegetarian stir-fry (aka vegetarian oyster) sauce

1-1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1. Rinse the rice in a fine-mesh sieve until the water runs clear, then transfer to a heavy-bottomed pot with a lid. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to low, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes, until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered for 10 minutes. Then uncover, fluff with a fork, and let cool to room temperature. Alternatively, the rice can be prepared in a rice cooker.

2. In a food processor, combine the cooled rice, peanuts, garlic, chili, miso, ketchup, canola oil, sugar, stir-fry sauce, lemon juice and sesame oil and process until the mixture is a fine paste. Thin with water (about 1/2 cup) until the texture is smooth and creamy. Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. The sauce will keep, refrigerated, for up to four days.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; editing by Patricia Reaney and Richard Chang)

View the original article here