| Police find three antiques stolen from Minister's house
KUCHING: Police have recovered three antiques belonging to Minister in the Prime Ministers Department Datuk Effendi Norwawi which were stolen from his house last month. Sarawak Deputy Commissioner of Police SAC I Datuk Kuik Harris said the antiques which included a sword and a keris, were found in a house in Kota Samarahan near here on Tuesday. Several other items believed to be stolen were also found. SAC I Kuik told a press conference at the Kuching police headquarters on Wednesday that the police were carrying surveillance on the house on Tuesday morning when a car carrying five men drove up to it. When they realised there were policemen present, they sped away. However, one of the men fell out of the car because the car door was open. The man, a 30-year-old Indonesian, was arrested and when the house was searched the police found the stolen items. Among the items seized were a computer, laptop, generator, cameras, guitar, serving tray and teapot. Also seized were a pair of police shoes and a police raincoat, believed to be used by the gang to impersonate the police. We are now hunting the remaining four suspects, believed to be one local and three Indonesians, SAC I Kuik said.
Vintage valentine cards, charming and collectible
Valentines dating back to the late Victorian and Edwardian eras (1895-1910) typically feature hearts and flowers, doves and Cupids. But those depicting innocent, immaculately groomed, wide-eyed children long ago stole my heart. Sending one's beloved a missive declaring eternal love and devotion goes back hundreds of years. The earliest valentines were handcrafted and frequently contained original poetry or verse. It wasn't until the mid-1800s that ready-made cards were available in the United States. Companies such as Louis Prang, McLoughlin Brothers and Esther A. Howland were among those supplying the nation with valentines, but many more were imported from Europe, where the art of printing had been perfected. British and German firms, most notably Raphael Tuck and Sons, produced scads of cards for the American market.
Gateway may go up near campus
What is now an ordinary patch of grass across the street from campus may soon be transformed into an ancient ceremonial gateway, if a UF art professor gets his way. The gateway, an 8-foot-high, 4-foot-wide stone statue planned for the corner of Southwest 13th Street and Southwest Fifth Avenue, was approved Wednesday by the College Park/University Heights Advisory Board. Its architect, UF adjunct assistant professor of sculpture Brad Smith, presented the model because the board was looking for public art to place in the area known as the Southwest Fifth Avenue Triangle. According to the board's meeting minutes, $20,000 has been appropriated for the project. The still-unnamed statue, Smith said, was influenced by old architecture like Japanese arches and Egyptian pylons.
72 going on 500
A "NAME" TEAM not guaranteed a starting spot in the Daytona 500 struggled to gain speed in a January practice session, and the crew searched for answers during a technical inspection. "You guys better get going," an official needled, "or the old man will put you on the trailer." James Hylton tells the story and cackles in delight. Of course he does. He is the "old man," the driving antique who threatens to earn a spot in the Daytona 500 field and put far more familiar teams "on the trailer" and out of town. Maybe the spotlight will be on the Stewarts, Johnsons, Gordons and Kenseths in today's opening round of qualifying, but the best story at Daytona will be James Hylton, 72 years young going on 50 and living a dream. Fans with long memories will recall his name.
3 of 4 vintage Oscar releases can rank among the very best
If the theater lines are too long or you're impatiently awaiting the DVD release of some major 2006 Oscar nominees--or if you're just sick and tired of trying to figure out who's going to win this year--it may be revitalizing to survey the good old days. In any case, Universal dispenses some welcome Oscar nostalgia in its new multiple release, the Universal Cinema Classics: four separate new DVD offerings of four Oscar winners and nominees from the '30s and '40s--all digitally remastered and with introductions by Turner Classic Movies' TV host Robert Osborne.
Only two of the four new DVDs--the devastating "All Quiet on the Western Front" and the happy-go-lucky "Going My Way"--are best-picture Oscar winners. But there's also a best-actor winner (Bing Crosby for "Going My Way"), a best actress (Olivia de Havilland for "The Heiress"), two best directors ("Front's" Lewis Milestone and "Way's" Leo McCarey) and one of the few original score Oscar wins ever by a great classical composer--Aaron Copland for "The Heiress".
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