The [b] [link=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/bazbamigboye.html?in_article_id=389899&in_page_id=1794]Daily Mail[/link][/b] reports that Australian actress Nicole Kidman has been offered the part of Mrs Coulter in the upcoming Golden Compass movie. The Oscar-winning actress hasn't yet accepted the part as she's in the middle of wedding preparations. The deal is therefore termed as “under discussion”. Philip Pullman has in the past said he would like to see Kidman in the role. Read more.
Nicole Kidman Offered Role of Mrs Coulter, says the Mail
June 12, 2006
“Growing pains”
June 9, 2006
“Philip Pullman is a bit like a bear with a sore paw, as a friend has described him. But beneath a gruff exterior he is by turns charming and patronising – although in the nicest possible way,” writes The Oxford Student in a short interview with the author. Pullman talks about his college education, controversiality in His Dark Materials and his reasons for writing. He also says of the film adaptation, “I’m worried, but I’m not going to do anything about it, partly because I have no power. They bought the rights, they can do what they like with it,” and that, if Hollywood does try to “Disneyfy” his works, “there are ten million readers or something all over the world who will say this is a load of bloody rubbish.” Read more.
Targeting textbooks at exams 'immoral'
June 2, 2006
A writers’ union this week called on examination boards to stop endorsing GCSE and A-level textbooks, claiming that the “immoral†practice is damaging education. Philip Pullman, a former chair of the society, said he was concerned that teachers using such textbooks exclusively were simply “teaching to the testâ€Â. Read more.
Dark Deeds Along the Towpath
May 30, 2006
Philip Pullman writes once more in the Guardian of the boatyard in Oxford facing destruction. The Castle Mill Boatyard, which partly inspired the Gyptians in His Dark Materials, will be turned into housing if British Waterways has its way. Mr Pullman laments, “the boatyard and all its useful work will be wiped out and “developed” into a cluster of identikit houses and flats that look exactly the same as every other development in the land.” Read more.
Update: It's been reported that those protesters lodged in the boatyard have been forcibly removed today (June 1). The protesters and their canal boats were evicted by bailiffs who brought in a mobile crane to lift seven barges back into the water.
Philip Pullman reacted angrily, accusing British Waterways of treachery and causing widespread illwill: “They are greedy, shifty and dishonest and cannot open their mouths without lying. This eviction is a needless setback.” Read more.
Interactive Alethiometer
May 29, 2006
Wendell has coded a fantastic computer program that allows interactive engagement with the alethiometer. It uses the beautiful alethiometer image drawn by David Scutt to produce a working version of the instrument – you can set questions by turning the three dials and the needle will flick to those symbols which form the answer. It's up to the alethiometrist's skill to interprete these of course. You can download the program from us on the alethiometer page.
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Images from The Golden Compass movie are © New Line Cinema.
Images from The Golden Compass movie are © New Line Cinema.