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Domingo and Coppola Among Winners of Praemium Imperiale Awards

The tenor and conductor Plácido Domingo and the film director Francis Ford Coppola are among the 2013 winners of the Praemium Imperiale arts awards from the Japan Art Association. The awards, which bring about $150,000 for each recipient, recognize lifetime achievement in the arts in categories not covered by the Nobel Prize. They are scheduled to be presented Oct. 16 at a ceremony in Tokyo.

 The other winners, recognized on the prizes’ 25th anniversary, are Michaelangelo Pistoletto for painting (Italy); Antony Gormley for sculpture (Britain); and David Chipperfield for architecture (Britain).

The Praemium Imperiale is one of the world’s largest prizes for painting, sculpture, architecture, music and theater/film. Past winners have included Ingmar Bergman, Leonard Bernstein, Frank Gehry, Jean-Luc Godard, David Hockney, Willem de Kooning, Akira Kurosawa, Renzo Piano, Robert Rauschenberg and Ravi Shankar. 

Candidates for the prize are nominated by a panel of international advisers and selected by the Japan Art Association.



Domingo and Coppola Among Winners of Praemium Imperiale Awards

The tenor and conductor Plácido Domingo and the film director Francis Ford Coppola are among the 2013 winners of the Praemium Imperiale arts awards from the Japan Art Association. The awards, which bring about $150,000 for each recipient, recognize lifetime achievement in the arts in categories not covered by the Nobel Prize. They are scheduled to be presented Oct. 16 at a ceremony in Tokyo.

 The other winners, recognized on the prizes’ 25th anniversary, are Michaelangelo Pistoletto for painting (Italy); Antony Gormley for sculpture (Britain); and David Chipperfield for architecture (Britain).

The Praemium Imperiale is one of the world’s largest prizes for painting, sculpture, architecture, music and theater/film. Past winners have included Ingmar Bergman, Leonard Bernstein, Frank Gehry, Jean-Luc Godard, David Hockney, Willem de Kooning, Akira Kurosawa, Renzo Piano, Robert Rauschenberg and Ravi Shankar. 

Candidates for the prize are nominated by a panel of international advisers and selected by the Japan Art Association.



Melissa Aldana, Saxophonist, Wins Monk Competition

The winner of the 2013 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone competition is Melissa Aldana. Ms. Aldana, 24, a tenor saxophonist originally from Santiago, Chile, has been a working bandleader in New York since 2009; she has released two albums on the Inner Circle label.

Ms. Aldana won in Monday night’s finals at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater in Washington, with a performance of Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Mercer’s “I Thought About You,” as well as her own “Free Fall,” with a rhythm section including the bassist Rodney Whitaker, the pianist Reginald Thomas, and the drummer Carl Allen. The competition was judged by a panel of saxophonists including Jane Ira Bloom, Jimmy Heath, Branford Marsalis, Wayne Shorter, and Bobby Watson.

Second and third place were won by Tivon Pennicott, 27, originally from Marietta, Ga., and Godwin Louis, 28, from Harlem, both currently New York-based as well.

The competition, which had its semifinals on Sunday, focuses on a different instrument annually; this is its 26th year. The winner was announced after the concert, and the first prize is a $25,000 scholarship with the Monk Institute, and a recording contract with Concord Music Group.



HBO Leads, as Usual, in Emmys Creative Arts Awards

HBO’s “Behind the Candelabra” and “Boardwalk Empire” took early leads in the annual Emmy race when the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences handed out its Creative Arts awards on Sunday in categories like casting and directing.

The Creative Arts ceremony was held a week before the ceremony for the better-known Prime Time Emmys. As seems to happen each year, HBO came away with the most statues, 20 in all this time, including 8 for the “Candelabra” mini-series, and 4 for “Boardwalk Empire.”

CBS picked up 15, including one for Bob Newhart, the 84-year-old television veteran who guest-starred on the sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” last season. Mr. Newhart had been nominated for Emmys six times before but had never won. On Sunday the crowd gave him a standing ovation. A new entrant in the Emmys race, Netflix, earned two awards: one for the casting of “House of Cards” and another for that show’s cinematography.

The Creative Arts ceremony will be televised on Saturday night by the cable channel FXX, on the eve of the Prime Time Emmys, which will be shown live on CBS on Sunday night.



Salvage Work in the Hudson Long Before the Costa Concordia Took on Water

The last name painted on the grand liner, christened the S.S. Normandie in 1932 and being converted into a troopship called the U.S.S. Lafayette a decade later, was Lipsett, in large white letters.

The repainting was a publicity stunt by the New York City company hired to scrap the French-built ship after it burned in a spectacular blaze at a West Side Manhattan pier in February 1942, two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor required its wartime use.

Marcia Warner, daughter of Morris Lipsett, one of the owners of the company, said Monday that removing the 40,000 tons of steel surviving from the hull and what remained of the decks after the ship had been righted by the Navy and private contractors “was hard to do.”

“My father was very positive, and it was not his style to say it was tough,” Ms. Warner said in an interview. “It might have occurred to him, but he wouldn’t say it.”

On Monday, engineers in Italy began the difficult task of raising the wreck of the 951-foot-long Costa Concordia cruise liner off the island of Giglio, where it ran aground on a granite reef 20 months ago, killing 32 people. The operation recalled the perilous raising of the Normandie, which, when it entered service in 1935, was the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat.

“There is no glamour now about what was once the pride of France,” Robert Wilder wrote in The New York Sun in 1942 after the United States Navy decided to raise the burned hulk for salvage.

At the time of the fire, the Normandie was being turned into a troopship to carry 12,000 passengers. Sabotage was suspected, but according to the official account, sparks from a welder’s torch ignited life preservers and set the ship ablaze. It capsized next to Pier 88 at West 48th Street and the Hudson River.

The Normandie was big - 1,029 feet, or over three football fields, long. The diameter of both tubes of the Holland Tunnel could fit in one of its three funnel smokestacks. It listed to port, then rested at an 80-degree angle and lodged in rock and mud after firefighters pumped in water to douse the blaze and save the adjacent 1,000-foot-long pier. The Concordia was at a similar angle before it started to be righted.

A Navy team recommended that the Normandie be raised and salvaged. First the superstructure - about 5,000 tons’ worth - above the promenade deck was dismantled. A mile and a half of timbers was used to shore up the decks. Watertight compartments were sealed and 350 tons of patches were applied in preparation for pumping out the water and refloating the ship.

Faced with a shortage of divers to work on the Normandie, the Navy established a training school. On average, 700 men worked on the ruin on any given day. There were accidents, but no fatalities.

The operation took 17 months until the ship was refloated and towed to a dry dock in Brooklyn. And just as the efforts around the Concordia have attracted many onlookers, large crowds lined the waterfront in Manhattan and New Jersey to watch the work to right the Normandie.

The operation cost an estimated $4.5 million, or about $65 million in today’s dollars (raising the Costa Concordia is projected to cost at least $800 million).

In his book “Normandie,” Harvey Ardman wrote that the 20-mile trip from Brooklyn to Port Newark, where the ship was to be scrapped, lasted five hours. “In her five seasons on the Atlantic, the great liner had traveled 445,000 miles,” he wrote. “In the last eight years of her life she traveled less than 50 miles, all in New York Harbor and all in tow.”

The scrapping of the ship was completed at the end of 1947. Two thousand tons of Belgian paving blocks, used as ballast, was sold to a New Jersey contractor for streets and homes.

The steering wheel wound up at the South Street Seaport Museum. Relics of the ship can be found on eBay - a Christofle ice bucket is for sale for $1,700. But the most enduring memories of the liner are its storied luxury and the complex job of righting, refloating and dismantling it. The steel was hauled away by rail to mills in Pennsylvania and melted into components of automobiles, building girders and appliances.

“In a very real way, then,” Mr. Ardman wrote, “Normandie is still with us, spread out all over America, being recycled again and again, her identity gone forever.”



Dance New Amsterdam Must Find a New Home, Putting Season in Question

After years of false stops and starts and problems that recently landed it in bankruptcy court, Dance New Amsterdam has put its 2013-14 season on hold and is scheduled to move out of its home at 280 Broadway by Oct. 15, organization officials announced Monday.

Last Thursday, the organization, devoted to dance education and performance, reached an agreement with its landlord, Fram Realty, to remain in the Lower Manhattan space for the next month. Classes and rentals will run through Oct. 13.

The agreement was approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York last Friday, said Amber Henrie, a spokeswoman for Dance New Amsterdam. Its problems have included trouble getting foundation support, the loss of a major rental partnership, unpaid rent and cash flow issues.

“It’s just been a battle since 2006 to get rid of debt,” Ms. Henrie said Monday.

The season was scheduled to kick off with a party on Sept. 17, and the first scheduled performance was set for Oct. 25-26 with A.O. Movement Collective.  Earlier this year, the organization had an annual budget between $2.2 million and $2.5 million that it whittled it down with salary cuts and other budget trims before going to bankruptcy court, said Catherine A. Peila, the executive and artistic director.

“My job is to have hope and to try everything possible to figure out the best solution,” Ms. Peila said Monday. “Everything together, for the landlord, is approximately $500,000. We need money. We also need partners. There are so many pieces. We need enough use of the space to bring in at least $65,000 a month - that’s the skeleton bottom line.”

The company continues to look at space for classes as well as other venues for the season, she said. “There’s still time for a viable plan. We’re working on multiple paths.”

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May. Ms. Peila said at the time that she hoped the filing would buy time to continue its daily operations and to implement a five-year recovery plan with its partners, city officials and its landlord.

Dance New Amsterdam was founded in 1984 and has a mission of teaching dance, commissioning choreographers and presenting performers. It serves more than 30,000 students and performers and over 700 dance companies.



Dance New Amsterdam Must Find a New Home, Putting Season in Question

After years of false stops and starts and problems that recently landed it in bankruptcy court, Dance New Amsterdam has put its 2013-14 season on hold and is scheduled to move out of its home at 280 Broadway by Oct. 15, organization officials announced Monday.

Last Thursday, the organization, devoted to dance education and performance, reached an agreement with its landlord, Fram Realty, to remain in the Lower Manhattan space for the next month. Classes and rentals will run through Oct. 13.

The agreement was approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York last Friday, said Amber Henrie, a spokeswoman for Dance New Amsterdam. Its problems have included trouble getting foundation support, the loss of a major rental partnership, unpaid rent and cash flow issues.

“It’s just been a battle since 2006 to get rid of debt,” Ms. Henrie said Monday.

The season was scheduled to kick off with a party on Sept. 17, and the first scheduled performance was set for Oct. 25-26 with A.O. Movement Collective.  Earlier this year, the organization had an annual budget between $2.2 million and $2.5 million that it whittled it down with salary cuts and other budget trims before going to bankruptcy court, said Catherine A. Peila, the executive and artistic director.

“My job is to have hope and to try everything possible to figure out the best solution,” Ms. Peila said Monday. “Everything together, for the landlord, is approximately $500,000. We need money. We also need partners. There are so many pieces. We need enough use of the space to bring in at least $65,000 a month - that’s the skeleton bottom line.”

The company continues to look at space for classes as well as other venues for the season, she said. “There’s still time for a viable plan. We’re working on multiple paths.”

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May. Ms. Peila said at the time that she hoped the filing would buy time to continue its daily operations and to implement a five-year recovery plan with its partners, city officials and its landlord.

Dance New Amsterdam was founded in 1984 and has a mission of teaching dance, commissioning choreographers and presenting performers. It serves more than 30,000 students and performers and over 700 dance companies.



Dance New Amsterdam Must Find a New Home, Putting Season in Question

Dance New Amsterdam has put its 2013-14 season on hold and is scheduled to move out of its home at 280 Broadway by Oct. 15, organization officials announced Monday.

Disney Names Cast for Broadway ‘Aladdin’

Disney Theatrical Productions announced a cast of 34 actors on Monday for its next Broadway musical, “Aladdin,” led by the theater actor Adam Jacobs (Marius in the 2006 Broadway revival of “Les Misérables”) in the title role.

Based on the 1992 musical film by Disney, “Aladdin” will also star James Monroe Iglehart (“Memphis”) as the Genie, Courtney Reed (“In the Heights”) as Jasmine, and Tony Award nominee Jonathan Freeman (“She Loves Me”) as the villainous Jafar. Mr. Freeman was the voice of Jafar in the original Disney movie, which starred Robin Williams as the voice of the Genie.

The stage adaptation includes several songs from the movie, including the Academy Award-winning “Whole New World,” as well as several numbers written for the show; the music is by Oscar and Tony Award winner Alan Menken (“Newsies”) and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice; the book and additional lyrics are by Chad Beguelin.

The director and choreographer is Tony winner Casey Nicholaw (“The Book of Mormon”). “Aladdin” will run in Toronto this fall before coming to Broadway, where the show will begin preview performances on Feb. 26, 2014, at the New Amsterdam Theater and open on March 20.



Disney Names Cast for Broadway ‘Aladdin’

Disney Theatrical Productions announced a cast of 34 actors on Monday for its next Broadway musical, “Aladdin,” led by the theater actor Adam Jacobs (Marius in the 2006 Broadway revival of “Les Misérables”) in the title role.

Based on the 1992 musical film by Disney, “Aladdin” will also star James Monroe Iglehart (“Memphis”) as the Genie, Courtney Reed (“In the Heights”) as Jasmine, and Tony Award nominee Jonathan Freeman (“She Loves Me”) as the villainous Jafar. Mr. Freeman was the voice of Jafar in the original Disney movie, which starred Robin Williams as the voice of the Genie.

The stage adaptation includes several songs from the movie, including the Academy Award-winning “Whole New World,” as well as several numbers written for the show; the music is by Oscar and Tony Award winner Alan Menken (“Newsies”) and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice; the book and additional lyrics are by Chad Beguelin.

The director and choreographer is Tony winner Casey Nicholaw (“The Book of Mormon”). “Aladdin” will run in Toronto this fall before coming to Broadway, where the show will begin preview performances on Feb. 26, 2014, at the New Amsterdam Theater and open on March 20.



Jonathan Franzen Assails the Internet (Again)

Jonathan Franzen.Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times Jonathan Franzen.

Jonathan Franzen, the sometime critic of Oprah Winfrey, Facebook likes, non-birdwatchers and overly difficult novels, is at it again.

In a 5,600-word essay in the Guardian on Friday titled “What’s Wrong With the Modern World,” Mr. Franzen anatomized our “media-saturated, technology-crazed, apocalypse-haunted historical moment,” taking swipes along the way at book world figures including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (“one of the four horsemen” of the apocalypse), Salman Rushdie (a novelist who “ought to have known better” than to “succumb” to Twitter) and the editors of the literary journal n+1 (an otherwise respectable magazine guilty of “denigrating” print magazines as “terminally male”).

Mr. Franzen’s essay, a curtain-raiser for his coming book “The Kraus Project,” about the early 20th-century Austrian essayist Karl Kraus (known as “The Great Hater”), immediately prompted much eye-rolling and enough-alreadys on blogs and social media.

“Jonathan Franzen Still Doesn’t Like the Internet,” New York magazine proclaimed. Mic Wright, a blogger for the Telegraph of London, compared the essay to “the transcribed thoughts of a Saturday night Chardonnay bore,” warning: “Prepare for a really, really bad book.”

Mr. Rushdie â€" apparently unaware of the New Yorker television critic Emily Nussbaum’s stern injunction: “Now that Yom Kippur is over, no more tweeting about Franzen” â€" hit back early Monday, writing: “Dear ‪#Franzen, ‪@MargaretAtwood ‪@JoyceCarolOates ‪@nycnovel ‪@NathanEnglander ‪@Shteyngart and I are fine with Twitter. Enjoy your ivory tower.”

Mr. Franzen may despise the ephemeral social-media slipstream that conveniently blasted news of his book out into the world. But how much is timeless dead-tree literary discourse really paying attention to him or other literary novelists of his generation?

Perhaps not much, a graphic posted on Twitter over the weekend by the critic and novelist Kurt Andersen suggests.

To create the graphic, Mr. Andersen (who made no reference to the Franzen fracas in his post) plugged the names of eight literary novelists â€" Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, Toni Morrison, John Updike, Don DeLillo, Thomas Pynchon, John Irving and Mr. Franzen â€" into Google’s Ngram viewer, which allows users to track the occurrence of words and phrases in the millions of books in the Google Books corpus. (The Google corpus includes books published up to 2008, after Mr. Franzen’s breakout novel, “The Corrections,” but before “Freedom.”)

According to the Ngram, Mr. Franzen, at 54 the youngest on the list, has garnered fewer mentions than any of the other novelists, and significantly fewer than Updike or Mailer had by the same age. And compared with mentions for Toni Morrison, 82, the most-cited novelist in the chart by far, his fever line is more of a flatline.

“I knew literary novelists born before 1935 got more famous than those born later,” Mr. Andersen wrote. “But I didn’t know how much more.”



Jonathan Franzen Assails the Internet (Again)

Jonathan Franzen.Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times Jonathan Franzen.

Jonathan Franzen, the sometime critic of Oprah Winfrey, Facebook likes, non-birdwatchers and overly difficult novels, is at it again.

In a 5,600-word essay in the Guardian on Friday titled “What’s Wrong With the Modern World,” Mr. Franzen anatomized our “media-saturated, technology-crazed, apocalypse-haunted historical moment,” taking swipes along the way at book world figures including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (“one of the four horsemen” of the apocalypse), Salman Rushdie (a novelist who “ought to have known better” than to “succumb” to Twitter) and the editors of the literary journal n+1 (an otherwise respectable magazine guilty of “denigrating” print magazines as “terminally male”).

Mr. Franzen’s essay, a curtain-raiser for his coming book “The Kraus Project,” about the early 20th-century Austrian essayist Karl Kraus (known as “The Great Hater”), immediately prompted much eye-rolling and enough-alreadys on blogs and social media.

“Jonathan Franzen Still Doesn’t Like the Internet,” New York magazine proclaimed. Mic Wright, a blogger for the Telegraph of London, compared the essay to “the transcribed thoughts of a Saturday night Chardonnay bore,” warning: “Prepare for a really, really bad book.”

Mr. Rushdie â€" apparently unaware of the New Yorker television critic Emily Nussbaum’s stern injunction: “Now that Yom Kippur is over, no more tweeting about Franzen” â€" hit back early Monday, writing: “Dear ‪#Franzen, ‪@MargaretAtwood ‪@JoyceCarolOates ‪@nycnovel ‪@NathanEnglander ‪@Shteyngart and I are fine with Twitter. Enjoy your ivory tower.”

Mr. Franzen may despise the ephemeral social-media slipstream that conveniently blasted news of his book out into the world. But how much is timeless dead-tree literary discourse really paying attention to him or other literary novelists of his generation?

Perhaps not much, a graphic posted on Twitter over the weekend by the critic and novelist Kurt Andersen suggests.

To create the graphic, Mr. Andersen (who made no reference to the Franzen fracas in his post) plugged the names of eight literary novelists â€" Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, Toni Morrison, John Updike, Don DeLillo, Thomas Pynchon, John Irving and Mr. Franzen â€" into Google’s Ngram viewer, which allows users to track the occurrence of words and phrases in the millions of books in the Google Books corpus. (The Google corpus includes books published up to 2008, after Mr. Franzen’s breakout novel, “The Corrections,” but before “Freedom.”)

According to the Ngram, Mr. Franzen, at 54 the youngest on the list, has garnered fewer mentions than any of the other novelists, and significantly fewer than Updike or Mailer had by the same age. And compared with mentions for Toni Morrison, 82, the most-cited novelist in the chart by far, his fever line is more of a flatline.

“I knew literary novelists born before 1935 got more famous than those born later,” Mr. Andersen wrote. “But I didn’t know how much more.”



McQueen Film Takes Top Award at Toronto Festival

The director Steve McQueen won the Blackberry People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival for his drama “12 Years a Slave,” based on the story of Solomon Northup, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841. The award, voted on by audiences, is the festival’s top prize.

Stephen Frears was the first runner-up for “Philomena,” and Denis Villeneuve was the second runner-up for “Prisoners,” the festival said. Other awards were presented to a number of films, including “Why Don’t You Play in Hell?,” “The Square,” “All the Wrong Reasons,” and “Ida.” The 11-day festival ended on Sunday.



Nureyev Foundation Grant to Support Joffrey Ballet

The Joffrey Ballet in Chicago has been awarded a $500,000 challenge grant from the Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation for an endowment to help create and produce full-length story ballets, officials of the Joffrey announced Monday. The new endowment, to be called the Rudolf Nureyev Fund at the Joffrey Ballet, is among the foundation’s biggest grants to a single cultural institution. The challenge is now for the Joffrey Ballet to raise an additional $1 million for the fund.

“The board of directors of the Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation believes that the Joffrey Ballet has established a solid foundation on which to develop into a premiere ballet company that can uniquely represent itself and Chicago, nationally and internationally,” Barry L. Weinstein, the president of the Nureyev foundation’s board, said in a statement.

The foundation has given over $4,000,000 in grants to benefit dance in this country. The Joffrey Ballet has benefited in the past: gifts allowed it to put on a 1997 revival of Nijinsky’s ”L’Apres-midi d’un Faune,” in honor of Rudolf Nureyev, and supported the company’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2005-2006.



3-D Printed Gun Goes on Display at London Museum

The parts of the Liberator.Defense Distributed, via European Pressphoto Agency The parts of the Liberator.

The first functional gun created entirely with a 3-D printer has become more than an object of curiosity and outrage: two prototypes of the weapon and one disassembled gun are now on display at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

Cody Wilson, a law student in Texas who described himself as an “anarchist,” first created and fired the gun in May. He called it the Liberator, and received a license to make and sell the weapon.

“A non-designer has managed to make the biggest impact in design this year,” said Kieran Long, the senior curator of contemporary architecture, design and digital at the Victoria and Albert Museum. “It’s a new level of disseminating the means of production,” Mr. Long said in a telephone interview Monday from London. “This is the next industrial revolution â€" we’ll all have a 3-D printer. If you can download a gun, it presents all kind of profound challenges to nation-states.”

The guns will initially be displayed as part of the museum’s Design Festival, from Sept. 14-22. They will remain at the museum, and on display, as part of the permanent collection. The guns, as well as magazines and other parts, are among five contemporary project acquisitions, which also include a series of vessels made of polymers and a chest of drawers made of ash. Of the two pistols, Mr. Wilson fired one himself and one is new, Mr. Long said.

Mr. Wilson’s actions were denounced by gun control activists, as the designs for the guns and gun components were put online by an organization he co-founded, called Defense Distributed. The gun’s design was downloaded 100,000 times before government officials in this country demanded its removal.



3-D Printed Gun Goes on Display at London Museum

The parts of the Liberator.Defense Distributed, via European Pressphoto Agency The parts of the Liberator.

The first functional gun created entirely with a 3-D printer has become more than an object of curiosity and outrage: two prototypes of the weapon and one disassembled gun are now on display at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

Cody Wilson, a law student in Texas who described himself as an “anarchist,” first created and fired the gun in May. He called it the Liberator, and received a license to make and sell the weapon.

“A non-designer has managed to make the biggest impact in design this year,” said Kieran Long, the senior curator of contemporary architecture, design and digital at the Victoria and Albert Museum. “It’s a new level of disseminating the means of production,” Mr. Long said in a telephone interview Monday from London. “This is the next industrial revolution â€" we’ll all have a 3-D printer. If you can download a gun, it presents all kind of profound challenges to nation-states.”

The guns will initially be displayed as part of the museum’s Design Festival, from Sept. 14-22. They will remain at the museum, and on display, as part of the permanent collection. The guns, as well as magazines and other parts, are among five contemporary project acquisitions, which also include a series of vessels made of polymers and a chest of drawers made of ash. Of the two pistols, Mr. Wilson fired one himself and one is new, Mr. Long said.

Mr. Wilson’s actions were denounced by gun control activists, as the designs for the guns and gun components were put online by an organization he co-founded, called Defense Distributed. The gun’s design was downloaded 100,000 times before government officials in this country demanded its removal.



A Young Fan Dies of an Apparent Overdose at Music Festival in Australia

A 23-year-old man died and at least 14 others were suspected to have overdosed on drugs at a dance music festival near Sydney, Australia, over the weekend, the latest in a string of drug-related injuries that have marred the growing dance craze this year.

The man, who was not identified, died in a hospital after taking three pills at Defqon.1, a “hard trance” festival in the suburb of Penrith that drew 18,000 people, according to Australian news reports. A detective with the New South Wales police told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the pills were probably an imitation of ecstasy, also known as MDMA or molly.

Two young people died from overdoses of ecstasy and related drugs at the Electric Zoo festival on Randalls Island in New York over Labor Day weekend, and at least five others have died across the United States of similar causes this year. The deaths have caused some promoters to cancel dance events and have worried music executives that the negative publicity could scare off corporate sponsors, a growing part of what has been estimated to be a $4.5 billion dance industry.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the police patrolled Defqon.1 with drug-sniffing dogs, and made 84 arrests there for drug offenses.

The promoter, Q-Dance Australia, said that it was deeply saddened by the man’s death, and that it has a zero-tolerance drug policy. A note on its Web site, however, says that Q-Dance “does not endorse or condone” the use of MDMA, and urges its patrons to take sports drinks like Gatorade to replenish the electrolytes lost by taking these drugs.



A Young Fan Dies of an Apparent Overdose at Music Festival in Australia

A 23-year-old man died and at least 14 others were suspected to have overdosed on drugs at a dance music festival near Sydney, Australia, over the weekend, the latest in a string of drug-related injuries that have marred the growing dance craze this year.

The man, who was not identified, died in a hospital after taking three pills at Defqon.1, a “hard trance” festival in the suburb of Penrith that drew 18,000 people, according to Australian news reports. A detective with the New South Wales police told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the pills were probably an imitation of ecstasy, also known as MDMA or molly.

Two young people died from overdoses of ecstasy and related drugs at the Electric Zoo festival on Randalls Island in New York over Labor Day weekend, and at least five others have died across the United States of similar causes this year. The deaths have caused some promoters to cancel dance events and have worried music executives that the negative publicity could scare off corporate sponsors, a growing part of what has been estimated to be a $4.5 billion dance industry.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the police patrolled Defqon.1 with drug-sniffing dogs, and made 84 arrests there for drug offenses.

The promoter, Q-Dance Australia, said that it was deeply saddened by the man’s death, and that it has a zero-tolerance drug policy. A note on its Web site, however, says that Q-Dance “does not endorse or condone” the use of MDMA, and urges its patrons to take sports drinks like Gatorade to replenish the electrolytes lost by taking these drugs.



How Does Hurricane Sandy Affect Your Life Today?

More than 100 homes were destroyed in Breezy Point, Queens, during Hurricane Sandy, but families there aren't alone in dealing with the aftermath.Michael Appleton for The New York Times More than 100 homes were destroyed in Breezy Point, Queens, during Hurricane Sandy, but families there aren’t alone in dealing with the aftermath.

The lights turned back on, the floodwaters receded, and many people whose lives were disrupted by Hurricane Sandy were eventually able to return to normalcy.

Not all were so lucky. As we approach the storm’s one-year anniversary, The Times would like to tell the stories of those still recovering. Have you struggled financially after property damage? Have you had a nightmare experience with an insurance company? Are you mourning the loss of a friend or loved one? Have you been forced to relocate? Has your life been otherwise uprooted?

Please tell us about your experience, or the experience of someone you know, below. Your contact information will not be published and your comments will not be published without further follow-up from a Times reporter or editor.

We will follow up with you shortly if we select you as a potential interview participant. If you cannot view the form embedded below, you can find it online here.



How Does Hurricane Sandy Affect Your Life Today?

More than 100 homes were destroyed in Breezy Point, Queens, during Hurricane Sandy, but families there aren't alone in dealing with the aftermath.Michael Appleton for The New York Times More than 100 homes were destroyed in Breezy Point, Queens, during Hurricane Sandy, but families there aren’t alone in dealing with the aftermath.

The lights turned back on, the floodwaters receded, and many people whose lives were disrupted by Hurricane Sandy were eventually able to return to normalcy.

Not all were so lucky. As we approach the storm’s one-year anniversary, The Times would like to tell the stories of those still recovering. Have you struggled financially after property damage? Have you had a nightmare experience with an insurance company? Are you mourning the loss of a friend or loved one? Have you been forced to relocate? Has your life been otherwise uprooted?

Please tell us about your experience, or the experience of someone you know, below. Your contact information will not be published and your comments will not be published without further follow-up from a Times reporter or editor.

We will follow up with you shortly if we select you as a potential interview participant. If you cannot view the form embedded below, you can find it online here.



Emmys Watch: Anna Chlumsky on ‘Veep’

In HBO’s “Veep,” Anna Chlumsky plays Amy Brookheimer, the chief of staff to Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who is often the lone voice of reason among a team of bumbling misfits. In this role, Ms. Chlumsky has shown a knack for the verbal sparring and quick wit that are essential to the political universe created by Armando Iannucci. She first displayed this touch in Mr. Iannucci’s 2009 film “In the Loop.” Now that dexterity has led to her first Emmy nomination, for supporting actress in a comedy series.

In a recent phone interview, Ms. Chlumsky, who got her start as a child actress in movies like “Uncle Buck” and “My Girl,” spoke about her audition for “In the Loop,” the use of language in “Veep,” and the reaction to that show in Washington. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Q.

Has Julia Louis-Dreyfus given you any advice about attending the ceremony?

A.

No, I think our talk about the ceremony is more about what we’re wearing and where we’re going that night, just to make sure the cast stays together. The show being nominated as well is a very big deal for all of us. Last year, every once in a while, the parties got so insane we would lose track, so this year our goal is to keep an eye on each other so we could share it.

Q.

Can you talk about the various twists and turns your career has taken? A number of years ago, you were out of acting completely, correct?

A.

I would say almost a decade ago was when I realized that it was meant to be for me to come back and try it as an adult for all the right reasons. Before that, I was out of show business for about six years. That included college and about two years after college.

Q.

How did “In the Loop” come about?

Q.

That was just your run-of-the-mill audition. I had no idea what was behind the curtain for me. [Laughs] I was in a play at the Labyrinth, where there was a lot of mental torment and sadness for our characters. It was delicious for an actor, but also very dark-themed. So, the chance to audition where it was a lot lighter â€" I just thought, I’ll have a blast and it will be a complete departure from the play I am doing right now. And that was the day I met Arm [Iannucci], and the rest feels like history a little bit. Recent history, but a very good history.

Q.

“Veep” and its predecessors “The Thick of It” and “In the Loop” are known for their, shall we say, artful yet explicit wordplay.

A.

Our salty language? [Laughs]

Q.

What is it like to get these scripts and read these lines?

A.

It’s very rare that you’ll find something where you’ll think, “I don’t want to say it.” I always say that our writers know how to use that language very well. There is a difference between just saying bad language and using it. This is just a delight and fun as can be. It spoils you. I have a gauge of what it is to laugh out loud when I’m reading a script, because that is what happens all the time when we read our own show, and that can make it hard for other things to measure up.

Q.

Can you tell us anything about Season 3 and what’s in store for your character?

A.

We’re just in the middle of the first episode, so we’re still kind of new at it. We left off in the second season with [the president] not running again and Selina ramping up her campaign, even though it’s really early. That’s where we pick up. She’s getting out there more, with the voters and caucusgoers and whatnot.

In the second season, we see her working a lot in the Beltway; now it’s outside the Beltway. We get to see what everybody’s dynamics are with the public, because that is a different persona they put on. Even the staff, and Amy is part of that, tries to read where we all stand in our public persona.

Q.

How do you view your character’s relationship with Selina? It’s not quite mother-daughter.

A.

It’s a hodgepodge â€" at times contentious and most of the time very symbiotic. It’s so interesting, that female-boss dynamic where Amy is the closest to her in a sense. Gary [Selina's aide, played by Tony Hale] is very close to her, but as far as Selina’s career goes, Amy pretty much has the reins. Amy’s dedicated to make Selina go as far as she can in her career and also to further whatever agenda she may have with her party or with any policies that matter to her. Their relationship can be very friendly; she knows the ins and out of Selina very well. However, she’s also the one who has to tell her bad news. A lot of the time Selina’s behavior or impulses will be at odds with what’s good for the office, and so that falls on Amy to handle. Just when Amy thinks she knows where she stands with Selina, something will happen where she gets kind of knocked on the head and realizes, “Oh, no, this really is just a working relationship, even though sometimes it can feel like more.”

Q.

Have you heard from people who work in Washington?

A.

Totally. We’re fortunate enough to get a lot of feedback, both through our consultants who have their pulse on what’s happening in D.C., but also, every once in a while, you’ll meet staffers on the Hill or even elected officials who are fans. It’s quite validating. There seems to be that laughter-is-therapy thing happening with our show. If you can sometimes show people the ridiculousness of their own lives, it can be a release, I think. [Laughs]



New York Today: Damn Yankees

The Yankees fell behind Boston early on Friday, and stayed there most of the weekend.Brian Snyder/Reuters The Yankees fell behind Boston early on Friday, and stayed there most of the weekend.

Do the beaten, battered Yankees still stand a chance?

Even devout fans must harbor doubts this morning, after the Bombers spent the weekend losing, losing and losing to the first-place Red Sox in Boston.

Sunday’s defeat was a particularly lamentable 9-2 affair.

The team also kept its season-long streak of injuries going: Alex Rodriguez exited with a sore calf.

The math is pretty daunting.

In the race for two wild-card spots, four teams have better records than the Yankees.

We asked David Waldstein, who covers the team for The New York Times, if it was time to abandon hope.

Not quite.

“Going into this series with Boston, I thought they were probably going to lose two if not all three games,” Mr. Waldstein said, noting that the Red Sox have been dominant all season.

“That was kind of stitched into the fabric of the pennant race.”

The good news is the Yankees’ remaining schedule.

They have nine games against last-place teams, and three head-to-head with the Tampa Bay Rays, who are tied for one of the wild-card spots.

“I’m not saying the Yankees are in the best position,” Mr. Waldstein said. “But it’s not over yet.”

Here’s what else you need to know for Monday.

WEATHER

It’s beginning to feel like fall. Mostly cloudy today, with a light, Octoberish shower and a high of 71.

The temperature will dip to near 50 tonight, and we won’t see 80 all week.

Bring the umbrella, and watch for falling leaves.

TRANSIT & TRAFFIC

- Mass Transit [5:55] Delays on northbound 6 trains. Click for latest M.T.A. status.

- Roads: No major delays. Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect.

COMING UP TODAY

- City officials visit 22 public schools that scored high marks in the new Common Core exams. The mayor speaks at one, TAG Young Scholars in East Harlem.

- The Metropolitan Transportation Authority reviews plans to buy $1.8 billion worth of  commuter rail cars.

- “Interwoven Globe,” a show on the international textile trade and its role in shaping cultures from 1500 to 1800, opens at the Met. [Free, but a $25 admission is suggested]

- The run-up to Sunday’s Brooklyn Book Festival begins with a discussion on Brooklyn’s place in the literary universe, an opening party and a panel on John O’Hara. 7 p.m. [All free]

- Thinking about graduate school for social work, public-interest law or public policy? The Web site Idealist hosts a grad-school fair at Metropolitan Pavilion on West 18th Street. 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. [Free]

- Gasland Part II, Josh Fox’s follow-up (it showed on HBO in July) to his Oscar-nominated film about fracking, screens at John Jay College at 7 p.m. Panel talk with prominent  officials to follow. [Free, but R.S.V.P. required.]

- Thomas Witte, who cuts beautifully intricate portraits out of paper, explains how he does it at Mid-Manhattan library. 6:30 p.m. [Free]

-The Mexican novelist Lorea Canales discusses her book “Los Perros,” a tale of love, betrayal and corruption in Mexico City, at the Instituto Cervantes on East 49th Street. It’s part of the Celebrate Mexico Now festival. 7 p.m. [Free]

- For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.

IN THE NEWS

- William C. Thompson Jr. is still campaigning. [New York Times]

- F.B.I. documents show that members of the 1981-82 Knicks shaved points for their cocaine dealers, a new book says. [Daily News]

- The police are under scrutiny again after officers’ stray shots wounded two female bystanders in Times Square on Saturday. [New York Times]

- The Port Authority raised bridge and tunnel tolls without proper public review, the federal Government Accountability Office found. [Daily News]

- The Giants lost, too, 41-23 to Denver.

- At least the Mets won, shutting out the Mariners 1-0 in 12 innings.

Joseph Burgess contributed reporting.

New York Today is a morning roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till about noon.

What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, e-mail us at nytoday@nytimes.com or reach us via Twitter using #NYToday.

Find us on weekdays at nytimes.com/nytoday.



New York Today: Damn Yankees

The Yankees fell behind Boston early on Friday, and stayed there most of the weekend.Brian Snyder/Reuters The Yankees fell behind Boston early on Friday, and stayed there most of the weekend.

Do the beaten, battered Yankees still stand a chance?

Even devout fans must harbor doubts this morning, after the Bombers spent the weekend losing, losing and losing to the first-place Red Sox in Boston.

Sunday’s defeat was a particularly lamentable 9-2 affair.

The team also kept its season-long streak of injuries going: Alex Rodriguez exited with a sore calf.

The math is pretty daunting.

In the race for two wild-card spots, four teams have better records than the Yankees.

We asked David Waldstein, who covers the team for The New York Times, if it was time to abandon hope.

Not quite.

“Going into this series with Boston, I thought they were probably going to lose two if not all three games,” Mr. Waldstein said, noting that the Red Sox have been dominant all season.

“That was kind of stitched into the fabric of the pennant race.”

The good news is the Yankees’ remaining schedule.

They have nine games against last-place teams, and three head-to-head with the Tampa Bay Rays, who are tied for one of the wild-card spots.

“I’m not saying the Yankees are in the best position,” Mr. Waldstein said. “But it’s not over yet.”

Here’s what else you need to know for Monday.

WEATHER

It’s beginning to feel like fall. Mostly cloudy today, with a light, Octoberish shower and a high of 71.

The temperature will dip to near 50 tonight, and we won’t see 80 all week.

Bring the umbrella, and watch for falling leaves.

TRANSIT & TRAFFIC

- Mass Transit [5:55] Delays on northbound 6 trains. Click for latest M.T.A. status.

- Roads: No major delays. Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect.

COMING UP TODAY

- City officials visit 22 public schools that scored high marks in the new Common Core exams. The mayor speaks at one, TAG Young Scholars in East Harlem.

- The Metropolitan Transportation Authority reviews plans to buy $1.8 billion worth of  commuter rail cars.

- “Interwoven Globe,” a show on the international textile trade and its role in shaping cultures from 1500 to 1800, opens at the Met. [Free, but a $25 admission is suggested]

- The run-up to Sunday’s Brooklyn Book Festival begins with a discussion on Brooklyn’s place in the literary universe, an opening party and a panel on John O’Hara. 7 p.m. [All free]

- Thinking about graduate school for social work, public-interest law or public policy? The Web site Idealist hosts a grad-school fair at Metropolitan Pavilion on West 18th Street. 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. [Free]

- Gasland Part II, Josh Fox’s follow-up (it showed on HBO in July) to his Oscar-nominated film about fracking, screens at John Jay College at 7 p.m. Panel talk with prominent  officials to follow. [Free, but R.S.V.P. required.]

- Thomas Witte, who cuts beautifully intricate portraits out of paper, explains how he does it at Mid-Manhattan library. 6:30 p.m. [Free]

-The Mexican novelist Lorea Canales discusses her book “Los Perros,” a tale of love, betrayal and corruption in Mexico City, at the Instituto Cervantes on East 49th Street. It’s part of the Celebrate Mexico Now festival. 7 p.m. [Free]

- For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.

IN THE NEWS

- William C. Thompson Jr. is still campaigning. [New York Times]

- F.B.I. documents show that members of the 1981-82 Knicks shaved points for their cocaine dealers, a new book says. [Daily News]

- The police are under scrutiny again after officers’ stray shots wounded two female bystanders in Times Square on Saturday. [New York Times]

- The Port Authority raised bridge and tunnel tolls without proper public review, the federal Government Accountability Office found. [Daily News]

- The Giants lost, too, 41-23 to Denver.

- At least the Mets won, shutting out the Mariners 1-0 in 12 innings.

Joseph Burgess contributed reporting.

New York Today is a morning roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till about noon.

What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, e-mail us at nytoday@nytimes.com or reach us via Twitter using #NYToday.

Find us on weekdays at nytimes.com/nytoday.