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June 30 (Reuters) – Poet, the largest U.S. ethanol maker, purchased an ethanol plant in Cloverdale, Indiana, that was expected to come on line by April 2011 with a production capacity of 90 million gallons a year, Chief Executive Jeff Broin said on Wednesday in a conference call with media.
The plant is the privately held company’s 27th U.S. ethanol facility and will increase Poet’s annual ethanol production capacity to about 1.7 billion gallons, he said. (Reporting by Karl Plume)
Azamgarh (UP), June 06 (PTI) Noted Bhojpuri and Urdu poet Adeel Abbasi Jami died today in a hospital here after prolonged illness, family sources said. He was 80.
Hailing from Chiraiyyakot village of Azamgarh, he belonged to the family of freedom fighters and was son of poet and freedom fighter Allama Kaifi Chiraiyyakoti. He has many Bhojopuri and Urdu poetry collections to his credit like ”Apni Dharti Apne Geet”, ”Dharti ka Chiragh” and ”Lahre Acharwa Dharti Ka”.
London, May 19 (ANI): Authorities at the Wimbledon Championships have announced the first official poet of the historic sporting event.
According to The Times, Matt Harvey has been tasked with the responsibility of writing a daily verse for the world’s oldest tennis tournament.
When The Times met him at Centre Court at the All England Tennis and Croquet Club he was searching for inspiration from the umpire’s chair.
“I want to write about the umpire’s empire. He’s the potentate of an empire that doesn’t extend very far. He doesn’t rule over all, but he can overrule,” said Harvey.
Harvey is best known for his appearances on Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4. He will join the small club of tennis-inspired poetry that includes John Betjeman’s A Subaltern’s Love Song, in which the narrator loses a match to the “furnish’d and burnish’d” Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.
Harvey has been told he can write whatever he wants, but he feels under pressure to include certain traditions.
He said: “I’ve got to make sure I touch upon strawberries and cream, Cliff Richard and barley water. They are clichés, but I feel I ought to put them in because I want to start with people’s shared experience of Wimbledon and expand upon it.” (ANI)
London, April 24(ANI): Singer Joni Mitchell has called legendary folk singer Bob Dylan a “plagiarist” and “fake”.
The Canadian musician, whose real name is Roberta Joan Anderson, made the comment when an interviewer for Los Angeles Times pointed out that both she and Dylan, who was born Bobby Zimmerman, had changed their names.
“Bob is not authentic at all. He”s a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake,” the Telegraph quoted her as saying.
She added: “Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I.”
In 2006, the ‘Lay Lady Lay’ hitmaker was accused of borrowing lyrics from the writing of the Confederacy poet Henry Timrod for his album ‘Modern Times’.
He had made no acknowledgement to Timrod in the album”s sleeve notes. (ANI)
London, March 19 (ANI): Atonement, Ian McEwan’s novel about class and love set in the Second World War, is to become an opera.
The novel has already been made into a movie starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.
Now, the book’s author and two of his friends have begun work on an adaptation that they hope will transfer the success of his 2001 bestseller and the Oscar-winning film to the stage.
McEwan said that he finally agreed to the project “several weeks ago”.
While he will shape the overall adaptation, Craig Raine, the poet and critic, will write the words and Michael Berkeley, the composer who presents the Radio 3 show Private Passions, will write the music.
“It”s not a chamber piece, that”s for sure. You can do some very dramatic things with this. If you were thinking of a large-scale opera then what springs to mind is 380,000 troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. That would be quite a choir,” the Telegraph quoted McEwan as telling the Times. (ANI)
Ludhiana, Sep 19(ANI): Ludhiana recently played host to a national seminar on Sufism. This time, the theme was the influence of Sufism on modern times.
The Sahitaya Academy of New Delhi and the Punjab Sahitaya Academy organized the seminar.
The seminar also focused on the ‘pain of separation from God’ and intellectuals, poets and Sufi singers.
“Sufism says that God, whom a man looks for all over, is within him. And once he realizes this fact, he will be free of his ego and will find happiness,” said Vaasthe Mohi, a Sindhi poet from Ahmedabad.
While, Gulshan Majith, a poet from Jammu and Kashmir, said: “When God is everything, so what is the importance of religion and caste discrimination, this is the message of Sufism. Shaivaism, Buddhism and Sufism give same message to the world and consider this world as the manifestation of that supreme power and do not make a distinction with the other. There are no boundaries. Everybody in this world is equal for God.”
The participants also put forth the argument that many Punjabi poets make use of themes from popular Punjabi culture. r. Chandraprakash Deval, a poet from Rajasthan, said Sufism is the paramount method to fight terrorism.
“Sufism is the best way to fight terrorism. If the minds of people can be changed, they will start respecting other religions, humanity and the feeling of brotherhood and secularism will increase, terrorism will be finished then. So to fight terrorism it is important to popularize the way shown by Sufism, adopt and follow that way and spread the feeling of brotherhood,” Deval said.
Sufi singer Balbir Kaur, who also teaches singing at Guru Nanak College in Ludhiana, held the audience spellbound and she also highlighted that school students must be made aware of the great cultural heritage, traditional folk art and literature of the Sufi saints, to promote Punjabi language.
Associating Sufism with any one religion is against its very basic tenets. Underlining this basic fact, renowned Sufi singers Idrim Khan and Skakur Khan from Rajasthan sung the verses of Bulle Shah, Guru Nanak, Kabir and Sajjan Shah. By Karan Kapoor (ANI)
Melbourne, Sep 12 (ANI): Hugh Jackman has confessed that he once had a special swear word for his stage co-star Daniel Craig.
The actor duo is working together in a new Broadway play ‘A Steady Rain’.
But the ‘Australia’ star has revealed that there was a time when he wasn’t very fond of the current James Bond, and thus attached a swear word to his name.
He said that when Craig took a role Jackman coveted of poet Ted Hughes in the film ‘Sylvia Plath’ opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, he reacted by calling him the special name.
“That’s the first time I heard your name, and I attached it to, well, some swear word that I won’t say now. But then I watched your performance, and I was like, touche. You were great,” the Daily Telegraph quoted Jackman, 40, as having told USA Today. (ANI)
Ludhiana, Aug.30 (ANI): Satinder Sartaj is today known as a poet and sufi singer not just in Punjab all over the country, even abroad among ethnic Indians.
Born in a sleepy Bajrawar Village of Hoshiarpur, Sartaj holds a Doctorate in music and is today promoting Punjabi Sufi music among music lovers.
He has performed in several countries and is a name to reckon with in the music world.
“I can say about myself that I love simplicity. I try that my poetry should be ‘simple’ and ‘uncomplicated’, which a common person can easily understand. It’s not that you use difficult vocabulary. I always try that my composition be such that the audience can hum along with it. Noted singers say that to make a simple composition is a tough task whereas to make tough composition is simple. I think ‘simplicity’ in my singing has attracted the listeners,” said Dr. Satinder Sartaj, Punjabi Sufi Singer.
He believes that when a singer writes his own verses, he can do justice to it. He can sing it with great passion.
He describes poetry as the mother of all arts. It’s something, which can’t be learned. You can feel it if the nature has given you the sense of emotions.
“I have a long way to go. My reach is among the elite in India and abroad. But, to get popularity I have to reach to rural parts of India and become popular among farmers and laborers. For that I have to really work hard,” said Dr. Satinder Sartaj, Punjabi Sufi singer
Dr Satinder Sartaj’s talent was acknowledged at the 32 nations Dubai International Cultural fest 2003 where he received the Best Sufi Singer award. By Karan Kapoor (ANI)
Bangalore, Aug 9 (ANI): The statue of Tamil saint- poet Thiruvalluvar was unveiled on Sunday in Bangalore amidst tight security, bringing to an end of 18-year-old dispute.
Both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Governments expect the installation of the statue to normalize relations between the two feuding states.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi unveiled the statue at the Ulsoor Lake Park in the presence of Karnataka Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa.
In a reciprocal gesture, Tamil Nadu Government will unveil the statue of 16-century Kannada poet Sarvajna in Chennai on August 13.
Speaking at the ceremony Yeddyurappa said, “I have cleared everything. The question of a bandh does not arise. People are going to support in the entire state. We are continuing with the programme of unveiling the statues of Thiruvalluvar and Sarvajna.”
Bangaloreans did not respond to the shutdown call given by pro-Kannada outfits who have expressed unhappiness over the unveiling of the statute.
Earlier, the Karnataka High Court had issued an order warning against calling for a shutdown or indulging in acts of violence by any organisation.
The dispute has a long history, The Karnataka Tamil Sangam had wanted to install the statue of Thiruvalluvar since 1968, and accordingly had placed request before every Chief Minister who had ruled the state till 1991.
In 1991, then Chief Minister S.Bangarappa and his cabinet colleague K.J. George took a special interest and allotted land near the Ulsoor Lake. Sangam installed the statue, but some pro-Kannada organizations succeeded in obtaining a stay on the unveiling from the Karnataka High Court.
Sangam appealed against the ruling and the High Court transferred the case to a Civil Court and the matter was pending for the last 18 years.
After assuming power, Yeddyurappa convinced the Sangam authorities to withdraw the case and announced the unveiling of statue and as a reciprocal gesture Karunanidhi announced the unveiling of the Sarvajna statue in Chennai. (ANI)
London, July 11 (ANI): There’s more to Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe’s creative aspects than just acting, the teenage heartthrob is also a published poet, it has emerged.
Four poems written by the 19-year-old actor have been published in an underground fashion magazine, under the pen name Jacob Gershon.
Radcliffe’s pseudonym- Jacob Gershon- is a combination of his middle name, and the Jewish version of his mother’s maiden name, Gresham.
But the young star disclosed the secret in an interview with the Guardian.
“I didn’t want to publish it under my name. It’s the kind of thing I look back on and just think, ‘Ahhh!’” the Telegraph quoted Radcliffe as saying.
“As an actor, there is room for a certain amount of creativity, but you’re always ultimately going to be saying somebody else’s words.
“I don’t think I’d have the stamina, skill or ability to write a novel, but I’d love to write short stories and poetry, because those are my two passions. There is an art to a short story.
“I love Raymond Carver, and Chekhov – without making myself sound more highbrow than I am! When I don’t write in form and metre, I become unbearably self-indulgent. It’s what Robert Frost said: free verse is like playing tennis with the net down,” he added.
The verses are about infidelity, Pop Idol and Kate Moss’ former boyfriend- singer Pete Doherty.
The collection of his poems was published in November 2007 in Rubbish magazine-an annual publication with a circulation of 3,000, which describes itself as “a playful platform for fashionable people”. (ANI)
London, June 30 (ANI): Michael Jackson might have been known for his wild behaviour, but for music producer and King Of Pop’s childhood pal David Gest, he was a loyal friend who made him laugh.
Gest spilled the bean on his 40-year friendship with Jackson, who died last Thursday aged 50.
“There is nobody who knew Michael like I did. He was so gifted, it’s hard for me to picture him gone. There is a whole side to him people never saw,” the Sun quoted him as saying.
“For instance, people always think of him as talking in that high, soft voice, but he didn’t really speak like that – it was a facade.
“Still to this day I am not sure why he did it. The Michael I knew talked like a real man, acted like a real man and shook a hand like a real man,” he added.
Gest revealed that despite enjoying enormous fortune at the peak of his career, the ‘Thriller’ hitmaker loved to bargain.
“He loved haggling over the price in stores. If something was 4,000 dollars, he would cheekily start them at 200 dollars.
“He was an arch negotiator. People thought he was absolutely nuts but he actually got away with it sometimes,” Gest added.
Jackson also loved to read especially classic literature.
“What a lot of people don’t know about Michael is that he was always reading. He was an intelligent man. His favourite poet was Robert Burns and he was obsessed with the novels of Charles Dickens,” Gest said.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the body of late superstar could be put on display in a glass coffin so that fans can bid adieu to the star before his burial.
According to reports, the King of Pop’s family has discussed the idea of a see-through casket to allow the public to see him one last time. (ANI)
Rome, May 16 (ANI): Scientists have traced the roots of a potion that was used to intoxicate condemned men to smile before dying, to a plant commonly found on the Italian island of Sardinia, during the time of Greek poet Homer.
According to Roman news agency ANSA, the association with Sardinia has often been disputed, but Cagliari University botanists think they have settled the case, and the plant in question could have beneficial properties as well.
The plant, tubular water-dropwart (oenanthe fistulosa), is common in Sardinia, where it is popularly known as ‘water celery’.
“Our discovery supports what many cultural anthropologists have said about death rituals among the ancient Sardinians,” said Cagliari University Botany Department chief Mauro Ballero.
“‘The Punics were convinced that death was the start of new life, to be greeted with a smile,” he added.
Ballero’s team, whose work appears in the latest edition of the US Journal of Natural Products, have established that a toxic substance in the dropwart plant does, in fact, cause facial muscles to contract and produce a grimace or rictus.
According to Ballero, the discovery could have a brighter side, leading to drugs that might help certain conditions where parts of the face are paralyzed.
“The good news is that the molecule in this plant may be retooled by pharmaceutical companies to have the opposite effect,” he said. (ANI)
Washington, May 13 (ANI): US President Barack Obama has invited writers and musicians to perform in what is being billed as the first White House poetry party.
Consolidating his reputation for cool after his performance as a stand-up comic on Saturday night, Obama has invited poets and writers, backed by jazz musicians, to perform in the East Room tonight.
According to The Guardian, it was originally billed as a poetry slam but the White House later corrected this, saying that a slam is a competition, which the president’s party was not. It was a jam.
Obama promised on the campaign trail that if he was elected, he would throw the White House open to as wide a range of people as possible. Tonight is intended as part of that.
But it is also because Obama is fond of poetry. He said on the campaign trail no one should graduate from university without having read poetry and has been spotted with a copy works from the Nobel Prize-winning poet Derek Walcott in his back pocket.
Two poems, Pop and Underground, by the president published in the literary magazine Feast in 1981 surfaced last year.
Since becoming president, the Obamas, who are often seen at theatre and concert halls round Washington much more than the Bushes, have hosted a series of cultural events at the White House. (ANI)
New York, May 8 (ANI): Hollywood actor Rob Pattinson, who created a wave among his female fans with his portrayal of a vampire in Twilight, will leave his fans flabbergasted, as he has enacted gay love scenes in his forthcoming flick ‘Little Ashes’.
Rob plays the Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dali in the flick, which focuses on gay relationship with poet Federico Garcia Lorca, portrayed by Javier Beltran.
Rob revealed that though he was nervous about filming the love scenes with Javier, he was happy that the scenes turned out looking appealing.
“It was hard to watch my first scene, in which I turn up in this funny little hat,” the New York Daily News quoted him as saying.
“I was worried about watching them, but Dalí and Lorca’s sex scenes were in fact the best scenes,” he added.
Rob, who has just done only a few flicks in Hollywood, also said that he was not worried about how his female fans would react to his portrayal of a gay painter in ‘Little Ashes’.
“I don’t really mind either way. I’m not really trying to appeal to anyone in particular,” he said. (ANI)
Forte dei Marmi – At the turn of the century, the Tuscan coastal town of Forte dei Marmi became hugely popular with artists, aristocrats and intellectuals from all over Europe.
Nowadays, the “beautiful people” still flock here to spend their holidays among the pine trees. In downtown Forte dei Marmi, the fashionable Café Versilia on the Piazza Garibaldi was a popular haunt for famous cultural names such as English writer Aldous Huxley, Italian poet Gabriele d’Annunzio or German author Thomas Mann. The latter allegedly based the character of the sorcerer, Cipolla, in his 1929 novella Mario and Magician on someone he met on the premises.
The tranquil resort on the attractive Versilia coast continues to lure an immaculately-clad jet set and remains a byword for elegance. Guests sip a glass of prosecco under the linen sunshades which line the far-reaching golden sands.
The beach bars are abuzz in the summer months, competing for attention alongside an extensive range of water sport activities and an ambitious cultural programme. The main beach stretches five kilometres between the rivulets of Fiumetto in the south and Cinquale to the north.
The name Forte dei Marmi translates as The Fortress of the Marble and the first settlers in this swampy area were dealers in the glossy white rock whose use in architecture goes back to classical Greek times.
In the 16th century, a certain Michelangelo Buonarotti, the Renaissance all-round genius commonly known only by his first name, was commissioned by Pope Leopold X. to draw up plans for the road to connect the marble quarries at Massa and Carrara in Apennine Mountains with the coast.
The artist set to work and both the road and a 300-metre along the pier were built so that the prized stone could be hauled aboard sailing ships. Today both locals and tourists gather at the spot to admire the spectacular sunsets.
A century later, the resort began to attract fishermen, farmers and quarry workers and it was in 1788 under the aegis of Grand Duke Leopold I that the town acquired its most notable landmark, the red brick fort in the main square “Il Fortino.”
Tourism in Forte dei Marmi only began to boom after World War II when wealthy Italian industrialists chose it as a summer retreat. Today the “Fortino” is home to the Museum for Satire and Caricature and visitors can admire exhibits dating back to antiquity as well as contemporary works. For those who want more there is even a specialised multimedia archive on the topic.
This town of around 8,500 residents – known to its admirers as “Forte” – offers an unusually rich tableau of cultural activities. There are numerous galleries and the town is a useful springboard for visits throughout Tuscany. Lucca, Florenz and Pisa are only a short ride away by local train.
There are plenty of chic cafes to visit in the central Forti and the town offers a wide range of hotel accommodation to suit all budgets. Four-star hotels line the promenade behind a fringe of oleander and palm trees while the more reasonably-priced establishments are generally found in the centre or on side streets.
The nearby Apennines offers all manner of sporting pursuits such as hiking and climbing tours while at the seaside windsurfers and kite surfers will find plenty to keep them occupied. A fine way of seeing Forti is from the saddle of a bicycle since in contrast to most places in Italy, the town has an extensive network of cycle paths. (dpa)
London, May 2 (ANI): A letter of advice by poet William Wordsworth has sold for 8,825 pounds at an auction.
In the 1840 letter, Wordsworth gives advice to fellow poet Robert Southey.
Wordsworth wrote the letter in response to a request by Southey, who was Poet Laureate at the time, to cast his eye over a poem.
The pair, who both lived in the Lake District, enjoyed a friendly rivalry.n the letter Wordsworth made several suggestions for Southey’s poem ‘My Days Among the Dead are Passed’, reports The Telegraph.
Wordsworth describes the poem as “so profoundly fine and so beautifully characteristic of its author, that I should like the words to be as perfect as care could make them.”
But he goes on to suggest several changes, such as replacing the word “converse” with “commune”, because it is “a word sweeter in sound as well as in feeling.”
Dr Lynda Pratt, a Southey expert at Nottingham University, said: “There was no way he could have changed his poems to suit Wordsworth but perhaps this was just Wordsworth’s way of keeping the channels of communication open.”
According to Pratt, Wordsworth, who succeeded Southey as Poet Laureate in 1843, was “notoriously tactless when commenting on other poets’ work, but didn’t take criticism of his own very well.”
The letter sold at George Kidner Auctioneers in Lymington, Hants, for more than double its estimate. (ANI)
London, Apr 30 (ANI): A Brit divorce judge, who decided to lay emphasis on the distressing impact divorce has on children, quoted a famous lewd poem as he made a ruling in a family battle on April 29.
Lord Justice Nicholas Wall used the words from English poet Philip Larkin’s 1971 work ‘This Be The Verse’, to put his point across.
“They f*** you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do,” the Sun quoted him as reciting.
“They fill you with the faults they had, and add some extra, just for you,” he said.
The Appeal Court judge, dealing with a residence order, said he hoped he would give the mother and father a fright because they had both come “within a whisker” of losing their nine-year-old son.
As he ruled the boy could live with the mother, he said the parents had harmed him by their “ongoing mutual dislike and recriminations” for each other following the break-up.
The judge issued a statement overturning a decision by Luton County Court, Beds, at which custody of the boy had been given to his maternal grandparents.
“These four lines give a clear warning to parents,” he added. (ANI)
Kolkata, Apr 15 (ANI): Residents in West Bengal participated in celebrations and revelry to welcome ‘Poila Boisakh’ or the traditional New Year in the state.
‘Poila Baisakh’ marks the beginning of the Bengali New Year, which they celebrate in a grand manner by taking out colourful processions on the streets.
During the procession, the melodious strains of Rabindra Sangeet, songs written and composed by Nobel laureate and poet Rabindranath Tagore filled the air as women wearing bright colourful saris, men in white tunics and children in colourful costumes walked through the city streets singing the songs.
Besides singing and dancing, traditional Bengali cuisine is also an integral part of celebrations. The procession was organised by ‘Bangla Bhasa O Chetana Samiti’.
The secretary of the organisation, Imanul Haque said that the procession has been organised with a purpose of making people aware about Bengali culture and to mark the occasion.
“It is our duty to revive our culture, our language and our education. So, we started a rally, with Bengali folk dance on Bengali folk tunes. We observed this with our old food ‘Panta Bhaat Sutki’ (Rice soaked in water and dried fish), Maach bhaat aalo posto (Fish, rice and potato cooked with poppy seeds). Poila Boisakh connects all ethnic Bengalis irrespective of religious and regional differences,” said Haque.
Traditionally, the festival is a day to be spent rejoicing with family and friends. For traders, it is time to close one set of accounts and open another.
Poila Baisakh celebrations spread over almost a week and a variety of cultural programmes are held across the state to mark the occasion. (ANI)
PHOENIX, ARIZONA: An Arizona college criticized for refusing to award an honorary degree to President Barack Obama has said it would name a
scholarship program after him instead.
Arizona State University
was widely ridiculed last week after officials said it would not give Obama an honorary degree when he addresses students at a graduation ceremony next month, citing an insufficient “body of work”.
However ASU President Michael Crow attempted to deflect the criticism in a statement released at the weekend which said an existing scholarship would be named after Obama.
“It has always been our intention to recognize and honour President Obama’s accomplishments during his visit,” Crow said.
“I apologize for the confusion surrounding our invitation to President Obama to address ASU students at commencement.”
The university’s refusal to honour America’s first black president with a degree triggered an outcry last week, with the school’s newspaper begging officials to reconsider.
“It’s an odd gap that besmirches the image of an excellent institution,” the East Valley Tribune said.
Such degrees are traditionally awarded by US universities to speakers invited to address graduates- past recipients of honorary degrees from ASU include major donors, a movie director, a poet, a supermarket magnate, and the former head of the Navajo Nation who was impeached in disgrace.
The scholarship program, which aids students with deep financial needs, will be renamed the President Barack Obama Scholars, the university said.
Crow had previously told a local newspaper that the university would not reverse its position, saying the college had a policy of not giving honorary degrees to sitting politicians.
Dayton (Ohio), Apr. 12 (ANI): As the city of Dayton gets ready to observe 41st anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior’s assassination, halls of Dayton University echoed with his speech whose recordings had been lost 45 years ago.
The November 1964 speech was powerful and passionate in its optimism.
“I must say that we have come a long, long way in the struggle to make civil rights a reality,” King had said who was in Dayton, Ohio to raise funds for his civil rights agenda.
Ted Clark was 28 at the time and was one of the few whites in attendance. He remembers exactly where he sat, the CBS news reported.
“You could just feel the electricity in this place it was unbelievable,” Clark said.
“I have to admit there was some apprehension. I am convinced today that segregation is on its deathbed,” he added.
Over time, the recording of King’s Dayton speech had been forgotten, until Dayton professor emeritus Herb Martin stumbled across it.
Martin collected old reels to re-record his performances of poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar.
“I was gonna tape over it, but luckily fate kept me from doing that. That’s how Schock and I came to hear the King speech. You think, ‘Wow, this is really something of value,” Martin said.
Now, Martin has donated the tape to the university archives. (ANI)
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