An article about the International Beethoven Project's 10th annual Beethoven Birthday Bash, celebrating Beethoven's 249th birthday, which will honor Chaz Ebert with the Spirit Laureate Award and feature the premiere of the movie by George Lepauw: "Bach48: Voyage Into the Well-Tempered Clavier."
Q. Re: the AM discussion of "Bend It Like Beckham" and its title: The distributors of the movie apparently considered the expression "Bend it" to be too subtle for the non-English speaking European audience. In Germany, an English language title was used for all the publicity material. However, that title was "Kick it Like Beckham." In France they used a French language title "Joue-La Comme Beckham," which translates as "Play it Like Beckham." French and German cinemagoers were expected to know who Beckham is. In America, the whole title was presumably expected to be incomprehensible, so they didn't attempt to change it. (Michael Jennings, London)
Q. In your review of "Independence Day," referring to the gigantic alien space craft, you write: "an object that size in near-Earth orbit might be expected to cause tidal waves." Tidal waves, or tsunamis, are caused by sudden earth movement, not extraterrestrial objects. However, a craft one-fourth the mass of the moon, if at the same distance as the moon, would result in tides (not tidal waves) approximately 25% above normal--not fun but tolerable. If the mother ship were located one-half the distance of the moon, tidal influence of the ship would be equal to that of the moon. BUT, its orbital speed would be substantially faster, resulting in wild tides. The closer the object, the worse the effect. If the object were in close earth orbit, it wouldn't need "death rays" to destroy cities; since most major cities are seaports, they would be ravaged by wild tides. I suspect this is what you meant and it is a excellent point. (Richard George, San Jacinto, Ca.)
Q. This summer sees the release of "Mission Impossible." Other recently released films include "Sgt. Bilko" and "Flipper." What is your opinion of the spate of popular television shows being made into major motion pictures? Is Hollywood beginning to run out of fresh ideas? (Mark Dayton, Costa Mesa, Ca.)
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