Great Regulars: The technology you may have been dimly

aware of is 3D printing. Your home printer produces two-dimensional sheets, but now there are printers that build three-dimensional objects. Out of a bath of fluid or powder, any solid object, previously specified on your computer, can be made to appear. Anderson's case is that this is the equivalent of James Hargreaves's spinning jenny, the Lancashire gadget that, in 1764, launched the industrial revolution.

from Bryan Appleyard: from The Sunday Times: Chris Anderson's Makers

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The People Speak--a book, a show and a cause--is [Colin] Firth's big foray into the dangerous territory known as Actors Do Politics.

Most people at some point have wondered why on earth anybody should care what Sean Penn, George Clooney or Susan Sarandon, not to mention assorted Redgraves, think about politics. "Actorly activism", Firth calls it in his introduction to the book, noting that they are often "implored to shut up about matters of consequence".

from Bryan Appleyard: from The Sunday Times: Colin Firth's Actorvism

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[Greg] Doran himself has directed two thirds of the Shakespeare plays--he has never done one twice--and his tenure will include his versions of the remaining third. (He took advice over a long lunch from Nick Hynter at the National Theatre who manges to direct five plays every two years and run the entire place.) Specifically, he feels he is just about ready for King Lear.

His immersion is almost supernatural. At times in his conversation, I get the feeling he is almost shamanistically becoming one with the Bard.

from Bryan Appleyard: from The Sunday Times: Greg Doran: The Attendant Lord

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