Arts and Culture

Matthew Broderick Gazes at Stars, Tumbles for Student Nurse: John Simon At nearly three hours, Kenneth Lonergan’s “The Starry Messenger” is overlong and in need of a blue pencil. But you’ll find that it contains very good things - - first among them, a memorable performance by Matthew Broderick.

Wright Penn Sleepwalks, Gobbles Cake on Floor in `Pippa Lee': Rick Warner Pippa Lee thinks she might be losing her mind. Not to worry. The central character in Rebecca Miller’s “The Privates Lives of Pippa Lee” is probably just confused by the bewildering script about a suburban housewife trying to make sense of her strange existence.

Tim Burton's Toothy Monsters, Lurid, Gothic Fantasies Invade MoMA: Review Just beyond the “Monster Mouth” entrance, a black-lighted, goblin-festooned carousel turns hypnotically to dorky horror-movie music.

Graff Pink Diamond, Bordeaux Wine May Boost $129 Million Hong Kong Auction A ring with a pink diamond the size of a chickpea will be the smallest and most-expensive item offered at a Hong Kong auction of paintings, antiques and gems that may tally HK$1 billion ($129 million).

Abu Dhabi Prepares for Louvre With Giant Gorilla, Picasso, Beirut Jigsaw A three-meter gorilla made of wire boosted Abu Dhabi’s art fair this week, as the city prepares to open offshoots of the Louvre and Guggenheim.

Paris Museum Strike May Spread as Unions Object to Planned Job Reductions Unions representing French museum workers are threatening to extend and widen a strike that has kept Paris’s Pompidou Center of modern art shut all week.

Capitalists Exposed as Greedy, Vulgar in Paris Theaters: Jorg von Uthmann The kind of capitalists who give capitalism a bad name are under scrutiny on Paris stages.

Chef Mark Hix Breaks Leg After Collision on His Motor Scooter in London Mark Hix, the chef who owns two London restaurants and opens a third in Selfridges next year, is in the hospital after breaking his leg in a traffic accident.

Palm Pixi Price War Means Teen-Tech Gift Grab: Tech by Rich Jaroslovsky With the economy still struggling, this may not be the holiday season for that new $2,500 Apple MacBook Pro, or even that $200 Motorola Droid.

Top Five Nonfiction Books, Marc Rich to Ayn Rand: The Bloomberg Muse List With so many books in the stores, we’re often asked for recommendations. Here’s a list of recent nonfiction books.