Lee cancels TV plans saying he needs rest after Life of Pi

Oscar winning Chinese director Ang Lee canceled his plans to direct the pilot of new US television series Tyrant, saying that he needed to rest after spending four years working on 3-D fantasy-adventure film Life of Pi. Lee, 58, signed on to direct the pilot of the drama series for cable network FX in March, shortly after winning the Best Director Oscar for Life of Pi. Tyrant tells the story of an American family that is pulled into the workings of a restive Middle Eastern nation, and Lee was slated to begin filming the pilot this summer. It would have been the Taiwan-born director's first foray into television.

College student catches massive python found in Florida

A 5.6-meter Burmese python set a record for the longest snake ever captured in South Florida, where the exotic species has taken up residence. College student Jason Leon snared the female python in a rural area southeast of Miami earlier this month, when he saw part of it sticking out from brush along the roadside, said Carli Segelson, a spokeswoman for the state's Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Relegation woes worry toothless Argentinos Juniors

Soccer team the Argentinos Juniors, staring into the jaws of relegation, have had a set of false teeth thrown at their coach by an angry fan while the club's president has quit his seat at the Argentine FA. An irate fan threw a set of dentures at coach Ricardo Caruso Lombardi during Monday's 3-1 home defeat by Belgrano that left Argentinos bottom of the "Final" championship standings. The result pushed the club where Diego Maradona started his professional career closer to the bottom three places in the relegation table based on teams' average points over three seasons.

Harry Potter first edition sold for 150,000 pounds

A unique first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone annotated by author J.K. Rowling has sold for a record 150,000 pounds ($227,421) at a London charity auction, Sotheby's said on Tuesday. The 1997 book, featuring handwritten notes, 22 original illustrations and a 43-page "second thoughts" commentary by the author, fetched the highest price to date for a printed book by Rowling, Sotheby's said in a statement. The auction house said the book was sold to an unidentified buyer who bid over the telephone. The full sale featured 51 first editions, all unique one-offs featuring annotations and commentary from authors, as part of the "First Editions, Second Thoughts" sale to benefit charity organization English PEN, which promotes freedom of expression. The total sale fetched 439,000 pounds.

Prague metro plans to launch love train for singles

Rail passengers searching for love in the Czech capital need look no further than the daily commute as the city makes plans to designate carriages on its underground trains for singles. Prague transport company Ropid wants to set aside carriages on some or all of its trains for singles seeking a soul mate, a service that could launch by the end of this year depending on the results of a poll asking commuter if they would be interested. Spokesman Filip Drapal says the rail company wants to encourage people to use public transportation. "We want to emphasise that public transport is not only a means of travel but that you can do things there that you cannot do in your car," he said.

He's played a science-fiction hero, policeman and even Hamlet. But now actor Keanu Reeves is taking on a new role - as director of a contemporary martial arts movie aimed at both Chinese and Western audiences. Reeves has stepped behind the camera to make his directorial debut with Man of Tai Chi, a trilingual film loosely based on the life of a stuntman, Tiger Chen, whom he befriended while working on the sci-fi The Matrix trilogy. The film is set in Beijing and follows Tiger Chen when he finds himself a star in an underworld fight club.

Gandhi blood sample fails to sell at London auction

Two microscope slides bearing the blood of former Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi failed to be sold at auction in London on Tuesday, despite predictions they would fetch 10,000 pounds to 15,000 pounds ($15,200-22,800). The slides were obtained in 1924 when the father of the Indian independence movement was recovering from an appendectomy near Mumbai. He was thought to have donated the blood to the family he was staying with at the time. Thirty-six items that formally belonged to Gandhi managed to find buyers at the auction.

Reuters

(China Daily 05/26/2013 page4)