News

A '90s favorite is making its way back to the airwaves. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Nickelodeon is developing a Clarissa Explains It All revival.The original sitcom starred Melissa Joan Hart as Clarissa Darling, a teenager trying to survive her aggressively suburban life. The cast also included Jason Zimbler, Sean O'Neal, Elizabeth Hess, and Joe O'Connor. The show ran for five seasons on Nickelodeon before ending in 1994.Read More…...

Hannah Montana might be 10, but Clarissa Explains It All is 25 this year. Recently, Variety interviewed Melissa Joan Hart about her starring role in the '90s Nickelodeon TV show.

Clarissa Explains It All starred Hart as Clarissa Darling, a teenager who tells the audience about her life. The series ran from 1991 to 1994 and also starred Jason Zimbler, Elizabeth Hess, Joe O' Connor, and Sean O' Neal.

Read More…...

How the chimpanzee Nim Chimpsky was treated was wrong, and such invasive research should be consigned to history

"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."

– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Perhaps Herbert Terrace, professor of psychology at Columbia University, and director of the experiment that is the subject of Project Nim, a new documentary by James Marsh, never read The Little Prince. The sad story of Terrace's irresponsible treatment of Nim, the chimp he tamed – or more strictly, whose upbringing in a human family he organised – is the guiding thread of this revealing film, which raises important issues about the distinction between humans and animals, about our attitudes toward animals, and about scientific objectivity (or the lack thereof) in behavioural research.

Nim was born in a primate research centre in Norman, Oklahoma. His mother,...

With the superb documentary Project Nim out now in cinemas, we caught up with one of its main subjects, primatologist Bob Ingersoll…

On the surface a simple documentary about a chimpanzee raised as a human, director James Marsh’s Project Nim quickly unfolds into something far more intriguing and complex. Detailing Professor Herbert Terrace’s attempts to teach a chimpanzee sign language in the 1970s, the story takes in academic rivalries, cruelty, violence, and moments of extraordinary tenderness.

If you haven’t seen Project Nim yet, we’d recommend that you try to find a screening of it as soon as you can – along with Senna, it’s one of the very best documentaries of the year, and an uplifting companion piece to this summer’s sci-fi flick, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.

One of the most engaging subjects in Project Nim is Bob Ingersoll, a primate studies...

In the early 70s, a primate named Nim Chimpsky was the subject of an experiment whose purpose was to learn whether language is innate. Now, his strange life has been turned into a documentary by Man on Wire director James Marsh

Whether he's zooming past in a pushchair, perched on a lavatory seat or getting a little too intimate with a passing cat, it's impossible not to be charmed by Nim the chimpanzee. Nim Chimpsky, to give him his full title, was born at the Institute for Primate Studies in Norman, Oklahoma, in the early 70s. Highly intelligent, he was chosen to be the subject of a language experiment at Columbia University, called Project Nim, that aimed to discover whether or not chimpanzees could use grammar to create sentences if they were taught sign language and nurtured in a similar environment to human children. His name is a pun on Noam Chomsky,...

I love the magical communal moment that occurs at Sundance at the end of every movie just before the theater lights come up. While the credits roll, hundreds and hundreds of moviegoers bow their heads in prayer, murmuring over tiny votive candles, and the auditorium appears to be dotted with sacred points of light piercing the darkness. At first I thought those miniature beacons reflected this year’s Sundance marketing and design theme, “Be There,” articulated in a warm voice-over narration by festival founder Robert Redford in the video tag before every screening. “Imagine a world without stories,” Redford murmurs,...

Filed under: Sundance Film Festival, Cinematical

Get ready, festival-goers: Today marks Day One of Sundance Film Festival, 2011. If you're in Park City, use this as your handy guide to notable screenings and events popping up in the snowy mountain town. If you're stuck elsewhere, consider this your roadmap for navigating all the indie buzz.

The forecast for Thursday, January 20: A high of 26°, 10% chance of precipitation.

3:00 Pm: First Park City Event, 'All That is Solid Melts into Air' at New Frontier

15-minute installation by Mark Boulos that compares Nigerian guerrillas with Chicago stock traders.

3:00 Pm: Author Signing with Elizabeth Hess at Dolly's Bookstore

Hess wrote the source material for tonight's James Marsh film 'Project Nim.'

6:00 Pm: 'Sing Your Song' at Eccles Theatre

Susanne Rostock's biodoc looks into the music and activism of Harry Belafonte.

6:30 Pm: 'The Guard' at Egyptian...

Actress Elizabeth Hess (Clarissa Explains it All For You) has graciously committed to assisting with Theatre Project's May 3rd Fundraiser "The Notorious Brunch" during the run of her one-woman show, Living Openly and Notoriously. "Venues like Theater Project are so vital and necessary because they encourage both artists and audiences to embrace the human condition. By being receptive to unique and fearless artistic visions, venues like Theater Project can lead to transformative experiences even as they dazzle and entertain.