PARIS ~ Pop diva Madonna turned sexy hard-rock queen for a night at a private concert in Paris on Tuesday night, telling her fans she loves to french-kiss the French as she ground away at an electric guitar.

Wearing black from head to toe, her blonde curls loose to her shoulders, Madonna put on a high-voltage half-hour show for a privileged 1,500 fans to mark the release of “Hard Candy”, her 10th chart-topping album.

“Who do you love more, me or the Rolling Stones?” she asked the crowd packing the Olympia, a mythical concert hall near the Paris opera, before launching into a ear-popping heavy-metal version of her mega-hit Hung Up.

“I thought you might say that,” quipped the queen of pop, who turns 50 on August 16, as the adoring crowd roared back their answer.

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HONG KONG ~ A pioneering art fair in Hong Kong is expected to attract 15,000 potential buyers, reflecting how modern art has become as desirable for many Asian consumers as the latest luxury-brand watch.

The fair, which opens May 14, will assemble 100 international galleries under one roof selling works ranging from Picasso masterpieces to prints by emerging local artists.

With the Asian art market booming, organizers hope the inaugural event will prove that owning art is not just for expert connoisseurs but can be hugely satisfying, and even profitable, for first-time buyers too.

Such an attempt to increase the number of collectors in Asia comes as the region’s auction rooms enjoy unprecedented interest in contemporary art produced in Asia and elsewhere.

At the Sotheby’s Contemporary Chinese Art sale in Hong Kong in early April, an oil painting by Zhang Xiaogang sold to a private Asian collector for more than US$6 million, twice its estimate.

It was one of several records set during the sale, and was the highest auction price paid for Zhang, a successful artist from China who has exhibited around the world for 20 years.

“Contemporary art is developing into the ultimate luxury brand,” said Magnus Renfrew, director of the fair, which will be held in the dramatic harbourside exhibition centre.

“A fair like this can be a fixture for the international jet set: somewhere people come to see and be seen.

“Many of the ‘new rich’ in China and elsewhere in Asia are now looking to contemporary art because they have their cars, their beautiful houses and yachts. So what’s next to buy? What way can you next express your wealth?

“We’re not seeing any weakness in the art market despite problems in the global economy, and the timing could not be better. We are expecting visitors from Taiwan, Korea, mainland China and Japan, as well as from outside Asia.”

While a Picasso might still be beyond the means of most of Asia’s newly wealthy, the Hong Kong International Art Fair has been carefully tailored to match their various wallet sizes and tastes.

The fair aims to cater for all budgets, with minimum prices of around $2,000, while at the upper end of the scale one or two museum-quality pieces will add a touch of essential glamour and extravagance to the event.

The Picasso, a 1955 nude portrait, is likely to sell for several million dollars, while a Francis Bacon work from London’s Marlborough gallery tops the price list at $35 million.

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NEW YORK ~ A masterpiece by French impressionist Claude Monet sold for US$41.4 million at auction in New York this week, setting a new record for the artist.

Le Pont du chemin de fer a Argenteuil, an 1873 painting described by Christie’s auction house as a “truly exceptional picture,” was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder on Tuesday.

However, two other works by the artist, as well as works by Vincent Van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse, failed to find buyers, adding fuel to concerns that the art market is feeling the pinch of the weak US economy.

A further record was set by the sale of Auguste Rodin’s Eve, grand modele - version sans rocher, which sold for $18.9 million to a telephone bidder.

LOS ANGELES ~ Marvel comics’ adaptation of Iron Man struck gold at the box office at the weekend to become one of only 10 films to gross US$100 million in its opening weekend, industry figures showed.

The fast-paced action film, starring Robert Downey Jr. as billionaire industrialist Tony Stark who invents an armored suit to help him save the world, raked in $102.1 million in its debut, Exhibitor Relations said.

With an additional $97 million from overseas box-office, Iron Man is already well on the way to becoming one of the year’s biggest blockbusters.

Trailing a distant second, with a take of $14.8 million, was romantic comedy Made of Honor, which stars Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan as friends who inch towards love as they plan Monaghan’s marriage to another man.

Slipping to third place was last week’s box office topper, Baby Mama, a surrogate motherhood comedy starring former Saturday Night Live comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, which netted $10.1 million.

Harold and Kumar Escape Guantanamo took fourth spot with $6.1 million. The sequel to 2004 Harry and Kumar go to White Castle sees stoner buddies landing in the notorious Guantanamo jail after being mistaken for terrorists on a plane.

In fifth place with $6 million was Forgetting Sarah Marshall, billed as “the world’s first romantic disaster comedy,” starring British comedian Russell Brand.

The Forbidden Kingdom, the first movie pairing of martial arts legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li, dropped from third to sixth spot on its second weekend, with $4.2 million.

Nim’s Island, a youth-oriented tropical adventure with Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin, took seventh place with $2.7 million.

Prom Night, a remake of a 1980 horror film, carved out $2.4 million to take eighth spot, three weekends after it topped the charts.

In ninth place was gambling drama 21, another former box office topper, which earned $2 million.

Rounding out the top 10 was 88 minutes, starring Al Pacino as a college professor and part-time FBI psychiatrist hunting down a killer.

By Paulo Coelho
For The Bali Times

At the beginning of the Christian era, a group of monks decided to retreat to the Sceta monastery in Alexandria. Their stories have survived to this day in a work called Verba Seniorum (The word of the Ancients), and some have already been transcribed in this column. Below are some texts that make us reflect on the quest for what is impossible: perfection.

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VIENNA ~ Six fingers and three iPhones are enough to create a band, and Austria’s iBand is living proof, having scored a hit on the internet by converting the little gadgets into a guitar, a keyboard and a set of drums.

The Viennese trio first gained attention in February on the video-sharing website YouTube with its music video Life is greater than the internet.

The clip, showing a bird’s eye view of six hands wearing fingerless gloves and typing away at three touchscreens, has since been viewed over 2.8 million times.

“It was a test. We were rather surprised by all these viewings, but of course it’s flattering,” Seb, the “drummer,” said.

Fascinated by the pocket-sized gadget’s possibilities, the three members of the band, all in their mid-20s, imported Apple iPhones as soon as they went on sale in the United States in December and began experimenting with the accompanying software.

“The idea was there even before the software existed,” said Marina, an arts and communication student who is the band’s singer and “pianist.”

The iPhone is very easy to play, says the band, which has composed three pop songs.

“Of course the screen isn’t very big and it doesn’t have all the advantages of a real instrument,” says Marina’s brother Roger, the band’s “guitarist.”

“But I can change the settings any way I please. For instance, I can play two different notes on the same guitar chord at the same time. And as long as there are new programs, there will be new sounds,” he added.

The musical phone’s only limitation is its lack of nuances: whether the player’s touch is soft or hard the sound coming out of the instrument remains the same, making it ill-suited for classical music or jazz.

“But then again, why not,” added Seb.

In the end, the iPhone is very similar to other instruments, according to the three musicians, who founded a punk group 10 years ago.

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PARIS ~ John Malkovich won the director’s award on Monday in the Molieres, French theatre’s annual prize-giving event, while another American import, The Lion King, romped off with three prizes.

In a star-spangled evening at Paris’s Folies Bergere, Malkovich walked off with the director’s award for Good Canary written by Zach Helm, which had the most nominations (six) but only won one other prize - for Pierre-Francois Limbosch as best set designer.

The French version of the visually stunning musical The Lion King won all three categories - musical theatre, costume creator for American Julie Taymor and lighting director for her compatriot Donald Holder - for which it was nominated.