This comes via Iris Bell:
Rights have been acquired to the Ayn Rand novel Anthem. Jim Snider and Kerry O’Quinn are co-writing the screenplay for theatrical production.
At one time, choreographer Agnes DeMille, and later Russian expatriate Rudolph Nureyev, liked the idea of turning Anthem into a ballet. Walt Disney even expressed interest in developing the novel as an animated film, but Anthem never made it to stage or screen. That is all about to change.
Writer/Producer Jim Snider’s most recent film is Hope Ranch, starring Bruce Boxleitner (Tron, Babylon-5), Lorenzo Lamas (Falcon Crest, Renegade) and Gail O’Grady (NYPD Blue, American Dreams).
Writer/Producer Kerry O’Quinn built a New York magazine empire including Starlog and Fangoria, produced soundtrack albums, and developed a sci-fi series for HBO.
Pre-production is slated to begin in 2004.
For more information, contact Kerry O’Quinn or Jim Snider.
Category: The Atlasphere
All things Atlasphere can be found here, columns, podcasts, interesting anecdotes, and more.
ARI Essay Contest in NY Times
Sandra Salmans has an article titled “Essays on the Edge” in the Education Life section of the Sunday, January 18th issue of The New York Times. “Writing for dollars: be selfish, be freethinking, or just be,” says the subtitle, as Salmans surveys “the more intriguing, lucrative or unlikely competitions” for scholarship money.
The very first scholarship cited is “For Capitalist Pigs”:
The virtue of selfishness is richly rewarded by the Ayn Rand Institute, an educational foundation devoted to promoting the author’s philosophy of Objectivism, which endorses reason, self-interest and capitalism over altruism or environmentalism. A top prize of $10,000 goes to the best essay by a high school junior or senior who demonstrates “an outstanding grasp of the philosophic and psychological meaning of The Fountainhead.” Appropriately, it’s a no-strings-attached cash award. College students can win up to $5,000 for the best essay on the meaning of Atlas Shrugged.
The article is accompanied by a nice photo of Rand with the caption: “Ayn Rand created a philosophy. An ‘outstanding’ grasp of it is worth $10,000.”
John Lewis on Homeland Defense in Denver
John Lewis will be the first speaker of the Front Range Objectivist Supper Talks on Saturday, January 31, 2004 in Denver, Colorado. FROST is planning to host these supper talks six times a year.
Topic: “The Failure of the Homeland Defense: Lessons from History”
With the creation of a cabinet-level Department of Homeland Defense, America has accepted a permanent, institutionalized state of siege on its own soil. But is this the correct strategy? This lecture examines several cases from history, asking what has happened when great nations, facing attack, have turned to defense rather than offense. The results are unequivocal: the only defense is a good offense. America should project her military beyond her borders, into the enemy’s homeland, and should leave her cities free and open, as demonstrations of the power and success of freedom.
But this strategic lesson depends upon deeper factors. A nation must understand, and focus on, its self-interest; the military must then be allowed to win. A nation under attack must not exempt those who start a war from its consequences; the psychological will of the enemy to continue the fight must be destroyed along with its physical resources. There is a deep connection between intellectual clarity, moral certainty, and the offensive strategy needed to defeat a ruthless enemy. Only Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism provides the moral foundations needed to succeed against the threats we face today.
TOC's Hudgins on CNN on Saturday
Ed Hudgins, TOC’s DC director, will be on CNN at approximately 2:40pm EST on Saturday, January 17, 2004 discussing a return to the Moon. Ed Hudgins edited Space: The Free-Market Frontier, a collection of essays that explore the future of the private sector in space exploration and exploitation.
'Night of January 16th' in NYC
A new organization called the Objectivist Theatre Company will be performing Ayn Rand’s play “The Night of January 16th” in New York City starting on ? when else? ? January 16th, 2004.
The performances will be held at the Objectivist Community Center (243 W38th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues) from January 16th through February 8th on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $15 and reservations can be made by contacting Sarah Zimmitti.
TOC's Hudgins on FOX on Tuesday
TOC DC director Ed Hudgins will be on the Fox News Channel in a segment at 2:20 EST on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 discussing a return to the Moon and mission to Mars. Ed Hudgins edited Space: The Free-Market Frontier, a collection of essays that explore the future of the private sector in space exploration and exploitation.
Two New Rand Books to Be Released
Two new books of interest to Rand fans will be released in February. The first, Essays on Ayn Rand’s We The Living, is edited by Robert Mayhew, who also edited Ayn Rand’s Marginalia.
The second, by ARI archivist Jeffrey Britting (who was associate producer for the film Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life), is simply titled Ayn Rand and is a collection of rare photos and other sundry items. From the book description:
Ayn Rand made a profound impact as both a philosopher who founded a school of social thought, Objectivism, and as a novelist of penetrating insight and vision. Her works are founded on heroic ideals, demonstrating the maxim that, “man?s ego is the fountainhead of human progress.”
The photos and illustrations in this volume have been hand-selected from the Ayn Rand Archives, and most have never been published. They include personal mementos of a Petersburg childhood, her family and their home on Nevsky Prospect; photos from her early years in America; personal papers, including her list of the twelve publishers who passed on The Fountainhead; original newspaper articles, film posters, notes, drawings, and much more.
In a recent poll conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book-of-the-Month Club, Rand?s Atlas Shrugged was voted the novel most influential to American readers. This latest volume of the acclaimed Overlook Illustrated Lives series gives her legions of fans an unprecedented chance to better understand the author they adore.
(Thanks to Michael Malice for the tip. Further information can be sent to us at: metablog at theatlasphere dot com.)
2004 ARI Summer Conference
The Ayn Rand Institute‘s 2004 Objectivist Summer Conference has been scheduled for July 10?22 at the Wintergreen Resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
From their brochure for the 2003 conference:
For nearly two decades, summer conferences have served as a forum for the presentation of new intellectual work applying Ayn Rand?s philosophy. Continuing in that vein, the Institute has invited a host of scholars and intellectuals, who are known for their serious interest in Objectivism, to present some of their recent work. As you?ll discover on the following pages, we have scheduled more than 27 hours of general lectures and up to 32 hours of optional courses on an exciting range of topics, from philosophy and sculpture to literature and economics.
More information about the 2004 conference will be forthcoming on the Objectivist Conferences site. In the interim you can request a conference catalog via phone at 1-800-365-6552, ext. 239 or via the web.
New Live Leonard Peikoff Lecture
Leonard Peikoff is offering a new live lecture titled “The DIM Hypothesis: The Epistemological Mechanics by which Philosophy Shapes Society.” The lecture will consist of 15 sessions, beginning February 5th, and will be held via teleconference on Thursdays from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM, PST.
From Yaron Brook’s invitation:
We invite you to join us in February for the start of a pathbreaking new course by Dr. Leonard Peikoff, “The DIM Hypothesis: The Epistemological Mechanics by which Philosophy Shapes Society.” This 15-session course will be presented live to a worldwide audience by telephone. So, no matter where you live, you can take part!
The course is based on Dr. Peikoff’s book-in-progress, The DIM Hypothesis, in which he looks at the role of integration as a fundamental force shaping our culture and practical life. As Dr. Peikoff recently explained: “my thesis is that the dominant trends in every key area can be defined by their leaders’ policy toward integration: they are against it (Disintegration, D); they are for it, if it conforms to reality (Integration, I); they are for it, regardless of its relation to reality (Misintegration, M).” In his new course, Dr. Peikoff first discusses the nature and vital importance of integration and then applies his hypothesis to ten diverse fields, ranging from parenting and physics to law and literature.
And from the course overview:
This course explains and explores Dr. Peikoff’s new DIM Hypothesis, applying it to ten different cultural areas as listed in the course outline. The Hypothesis identifies and distinguishes three types of mind: the mind characterized by I (Integration); by D (Disintegration); or by M (Misintegration). In the sessions, Dr. Peikoff points out how all of the influential movements in the areas included reflect?and could only have been created by?one or another of these three mind sets. If enhancing your understanding of today’s world is an important concern of yours, Dr. Peikoff believes that you will find a DIM perspective on events to be of significant value.
The Objectivist Conferences site also provides an outline of the course.
The course costs $445 ($245 for full-time students) and there is a $50 discount if you register by January 23, 2004. Online course registration is available.
2004 TOC Summer Seminar
The Objectivist Center‘s summer seminar this year is scheduled for July 3 – 10 at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
For those who are new to TOC’s summer seminars, here’s an excerpt from the description of last year’s seminar:
Every year, for one week, people from across America?and beyond?gather under the sponsorship of The Objectivist Center to hear top lecturers discuss philosophy, politics, law, economics, psychology, art, and life skills. Participants often refer to TOC’s summer seminar as their week at Galt’s Gulch, but the metaphor is not really apt. The heroes in Atlas Shrugged, after all, are recruiting the strength they need to endure a world they have abandoned. The participants at TOC’s summer seminar come seeking the tools and the inspiration to improve their world.
This year the seminar was held from June 28 to July 4 at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts. On the afternoon of the first day, even while participants were arriving and registering, the week’s program swung into action. A faculty luncheon allowed members of the teaching staff to get acquainted, and a newcomers session later on Saturday afternoon performed the same function for first-timers. A reception for students allowed participants still in school to discuss the prospects for intellectual careers. The formal kickoff was a welcoming cookout, and many people followed it up by initiating the nightly discussion sessions in the common room.
There will also be an Advanced Seminar in Objectivist Studies held beforehand from June 30 – July 2, at the same location:
The Advanced Seminar is a two and half-day meeting of professors, graduate students, independent scholars, and advanced undergraduates that focuses on new writings on Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. The purpose of the seminar is to encourage the development of a high-quality scholarly literature on philosophical topics that is written from an Objectivist perspective. It also has the purpose of encouraging the development of community of scholars working in and around these ideas.
The Advanced Seminar typically has 15-25 participants and six paper presentations. Each paper is the focus of a formal comment and an extensive moderated seminar discussion which allows plenty of time to wrestle with the issues it raises. The seminar discusses arguments critical of or supportive of past Objectivist literature in an atmosphere of rational tolerance and debate. Methodologically, it seeks to integrate Objectivist emphases on essentialistic reasoning and attention to context with high academic standards.
More information about both the Summer Seminar and the Advanced Seminar (including a conference brochure) will be forthcoming on TOC’s seminar page.