Madonna - 09 04-Aug Tallinn, Estonia Tallinn Song Festival Ground

This is a first for me. I've never extended a tour before. I'm excited to be going back on the road, visiting places I've never been and returning to places I love" commented Madonna about the new run of dates. Raves around the globe for the tour include the London Times which remarked, "In the premiere league of song-and-dance spectaculars, the queen of pop remains unrivaled and undefeated."

The choreography, visuals and live talent were world class and mind-blowingly well executed, intelligent and witty," glowed The Independent (UK). In 2008, the 'Sticky & Sweet Tour was seen by 2,350,285 fans in 58 cities. With record breaking ticket sales everywhere, including 650,000 tickets sold in her series of South American dates, 72,000 tickets at Zurich's Dubendorf Airfield - the largest audience ever assembled for a show in Switzerland, 75,000 tickets in London and four sell outs in New York's Madison Square Garden (60,364 tickets).

This new run of dates will further solidify Madonna's position as one of the top selling touring artists of all time," said Arthur Fogel, Live Nation's Chairman of Global Music and CEO of Global Touring Artist Nation. Special Guest for Sticky & Sweet 2009, Paul Oakenfold has long been one of the most important--if not the most important--name in modern club culture.

He has remixed The Rolling Stones U2, Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dog, Muse New Order, The Cure, Massive Attack and even Elvis Presley and produced The Happy Mondays. The two time Grammy nominee is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the biggest DJ in the world. His new artist album, 'Pop Killer' is due out later this year.

Madonna's multi-Grammy-nominated CD 'Hard Candy' debuted at Number One in over 37 countries. For further Madonna news, visit www.madonna.com.

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Fifth floor - contemporary art

Last year, the KUMU Art Museum received the title of "European Museum of the Year." Very impressive, considering that it opened its doors only in 2006. It is absolutely clear that the decision was not made without good reason - there are lots of interesting pieces to see. KUMU hosts an impressive collection over its five floors, some of which is exhibited on a permanent basis.

But most interesting are the scheduled exhibitions, and this time some of the best pieces are housed on the fifth floor, where two installments will only reside for another couple of weeks. Three video installations by Estonian artist Lauri Astala are united under the heading "Small spectacle." Very first is Astala"s "Small Spectacle of Image-Semblance," created in 2005.

The artwork is basically nothing more than an abstract stereogram video animation which is projected over the walls of a small cubic room. In the middle of the space is a floating quotation from Jorge Luis Borges, stretched out on invisible wire.

Once getting in the room, the feeling is pretty weird as the video gives the impression of the walls undulating, but as soon the eyes are able to focus on the text it somehow balances the stereographic pattern and brings instant comfort for the spectator. Next installation is called "Apropos of seeing," this is the most recent work of the artist.

It is a very interesting interactive projection that integrates the viewer into the artwork itself. Video images filmed in the Palazzo Corsini in Rome constantly mix with real-time projections of the spectator watching from the screen. The unexpected integration puts everyone in front of the screen, and raises very many interesting questions. The last cell presents a very technologically special video, named "Small Spectacle of Lightness."

The video repeated over and over with a five minute loop, while the project itself is a part of the room. It takes some time to realize that the room is actually slowly moving and its objects, like windows and radiators, change their shape. This was achieved by morphing images of different rooms non-linearly through each other.

A neighboring exhibition is the Swedbank Art Award 2008, which has incorporated five very different works from five different countries.

Typical Russian loafs of black bread, a hill of dark soil in the middle of the exhibition hall and portraits of famous Russians on the walls create "The Russian Idea," a work by duo Igor Makarevich and Elena Elagina. Kristina Inciuraite from Lithuania has presented the video "Oil City" (2007-2008). It is accompanied by a series of photographs named "Veteran women" and psychological motifs used in the Rorschach Inkblot test, used for the personality and emotional condition analysis.

Alexander Vaindorf from Sweden has presented his video "Detour," telling the story of women from post-Soviet territories like Russia and Ukraine illegally working in Rome. Estonian photographer Taavi Piibermann has a relatively small two photo exhibition titled "References." The two photos raise the question of seeing and not actually seeing, which he expertly shows by his installation of the tight passage between two screens. One can try to see what is depicted on the screens in passing, but it is impossible because of blind spots.

The winner of the exhibition was already announced at the opening and this year, it is Miks Mitrevics from Latvia. His work "Collection of Persons" is a set of different installations based on biographical material. As the chair of the jury Iris Muller-Westermann mentioned, Mitrevics "investigates a very old question: who are we and how do we experience the world?"

We will not give the answer to that and everyone can find their own by attending this exhibition.

Source http://baltictimes.com/news/articles/22208/

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Four deaths in Estonian road accident

Five were taken to the hospital with injuries. Police note that the drivers were not intoxicated. The accident occured shortly before 4 p.m. Jan. 25 on the 70th kilometer of the Tallinn-Tartu highway, a police spokeswoman said. A Renault Laguna and a Peugeot 206 collided at Ussisoo.

Both drivers, the 43 year old Aare and the 19 year old Jurgen, had licenses, the spokeswoman said. A 15- and a 13-year-old girl were killed in the Renault, as were the driver of the Peugeot, Jurgen, and a 20 year old passenger. The Peugeot coming from Tartu veered into the opposite lane and crashed into the Renault coming from the direction of Tallinn," the news of the public broadcaster ETV quoted a police officer as saying.

One of the cars involved in the accident went on fire, ETV said. The accident disrupted traffic on the Tallinn-Tartu highway for several hours.

Source http://baltictimes.com/news/articles/22192/

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