Bad news for everyone who has planned to attend Meryl’s conversation at UMass Lowell tomorrow. As they write on their website, due to forecasts for a Wednesday storm, “A Conversation with Meryl Streep” has been rescheduled for Tuesday, April 1. Feb. 5 tickets, including student tickets, will be honored on April 1. Ticketholders seeking refunds should do so at the point of purchase by Feb 18. Ticketholders who purchased over the phone or online should contact the call center at 866-722-8780 to request a refund. Ticketholders who purchased at the Tsongas Center should process a refund in person at the box office during normal business hours. General ticketing questions can be addressed by calling the Tsongas Center Box Office at 978-934-5738.

Here comes another fantastic addition to the archives with many thanks to Simona. The Italian Il Venerdi di Repubblica featured a cover story and nine page article on Meryl in January 1989 to promote the release of “A Cry in the Dark”, featuring some great full page images. Have a look at the scans in the image library.

Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has died on Sunday. He was 46. Hoffman, who won the best actor Oscar for “Capote” in 2005, most recently appeared at the Sundance Film Festival to promote his new films “God’s Pocket” and Anton Corbin’s “A Most Wanted Man.” Hoffman and Meryl Streep have frequently worked together on the stage and on film. In 2001, he played her son in Mike Nichols’ Shakespeare in the Park production of “The Seagull”. In 2005, they participated in the Coen Brothers’ stage production “Theater of the New Ear”. And in 2008, both Hoffman and Streep received Oscar nominations for their work in “Doubt”. Upon accepting her Screen Actors Guild Award in 2008, Meryl Streep thanked her co-star. “Thank you to Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is just the most fun to work with and the most.. he’s just such a great example to all of us of how to live your work with integrity and imagination, every time, every time out!”

A new book on Meryl has been released this January, and it deserves a special mention here. “Meryl Streep: Anatomy of an Actor” is written by Karina Longworth, a film critic and journalist based in Los Angeles. Instead of fast forwarding through Meryl’s life, Miss Longworth has picked 10 significant Streep performances and explores each role within its film and its place in Meryl’s career at that time. Highlighted are Linda from “The Deer Hunter”, Joanna Kramer, Sophie, Karen Silkwood, Karen Blixen, Madeline Ashton, Francesca Johnson, Miranda Priestly, Julia Child and Margaret Thatcher. Each chapter is filled with detailed information on the creation of the character as well as many quotes from previous interviews.

What’s remarkable about this book is that, even if you have seen the films a dozen times, you will find new aspects in each performance through Miss Longworth’s analytics. The book also includes bonus pages on Meryl’s work on “Holocaust”, her collaboration with Mike Nichols, and more insightful information on how specific roles and choices have influenced the legacy of her career as we know it today. On top of that, it’s filled with some amazing pictures from behind the scenes. “Meryl Streep: Anatomy of an Actor” is available now and can be ordered through Amazon or directly at Phaidon.

The Internet Movie Database has updated its list of release date for the upcoming “The Homesman”. The western-drama, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones and co-starring Hilary Swank, John Lithgow and Meryl Streep, will be first screened at the Cannes Film Festival on May 22, 2014. Since the festival’s schedule hasn’t been announced yet, it’s difficult to say if there will be a world-premiere with the cast and crew in attendance, or simply a private screening for distributors. The film will be shown at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals in August and September, before receiving a limited release in the USA on October 3, 2014. With these latest dates announced, all three of Meryl’s upcoming films – The Giver, The Homesman and Into the Woods – will be released theatrically between August and December 2014. Many thanks to Glenn and Frank for the heads-up.

Many thanks to Claudia for sending in Meryl’s Best Actress bit from the latest Entertainment Weekly. “Working with Streep can be intense. Julianne Nicholson recalls a small scene where she sits in the backseat of a car beside Streep and Julia Roberts. “We’re sort of chatting a little bit, and all of a sudden we’re rolling and Meryl starts acting,” says Nicholson. “The whole car just felt full of feeling, and it was suffocating in the best way. It was so real. If you were sitting in that car, I would dare you not to cry.”

A real treat has been added to the gallery – one of the first major articles on Meryl’s career by the New York Times Magazine, dated February 4, 1979. This has been just after the release of “The Deer Hunter”, for which Meryl received her first ever Oscar nomination, and still almost a year ahead of the theatrical release of “Kramer vs. Kramer”. The scans have been submitted by Alvaro with many many thanks!

Additionally to the scans, transcripts from older articles have been added to the magazines archive as well. They range from as early as 1976, covering Meryl’s rise on the New York stages, to 1998 and the release of “One True Thing”. My thanks to Paul for contributing them. Enjoy reading.

Magazines – 1998 – The Associated Press (September 17, 1998)
Magazines – 1998 – The Orange County Register (December 08, 1989)
Magazines – 1996 – The Washington Post (August 10, 1986)
Magazines – 1981 – Syracuse Post Standard (October 31, 1981)
Magazines – 1981 – The Los Angeles Times (September 19, 1981)
Magazines – 1980 – Parade Magazine (July 20, 1980)
Magazines – 1979 – Parade Magazine (September 09, 1979)
Magazines – 1979 – The New York Times Magazine (February 04, 1979)
Magazines – 1977 – The Alton Telegraph (March 27, 1977)
Magazines – 1976 – Syracuse Herald-Journal (July 30, 1976)

If yesterday’s magazines update has kept you reading, here’s a little bonus. Meryl has been featured in the January 2014 issue of Marie Claire with a four page article, including some great pictures. Scans have been added to the gallery. Many thanks to Joan for the contribution. This weekend, I’ll post a great magazine find from the past, so check back!

A big batch of recent magazines scans have been added to the image library, coming from Spanish, Russian, UK and US publications. Among the highlights is Entertainment Weekly’s first look on “The Giver”, a cover story from the Russian Hollywood Reporter and the first Catalan magazine addition to the site (I think we’re having all regions covered by now :-) All new additions can be launched by the list below. Many thanks to Anna for the Russian scans and Alvaro for the other ones. Very appreciated! Enjoy reading.

Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – Hello Magazine (United Kingdom, January 22, 2014)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – Entertainment Weekly (USA, January 14, 2014)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – Hello Magazine (Russia, January 2014)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – The Hollywood Reporter (Russia, January 2014)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – Imagenes Actualidad (Spain, January 14, 2014)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – Fotogramas (Spain, January 14, 2014)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – Que Fem (Spain Catalan, January 10, 2014)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2014 – La Vanguardia (Spain, January 8, 2014)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2013 – Yo Donna (Spain, December 2013)

News by the Boston Globe. Meryl Streep plans to establish two scholarship funds for students at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, UMass Lowell said Wednesday. The scholarships will be endowed with all net proceeds from her Streep’s scheduled appearance Feb. 5 at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell. Streep is expected to discuss her acting career during the event. The new Meryl Streep Endowed Scholarship Fund will assist outstanding UMass Lowell English majors with the cost of their education, the university said. The Joan Hertzberg Endowed Scholarship, also to be established by Streep, will support students who excel in math as Hertzberg did. Hertzberg was a former classmate of Streep’s at Vassar College. Hertzberg transferred to Williams College, where she was the valedictorian of the college’s first graduating class that included women. She had a successful career as a therapist, author and teacher in the San Francisco area before her death in 2013, the university’s press release said. A Feb. 5 event at the university is set to feature Streep and Andre Dubus III, a UMass Lowell faculty member and author. The event is titled “A Conversation with Meryl Streep.” At the event, Steep is expected to discuss her acting career. Tickets can may be purchased through the Tsongas Center box office, whose website is www.tsongascenter.com. Streep’s appearance is expected to raise in more than $100,000 for her two scholarship funds, the university said.