Around the arts

Thai king's epic novel to be animated\nBANGKOK, Thailand -- A novel by the king of Thailand will be made into an animated feature film, the Nation newspaper reported.\nThe 90-minute feature will be based on King Bhumibol Adulyadej's "Mahachanok (The Great Father)." The plot centers on a fictional Buddhist ruler who sacrifices himself for his subjects.\nThe film, to be produced by the government's National Youth Bureau, should be ready by 2006 when Thailand celebrates the 60th anniversary of the king's reign, the newspaper said this week.\nYouth Bureau officials were not available for comment.\nKing Bhumibol, 75, is an adored figure in Thailand, largely because of his lifetime of work on behalf of the country's have-nots and his ability to defuse national crises.\nHe's also an accomplished jazz musician, ardent photographer and amateur inventor.\nFilmmaker Federico Fellini gets museum\nROME -- Fans of Federico Fellini will soon have another reason to travel to the resort city of Rimini, Italy, the filmmaker's hometown and the setting of his 1973 film, "Amarcord."\nA cultural organization dedicated to the director's memory plans to open a five-room museum on the ground floor of the Fellini family home to display his storyboards and sketches.\nOrganizers hope to open the museum in time for the Oct. 31 anniversary of the director's death in 1993, Catia Donini, a spokeswoman for the Federico Fellini Foundation, said Wednesday.\nBorn in 1920, Fellini was a major figure in postwar Italian cinema, famous for movies such as "La Dolce Vita" and "8 1/2."\nRimini is a resort city on Italy's Adriatic coast.\nRock, country mix at Halftime show\nSAN DIEGO -- The Super Bowl halftime show will be a little bit country and a little bit rock n' roll.\nCanadian singer Shania Twain and Southern California band No Doubt are headlining halftime entertainment for Sunday's game.\nSting also will appear.\n"It's such a big event that there are no limits," Twain said Thursday. "The sky is the limit."\nTwain will perform two songs: "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" from her blockbuster album "Come on Over," and the title song of her latest album, "Up." "Cause that's where the ball is going," Twain said.\nShe's looking forward to the game, but she wouldn't say for whom she's rooting.