Monster Mash: Another setback for ‘Spider-Man’; China building Sichuan earthquake museum

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Departure: Actress Natalie Mendoza is said to be leaving Broadway’s “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” on a permanent basis after suffering a concussion backstage. (New York Times)

Commemoration: China has begun work on a museum in the southwestern province of Sichuan in remembrance of the May 2008 earthquake that killed thousands of people. (Agence France Presse)

Colorful: Researchers believe that a particular type of ancient rock art in western Australia maintains its vivid hues because of bacteria and fungi. (BBC News)

Passionate: An Anselm Kiefer show at the Gagosian Gallery in New York -- titled “Next Year in Jerusalem” -- has inspired political protests. (New Yorker)

Chopping block: Four of the seven state museums in Nevada, including the Nevada Historical Society in Reno, are targeted for closure because of the state’s budget crisis. (KRNV Reno)

Money problems: The Jimmy Stewart Museum in Pennsylvania is experiencing financial difficulties. (NPR)

Future queen: Madame Tussauds has announced that it will make a wax-sculpture likeness of Kate Middleton, Prince William’s wife-to-be, that is expected to go on display in London by late 2011. (New York Post)

Public figure: The life story of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, former wife of Nelson Mandela, will be turned into an opera that will premiere in Pretoria, South Africa, in April. (The Guardian)

And in the L.A. Times: An exhibition of artist Martin Parr’s photo-sculpture, a Latino tradition of merging photographs with wood carvings.

-- David Ng