“Pompeii is not a fragment of lost time. It is lost time thrust into the present, wholesale. This is disconcerting, to say the least. There is no buffer in Pompeii, no visible signal of decay as there is in the normal ruin.”
Tag: 03.31.14
Why The Priests In Movies Are Good
“Given the scale of the revelations of the occurrence and covering-up of sexual abuse by priests, you might assume that the same would be true of sincere and celibate Roman Catholic clergy. Yet, in these bad times for the Vatican, good priests are surprisingly in evidence on-screen.”
‘Noah’ vs. ‘Son of God’: The Twin Pitfalls of Biblical Films
“Whether directors accept the text on its own merits or add their own creative spice, the end product will never be wholly satisfying for any audience.”
‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’ Attacked in Russia Under Gay Propaganda Law
“The local organization League of Safe Internet (LBI), has sent complains to the prosecutor’s office and to the culture ministry, accusing the film of gay propaganda among minors and containing elements of child pornography.”
Humanists And The Meaning Of Stories
“Humanists have paid a heavy price for their shrinking act. We are more or less ignored now by both the general public and our colleagues in the natural sciences, whose disciplines, of course, make no sense at all outside of universal observations, and who often work from bold cosmic visions, wildly counterintuitive models (think ghostlike multiverses and teleporting particles), and evolutionary spans of time that make our “histories” look insignificant and boring by comparison.”
China’s Largest Private Museum Opens in Shanghai
The second branch of the city’s Long Museum – this one in the West Bund – contains 33,000 square feet (about half of which is exhibition space) and took just over one year to complete.
Ted Hughes Estate Cuts Off His Biographer
“The Shakespeare scholar Jonathan Bate, who began working on a biography of the former poet laureate in 2010, said he was surprised that the estate has barred him from private archives, asked that he return photocopies of privately held documents, and withdrawn his right to quote extensively from the poet’s work.”
Thailand Discovers the Joys of Intellectual Property Law Enforcement
“The land of fake Rolex watches, knockoff DVDs and counterfeit Viagra is now discovering copyright, and it is coming as a bit of a shock for many Thais.”
Intellectual Property and Jokes
No, this isn’t about a sub-genre of lawyer jokes. Comedians and civilians alike steal each other’s laugh lines. “Does anyone actually own a joke, after all? What legal recourse, if any, does that owner have when some hack swipes his best material?”
A Guy Who Only Buys Art For Its IPO Value (Ugh)
Jerry Saltz: “There’s a saying in the poker world that, if you don’t know who the sucker is at the table, it’s you. Any gallerist or editor who thinks that Stefan Simchowitz puts art first — or is anything more than an opportunistic speculator — is handing him money.”