“Like many marriages, this peculiar union between two men and the (presumably) polyamorous plant wasn’t meant to be. .,. After scathing reviews, acts of vandalism, angry art patrons, and counter-protest art performances (not to mention an art critic who returned to prostitution after the ordeal), the Menil Collection – the Houston museum that had acquired the tree sculpture in 2011 – decided they had had enough.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Antigua, The Next Intellectual Property Pirate’s Paradise?
“Any day now, you might be able to download Argo, Lincoln and Les Mis for a dime a piece. Microsoft Office could go for a quarter. … As part of a long-running trade dispute, the tiny island nation of Antigua and Barbuda (population: 90,000) won the right to use the intellectual property of U.S. firms – without having to pay any royalties or licensing fees.”
Does Disney Have A Case For Blocking Escape From Tomorrow? Probably Not
“The entire film was surreptitiously shot inside of Disney World. … Though the filmmakers may have committed trespass when they broke Disney World’s rules and if it violated the terms of entry on their tickets, the film itself is a different matter. As commentary on the social ideals of Disney World, it seems to clearly fall within a well-recognized category of fair use.”
Opera Company Of Philadelphia Streamlines Its Name, Expands Its Plans
“Though it’s only a matter of two words, Opera Company of Philadelphia’s adoption of the simpler moniker ‘Opera Philadelphia’ in its 39th season is full of implications for 2013-14, right down to the cursive of the new logo.”
Bolshoi’s Sergei Filin Forgives Acid Attacker
“A priest came to visit me. I said to him, ‘You know, I forgive them all, let God be their judge. Because man is weak.’ I forgive all those people who were involved.”
Edward Albee On His Difficulties With His Parents
“I didn’t like them very much and I don’t think they approved of me very much, either. But they were stuck with me and I was stuck with them, you know, until I was 18. … I just don’t think we were the right people for each other.”
Kevin Spacey Launches Endowment Campaign For London’s Old Vic
“I’m now planning to leave in 2015 and am determined to raise £20million by then as an endowment fund to make the theatre fit for the 21st century. We can then use the £20million to give us £1million-a-year income to help refurbish the theatre – like more ladies loos and more bar room.”
Britain Plans To Put All Its Oil Paintings – All Of Them – Online
“The project, a collaboration that began in 2003 between the Public Catalogue Foundation and the BBC, aims to record all oil paintings owned by the nation ‘irrespective of perceived quality and condition.’ That means everything from recognized masters in famous London galleries to the work of a councilman in a town in Somerset who painted his colleagues.”
10,000 Years Of Tippling: Why Humans Love Alcohol
“Our taste for alcohol results from an evolutionary tussle between humans and yeast – one in which the microbes have often had the upper hand.”
Police Question Bolshoi Ballet’s Great Troublemaker Over Acid Attack
Nikolai Tsiskaridze, 39, “last year lashed out at the Bolshoi’s leadership for not giving him enough lead roles and has also been openly jockeying for the position of the theatre’s general director. … [Current] Bolshoi general director Anatoly Iksanov told Investia that while he hoped ‘Tsiskaridze would not stoop so low he was the one who created this unhealthy atmosphere at the theatre’.”