“The Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal … effectively let[ting] stand a jury’s $675,000 damages award against Joel Tenenbaum, a former Boston University student who admitted to downloading some 30 songs on the unlicensed file-sharing service Kazaa.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Waterstones To Sell Amazon Kindles And E-Books
“Waterstones has announced a surprise tie-up with Amazon that will enable shoppers to pluck ebooks as well as physical books from its shelves.”
Russian State Library Stumbles Upon Giant Cache Of Pre-Revolutionary Literature
“A treasure trove of pre-revolutionary books and magazines has been discovered in the archives of the Russian State Polytechnical Museum Library in Moscow.” The materials, hidden behind false walls, were found as the library prepares for renovations.
Sydney’s Creating Its Own Large-Scale Musicals, But Lacks Theatres To House Them
“No longer middle managers of the syndicated variety, Australian producers are developing and staging significant commercial vehicles of their own: Dr Zhivago last year, Strictly Ballroom next. But where to put them? Sydney’s disgraceful record of pulling down, burning down or neglecting its historic theatres leaves it with a dearth of older-style venues to take these larger shows.”
Topless Dancers In Paris Strike For Better Pay
“Topless dancers at Parisian cabaret Crazy Horse are negotiating with management over pay after strike action caused the show to be cancelled twice. The dancers work six nights a week earning €2,000 a month.”
Italian Earthquake Causes Major Damage To Historic Buildings And Artwork
The 6.0 quake, centered 22 miles north of Bologna, largely spared that city but wrought destruction in smaller towns and villages across north-central Emilia-Romagna. Several fresco-filled medieval churches and palazzos were severly damaged, while a 14th-century clock tower split down the middle and later collapsed.
South Africa’s President Sues Over Satiric Portrait Depicting His ‘Spear’
“A painting [titled The Spear] by a white Cape Town artist, Brett Murray, depicting South African President Jacob Zuma as Soviet leader Lenin – but with his genitals exposed – has caused a storm of controversy. Zuma and the ruling African National Congress have sued the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg to force it to take down the work.”
US Federal Court Finds California Resale Royalty Act Unconstitutional
“You can almost hear the sighs of relief coming from art galleries and auction houses up and down California: Federal Judge Jacqueline Nguyen has declared the California Resale Royalty Act unconstitutional. The highly controversial, widely misunderstood and little enforced state law that took effect in 1977 was designed to provide artists with 5% of their resale prices under certain conditions.”
Making A Depression-Style Dance Marathon Into A New Theatre Piece
In the work they call Dance Marathon, performance troupe Bluemouth Inc. wanted “to draw parallels between the Great Depression and what was in 2008 a nascent economic downturn.” They found that audiences wanted to participate rather than merely watch – and they were startled as people’s competitive juices began flowing and the show morphed into a genuine dance endurance contest.
Giotto Frescos In Padua Could Be Endangered By New Construction
“[The paintings] in the 14th century Scrovegni Chapel, are now said to be threatened by a symbol of the modern world: a futuristic 30-storey tower of flats, shops and offices” just across the Bacchiglione River. Critics “warn that digging the tower’s foundations will affect drainage across the area and could cause subsidence of the chapel walls, on which the frescoes are painted.”