Blog

The Governator… (Oops, Can We Say That?)

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “election as governor and his newfound status as a public official have not curbed the zeal of his advisors to protect his image. If someone profits from or distorts his image, legal experts say, he can still sue for economic damages — even as governor. In the months since the recall, Schwarzenegger’s hard-nosed lawyers say, they have been on alert for unauthorized ads and products.”

Lynch Revives Choreographers Initiative

Molly Lynch, whyo resigned as artistic director of LA’s Ballet Pacifica after a dispute with the company’s board, has revived one of her best ideas while with the company – a choreography project. Her new program – the National Choreographers Initiative – will take place in July and culminate in a series of works created by four choreographers to be presented at the Irvine theater. “An amazing confluence of necessary resources came together in a very short period of time.” And Ballet Pacifica? The director who replaced Lynch resigned after two months, and the rest of the company’s season was cancelled.

Art Of The Talk – Public Debating Blooms Again

Across the UK, public debates are drawing huge crowds, speakers’ series are mobbed, and lectures are pulling in fans. The art of public talk and debate has bloomed again as people seek out others to talk. Why is this happening? One theory: “Email cuts you off, in one way, and yet it also links us all up. People are separated as they sit in front of their screen, but they are also much more quickly alerted to what’s happening out there. Public debates have become more attractive because the old places for meeting, like pubs, had grown too noisy.”

Study: Digital Piracy Doesn’t Harm CD Sales

Recording companies have been saying that digital piracy has killed their CD sales. But “researchers at two leading universities have issued a study countering the music industry’s central theme in its war on digital piracy, saying file sharing has little impact on CD sales. ‘We find that file sharing has only had a limited effect on record sales. The economic effect is also small. Even in the most pessimistic specification, five thousand downloads are needed to displace a single album sale’.”

The Vettriano Debate

Jack Vettriano’s paintings are hugely popular in the UK, and are widely collected by ordinary folk and celebrity alike. So why does the art establishment dislike his pictures, and why don’t they hang in museums? “Vettriano’s work is not being suppressed; it is in every Fastframe shop you pass on the high street. Despite the legitimacy of the argument, I refuse to believe our curators should be bullied by public opinion. Fastframe and our national galleries should occupy different roles in society.”

Russian Court Refuses To Return Nazi-Looted Rubens

The Russian government has ruled that a Rubens looted by the Nazis and now in Russia, should not be returned to Germany. “Its owners have included Frederick the Great, Joseph Goebbels’ lover, a Red Army soldier and finally, and most controversially, Moscow real estate tycoon Vladimir Logvinenko. The German authorities desperately want it back but Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has ruled that Mr Logvinenko is the painting’s rightful owner and that he did not break any Russian law in acquiring it.”