“Last year, a federal judge ruled that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are no longer covered by U.S. copyright law. But, the Conan Doyle Estate continued its litigation – and today, another federal judge issued a blistering statement, saying that the estate might also be violating anti-trust laws.”
Category: issues
The Liberal Arts Desperately Need A Defense – And Are Worth Defending
“If left to our own devices we academics might become more and more out of touch with what the society really needs. That tradition of criticizing elitists, criticizing the kind of snobbery that often goes with elite education, that’s I think a very healthy American tradition for good, democratic reasons.”
Marvel President: We Should *Totally* Make A Female-Led Superhero Movie! Sometime! In The, Like, Future!
“Despite his firm belief that Marvel Studios, which he runs, should make a female-led action movie, it has no public plans to do so in the future. (And Marvel has release dates planned through 2017.)”
Our Huge Income Gap Is Squeezing Out ‘Middlebrow’ Culture
“Middlebrow is a name you would never call yourself, but rather a semantic shoe that belongs on someone else’s foot. It is also, however, a workable synonym, in the sphere of art and culture, for democracy.”
Everything You Need To Know About Amazon Vs. Hachette
“The first half of 2014 has actually seen a 5.6 percent increase in [Hachette]’s US sales relative to last year. … Nonetheless, e-book sales have fallen, now making up 29 percent of adult book sales in the US versus 34 percent a year ago.”
The New Fandom – It’s All About The Fans
“A lot of fans are basically fans of fandom itself. It’s all about them. They have mastered the ‘Star Wars’ or ‘Star Trek’ universes or whatever, but their objects of veneration are useful mainly as a backdrop to their own devotion. Anyone who would camp out in a tent on the sidewalk for weeks in order to be first in line for a movie is more into camping on the sidewalk than movies.”
Here’s The Real Mess In Higher Education
“Expensive gambles, unforeseen losses, and investments whose soundness has yet to be decided have raised the price of a college education so high that today on average it costs eleven times as much as it did in 1978. Underlying the anxiety about the worth of a college degree is a suspicion that old methods and the old knowledge will soon be eclipsed by technology.”
Why Does A Vancouver Theatre Critic Write Under A Pen Name? (And Other Arts Journalism Lapses)
“Since the practice of pen names fell out of favour in the mid-20th century, after newspapers began promoting themselves with their new brand of ethics, I wondered why any daily newspaper would go along with it?”
Big Data Reveals How Cities Beckoned The Brainy For 2,000 Years
“How do you keep them down on the farm, once they’ve seen Paris? You don’t, suggests a study of 150,000 historical figures that shows cities have … acted as cultural magnets” for many centuries.
World’s Richest Man Calls For Three-Day Work Week – Could That Really Work?
Carlos Slim: “People are going to have to work for more years, until they are 70 or 75, and just work three days a week – perhaps 11 hours a day.” Other business icons, among them Google co-founder Larry Page, think similarly. Is this a practical idea? Possibly …