Vandals destroy half of the photographs in an exhibit called The History of Sex , featuring the large scale photographs of Andres Serrano . You may remember Serrano from such controversial hits as "Piss Christ" . The event happened on Friday in a small town in Sweden called Lund, where Serrano visited for the opening two weeks earlier. The vandals entered the gallery right before closing and pushed into the exhibit, smashing glass and tearing the photographs. Apparently, they found the content offensive, leaving pamphlets that read "against decadence and for a healthier culture." Even more disturbing is the fact that one of the vandals videotaped the entire destruction and then posted it on YouTube Friday night. I checked and it doesn't seem to be there any longer.
Writing a novel? Here's the experience of the film critic at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He tells of his dramatic emotional swings and gives some practical advice to soldier on in your writing. He recommends two hours a day at a designated spot - basically a work space. His was Starbucks -- now while I have nothing against Starbucks, my conscience is forcing me to point out that independent coffee shops have plenty of tucked away little niches for emotional break-downs, furious typing, hand-wringing, cold sweats, self-berating, imaginative leaps and all the other good times associated with writing a novel.
Another double suicide . Seriously folks, I don't have a dark fascination with the couple double suicide. The Theresa Duncan/Jeremy Blake story was just so compelling. Well, this one is also terribly sad. There are definitely similarities between the two stories - imagine Duncan and Blake 45 years later, still together, still intense... and intensely devoted to each other, and still fiercely immersed in the life of ideas. Death intervenes for one and the other follows.
Captiol Records vs. Thomas . Wired has a good behind-the-scenes article on the jury deliberations in the illegal file sharing case that found Thomas guilty. They decided her guilt in 5 minutes! They spent the next 5 hours trying to decide how much she should pay.
John Waters. Those of you lucky enough to be seeing John Waters tonight at UCSD's Mandeville Auditorium better report back. He kicks off ArtPower!'s 2007-08 season , which is pretty amazing - check out their line-up. We'll have the musicians of Music From the Crooked Road on These Days next Thursday. Anyway, I want to hear about John Waters!
Lastly, there are a lot of film festivals this weekend. KPBS film critic Beth Accomando will have the scoop for you here . If you're a movie lover, it's an abundance of riches right now. Enjoy!
