January 24, 2010 Art, Culture

Banksy

Here’s the scoop on Banksy at Sundance. The world renowned film festival is “getting back to it’s roots” this year. I’ve always been a fan of Banksy’s work and I’m sure his film won’t disappoint.

If you’ve never heard of Banksy, he is often referred to as a “guerilla street artist.” Here is a related Banksy narrative at Esquire from a few years back. Esquire always does the most wonderful investigative journalism narratives, and this one reinforces the idea of the anonymous artist that is Banksy in an endearing and somewhat informative fashion:

When I exited the bookstore, a backpack-wearing kid with baggy pants, a Krylon-paint T-shirt, and headphones walked past me. On the back of his backpack was the graffiti tag PEACE NOT WAR. I approached him and asked him if he knew Banksy, and with a smile he said, “Everybody knows Banksy, but nobody knows Banksy.”

Update: Banksy rocks Sundance. No surprise there!

01/23

New York Times to charge for online content, finally — Further development in the ailing news industry story I wrote about in December. The industry is evolving and the NYT has realized that if it stands still it will die.

#

01/23

What did the Founding Fathers really think about corporations and their rights? Rick Ungar explains

#

“Be not content with the best book; seek sidelights from the others; have no favourites.”

Lord Acton

#

January 21, 2010 Excerpt

Hamilton’s Curse by Thomas J. DiLorenzo

You can read the first chapter of this book here at Scribd. To give you an idea:

As the conservative columnist George F. Will has written, today “we honor Jefferson, but live in Hamilton’s country.”

This is no cause for celebration. In fact, the triumph of Hamiltonianism has been mostly a curse on America. The political legacy of Alexander Hamilton reads like a catalog of the ills of modern government: an out-of-control, unaccountable, monopolistic beaurocracy in Washington, D.C.; the demise of the Constitution as a restraint on the federal government’s powers; the end of the idea that the citizens of the states should be the masters, rather than the servants, of the government;

And on and on. An eye-opening book which I simply cannot put down and which you absolutely must read if you have any interest in history, economics, politics, or the past, present, or future of the United States.

01/21

Anthony Atala on growing new organs, a TED video

#

January 21, 2010 Photo

My unintentional North Face ad

DSC_0071-1

But I don’t mind promoting them. They make some of the best outdoor gear on the market.

01/20

Scientists ‘tie light in knots’ — Next stop hologram computer monitors.

#

01/20

Looking at polar bear butts for super-bug clues

#

01/19

Teenage rebellion fail

#