Hasta La Ideas

With chaos still enveloping Japan following that country’s massive earthquake last week, from afar we’ve all seen the terrifying, heartbreaking images and video shot both during the quake and its devastating aftermath. Christopher Hawthorne, the LA Times‘ resident architecture critic, wound up finding this amazing clip from during the original tremors, shot from inside starchitect Toyo Ito‘s Mediatheque, a building he calls one of the country’s “most significant pieces of contemporary architecture.” Fortunately, it appears that the building held during the quake and thus helped save the lives of those inside. Here’s the video:

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Years ago, at a job this writer was stuck in for a brief-but-endless five months, one of his co-workers kept postcards on his desk of famous paintings that he felt looked like his wife. While we strongly disliked him, we had to admit that it was a clever idea and she really did look like she was straight out of 15th century royalty. That thrilling anecdote leads nicely into the latest stunt by the popular YouTube-favorite, Improv Everywhere, who played their latest bit of on-location improv at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They found an actor who looks remarkably similar to King Philip IV of Spain, whom Diego Velazquez painted roughly 400 years ago. Done up in full wardrobe, they brought the King in to sign autographs in front of his famous portrait. The results are short, sweet, and terrific:

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This post goes to show you that even when you consider a story to be over and done with, it turns out to still have some life left in it. Also goes to show that, when George Lucas files a lawsuit, he doesn’t quit very easily. We last talked about the issue back in 2009, at which time we assumed would be the director’s final, failed attempt to stop British designer Andrew Ainsworth from selling replicas of Star Wars Stormtrooper helmets (Ainsworth himself had designed the original in the 1970s for the first Star Wars film). At that last check in, a judge in the UK kicked out Lucas’ appeal, “saying the costumes are not works of art and the decision against Ainsworth in America had no bearing on UK copyright laws.” Though the director had previous won a court battle in the US, this was the second loss Lucas had had in England and it seemed like it had to be the end of a saga that began long ago, back in 2004. But now here we are again, with the case starting up yesterday at the highest level of law-deciding there is, England’s Supreme Court. Lucas still wants the case overturned and the Independent reports that he’s enlisted the help of filmmakers like Peter Jackson, James Cameron and Steven Spielberg to help push the case (they’ve each sent statements to the court). While Lucas’ running track record has been less than stellar, maybe that additional star power will help him seal the deal. Here’s a bit more from the Independent, from the other side of this epic fight:

Mr Ainsworth remains defiant. “I created it all originally and he made a film of it. The copyright for three-dimensional work is invested in me but I didn’t do anything about it for 30 years, as English people don’t. We won in the High Court and the Appeal Court, but he has got so much money he can convince the Supreme Court it’s got to be done again. What he is after is to change the law, to change European law.”

A Lucasfilm spokeswoman said: “These works of art should receive the full protection of UK copyright law, just as they do in the rest of the world.”

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The saga of “Banksy Meets the Oscars” continues. You might recall that we reported that the Academy Awards producers were concerned that the faceless-yet-famous street artist, whose Exit Through the Gift Shop is a nominee for a Best Documentary award, would show up to redeem his prize wearing a disguise, perhaps his familiar monkey mask, something they weren’t to pleased about. As was reported immediately after, the Academy apparently eventually struck up a deal with the artist that, should his film win, his co-producer, Jamie D’Cruz, would accept the award on behalf of both of them. Now, following a few weeks of Banksy-esque art popping up on Los Angeles streets, possibly to help wage a campaign for the win, it’s come out that the Academy has flat out refused the artist’s entry into the ceremony. The same story prevails, that they do not want a mysterious man in a mask among the crowd, let alone storming the stage. Fortunately for the producers, Banksy seems comfortable in obliging their “stay away!” demands. Here’s what he told the Guardian:

When his nomination was announced, Banksy called it a “big surprise.”

“I don’t agree with the concept of award ceremonies, but I’m prepared to make an exception for the ones I’m nominated for,” he said, adding: “The last time there was a naked man covered in gold paint in my house, it was me.”

However, the paper also hints that “reports suggest he will be in the vicinity.” So Joan Rivers, please keep an eye out.

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With the Oscars now less than two weeks away and the pre-show Banksy campaigning and planning by the Academy to keep all masked men away from the stage in full bloom, even more talk about the street artist has popped up. The short documentary, B Movie: A Film About the Art of Banksy, which appears as a special feature on the artist’s Oscar nominated Exit Through the Gift Shop, has been making the rounds in a hurry so far this week. Some silly speculation appears around the mini-doc, which functions something like a shorter, less “is it fake?” version of the full-length documentary (it also has appearances by other artists like Damien Hirst), but that unwarranted suspicion just seems par for the course anymore when it comes to the illusive Banksy. Best to just consider it a little bonus or a quick, pre-Oscar refresher. Here’s the film:

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