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Once again the news is About Banksy and his Graffiti Art.  

 
British graffiti artist Banksy did it again: under the cover of the night he managed to leave one of his works, believed to be the biggest one so far, on the wall of the Post Office in central London, right under the watchful eye of the camera.

 
To do this he had to erect (behind the security fence) three story scaffolding, use it to paint a huge sign and the figures of a boy on a ladder, a security guard and a dog watching him, then leave, without being noticed and stopped. The scaffolding were removed later, and again without being detected by the camera. Banksy’s message is tale telling: Big Brother, we know we are being watched and we know how to work around it.

 
I have to admit, I am warming up to his methods and his art. He is different, he is driven, he is unique. He is also a criminal, he is breaking the law. Do I really like him, or I fell under the influence of the media? How do you interpret and accept this somewhat a phenomenon, without feeling divided? Is there a middle of the road solution? Or, if compromise found, the whole concept will lose the appeal it delivers?

 
Here is my two cents on it:
I wonder if he could create his art with a kind of paint, that could be easily washed away? This way an unhappy owner gets rid of the graffiti with a minimum of a hustle: spraying a good deal of water on the graffiti will clean the wall and the memory of an unpleasant surprise at the same time.

 
Or, if the owner wants to profit from the graffiti, as happening more and more often with Banksy’s creations, the owner may spray a protective layer of whatever is used for it and go into a business of marketing and selling the painting on the eBay. Any profit realised will make happy at least 2 people: the seller and the buyer. The city would have to live fine-less or devise a new way to use a citation.

 
Would I want to have graffiti, painted by Banksy, on my property? Let’s see.
If I wake up finding it on the wall of my house, I’d have to pay a substantial fine within 30 days, or remove the graffiti. If I leave it there, my fine will grow, my home will attract attention of the media, the neighbours will call me names, I’ll have to come up with the reasons why I do what I do, I’ll be misquoted on several occasions…
All in all, at this point my liking the painting won’t be an issue. I’ll have to come up with a solution to remove it.

 
Then again, I could sell the piece of the wall with the painting on it as soon, as possible, since the price and the hustle seems to worth it.
Or, should I keep it hidden somewhere for a while? For that I would have to carefully remove the painting from the wall… No! I’d have to remove a piece of the wall, replace it with a new wall, paint. There.

 
Now, I am not knowledgeable enough to know how and where (providing I rent or have a space) to keep it, control the temperature, the light, the humidity, to do whatever you do with the painting to preserve it for a number of years. Isn’t it what you do with piece of art, when you hold it for the posterity or the near future?

 
Now, imagine, three years later I visit my piece of art, stored in some place, and find it all dried up, colors faded, stucco cracked, half of it in dust on the floor. No painting, no investment, money spent on the upkeep of this treasure is lost. Oh, no, the insurance! Do I have it?
And then, to add to an insult, I find out it was not even painted by Banksy. It was a copycat. But Banksy kept quiet, because he liked the message, the attention and the plight of the homeowner. What a bad dream! But I had fun writing it!

 
Now, seriously, how can someone, breaking the law become so popular, develop a following, command an outrageous price for the graffiti he leaves on the walls for free, and manage to stay invisible and untouchable to do it all by himself or with a very devoted team?.

 
He does all this to deliver his message: he is against the government? rules? laws? What is his solution? What should we, as a society, do?
Banksy is definitely a very talented and driven individual, but do we want every wall in town to feature a graffiti display, even if it’s popular among some individuals?

 
Maybe, Banksy should became a leader, organize a movement. He already proved his disdain for money by inventing a way to make it, give it away and not stopping the action by allowing himself being bought. He could start and keep disciplined an army of young people, teach them planning, delivering, following the agenda, hopefully, with a good cause, and other thing which the society could accept, embrace and agree with…And then…

 
Yahh, what a Utopian country I’ve described!!!
Anyone! Care to comment? On me or on Banksy.

 
See the picture and read the article with the comments at Daily Mail.

 
If you are on the page of this post and want to see more articles on Banksy, scroll down past the contact form. If you are on the home page, click on the title of the post to see the individual page of the post.

What do you favor more: your heart or your brain? This seems to be a question to ponder on, when you read new health findings on wine drinking.

 
For years we’ve heard about all the benefits wine drinking brings. 
Some studies disputing this claim were published earlier by CNN, but were given very little attention.
It said “…any benefit from light to moderate drinking is probably small and unlikely to outweigh the harm to health caused by alcohol.”

 
“While moderate to heavy drinking is probably coronary-protective, any benefit will be overwhelmed by the known harms,” say Dr. Jackson’s team.
…If so, the public health message is clear. Do not assume there is a window in which the health benefits of alcohol are greater than the harms — there is probably no free lunch.”

 
The new study is more particular:
“Drinking too much wine damages the brain more than beer or spirits, scientists have discovered.
…The ground-breaking study shows that the hippocampus, the part of the brain involved in memory, spatial tasks and many other functions, was more than 10 per cent smaller in those whose tipple was wine than in those who favoured beer.”

 
What about beer? “One theory is that there may be something in beer that partially protects the brain from the damage caused by wine.”

 
This new study is about the impact of the alcoholic beverage chosen and was conducted among the patients with alcohol dependence. Read more on it at Independent

 
Shall we listen? Shall we dismiss this info? Shall we follow our intuition?
Too many confusing studies, but moderation is still seems to be the key.

Guggenheim Museum in Las Vegas is closing its doors on May 11, 2008.
 
 
Initially, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation opened two Las Vegas locations in 2001, but mere 15 months later had to close the larger one, because of shortage of funds and the luckluster attendance.

  
“Guggenheim Hermitage, a partnership between the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, was the smaller of the two”, located in the Venetian Hotel and stayed open for the next 7 years, until now.

  
Guggenheim Hermitage had 10 major exhibits in seven years. Visitors could see works by Degas, Picasso, Chagall, Kandinsky, Rothko, Modigliani, Klee and others.

  
“It’s a big loss to not have the great works of art on display and in our community,” said Libby Lumpkin, executive director of the Las Vegas Art Museum.
“…We sent our finest collections, our masterpieces,” she said, “masterworks that we committed to long periods of time in Las Vegas, things that were not available for loan to other museums anywhere in the world or even for us. I think that’s a pretty profound commitment to very high standards of exhibition in Las Vegas in a space designed by one of the world’s leading architects. I don’t see how that can be interpreted to anything but caring.”

  
Many factors, combined together, brought on the demise and the closure of this fine museum, which will be missed by many.

 
The museum will stay open until May 11 and will offer free admission.
Source: Art Knowledge News and Las Vegas Sun.

 
While Las Vegas has other art galleries, it will only have one on the Strip: the fine arts gallery at the Bellagio.

Do you drink 8 glasses of water a day to keep yourself hydrated? Do you think it helps you in any way? Do you look better? Do you feel better? Does it help you to curb your appetite? Not really?

 
If you are doubting the rule of 8 glasses of water a day - you are correct.
The article, published by Telegraph, is debunking this myth.

 
“…no studies have found any benefit to the organs of increased water intake.
no single study indicated average healthy people needed to drink this amount of water - a total of 3.3 pints - each day.

 
…The authors said that while dehydration can decrease skin stiffness, no studies have shown any clinical benefit to skin tone as a result of increased water intake.
This is replaced through drinks but a large amount is also contained in food, so it is not necessary to drink an equivalent amount to replace water levels.
Too much water can affect the balance of salts in the body causing “water intoxication”, which can be fatal.”
For more details read the article at Telegraph

 
In December of 2005 the Snopes pages posted an article, where drinking 8 glasses of water a day was pronounced a myth, but it remained largely ignored. 
Read this article at Snopes

 
Actually, there’s been cases, where people died from from water intoxication. The very high profile case involves a women, who died trying to drink as much water, as she could hold. It happened last year, when a radio station in Sacramento, CA organized a contest “How much water a person could drink without going to the bathroom”
Read about it at msnbc news.

Do you know what is Skype? 
For whatever reason I don’t see or hear much marketing of this great service from the media, but I do hear about it from friends.

 
Skype is a telephone service you can use for free. Yes, that is correct: talk with friend locally or in other states for free, make international calls any time, too. You may have a camera connected to your computer and have a video session as well. How does it work? Actually, easy.

 
The only requirement is: have a computer, an Internet connection and a free software, which you download from Skype. The person on the other end of the world or the city, should have it, too. That would be a Skype-to-Skype call. That’s it. Enjoy.

 
A headset and a microphone are recommended for better clarity. You may buy these things online, at RadioShack, or at any place, that sells electronics.
To make a call to a regular or mobile phone you’ll have pay, but the rates are very good.

  
Find out more by visiting  http://www.skype.com/getconnected/

 
P.S. I already wrote, that 1-800-FREE411 is available on Skype, too.
Get Directions by Text Messaging and Other Ways to Find Information/

ChaCha is a new service oriented on helping you find information without spending time on the research. The service is especially helpful, if you are on the go or visiting unfamiliar places.
Service is powered by human guides, so you may ask all kinds of questions: from  “what is the origin of a certain word?” to “Where is the most expensive restaurant in the this city?”.

 
“Simply text your question to 242-242 (spells ‘ChaCha’) or call 1-800-2ChaCha (800-224-2242) from your mobile phone to ask any question and you will receive the answer as a text message. If you have a web browser on your phone, just click on the short website link that’s also included with your answer to see a reference website with more information. Since ChaCha uses human guides, you can easily reply with follow-on questions as if you are exchanging messages with a friend.”

 
Find out more About ChaCha , see home page: ChaCha.com

On April 2, 2008 www.amazon.com introduced a new service: Amazon TextBuyIt.  This service is designed to help a mobile device users to order products by text messaging Amazon.

 
Here is how it works: while shopping at the a store, a shopper sees the products and wonders if he can buy it from Amazon for less. From his mobile phone he can send a text message with an item name (for example, iPod) to 262966 (Amazon), get back a text reply with a few items listed, and press 1 or 2, indicating a choice. Next, get a call from Amazon, confirming an order. Done.
(You can search on any keyword: item name, author, USBN or UPC code).

 
Read more about this service at the: Amazon.com

Do you think you have an eye for art? Have you ever experienced a feeling, where you just couldn’t tear yourself off the art gallery’s window and wished you had enough money to buy the painting displayed there? Have you ever regretted of not living in France, at the rise of the expressionists movement and not being able to pick up the painting, which would live on to become a family heirloom or a less glamorous prospect: a vehicle to the lavish lifestyle?

 
If you answered “Yes” to at least one of these questions, you should visit a site, which might prove to be an answer to all of your problems and help you to achieve the dream: www.tinyshowcase.com.

 
Created in 2004 by Jon Buonaccorsi and Shea’la Finch the Tiny Showcase is featuring works by an up-and-coming artists. By offering a limited edition prints in the price range of $20 to $30, where part of the proceeds is donated to a charity of the artist’s choice, they offer you a chance to acquire the work of art you like and have an opportunity to check and hone your artistic instinct.

 
If you are not comfortable with the unknowns, you may acquire the works of in-demand illustrators, which are featured on the site, as well.
Start your buying spree by being the first to notice a future gem by getting to the Tiny Showcase every Tuesday at 7:30P.M. ET, when the site presents a new butch of paintings.

 
By the way, if you ever wondered about art market’s health and stability, you should know, that Andy Warhol was the most sold artist in 2007, doubling his previous year’s demand, followed by Picasso and then, by Bacon. The experts predict a slowdown in sales in 2008, because of the financial crisis we are weathering, but as every phase, it shall pass, too.

 
You may read the assessment of the art scene (with the sales of artist’s works analyzed) in the article at Bloomberg

 
I hope this gift of information will help you on the road to happiness.

Update: 

 
The violin, known as The Penny, was sold to unidentified buyer for $1.3 million. 

 
Source:  Bloomberg 

 
Two years ago a 1729 Stradivari violin was sold at Christie’s auction house for $3.5 million, which was a record price for a musical instrument at the time. It still is.

 
On April 4, 2008 another Stradivari violin made in 1700 and known as The Penny, will be auctioned. This one has a rich history attached to it: it was owned by violinist and pianist Barbara Penny, “who was a first woman accepted in the string section of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra”. The estimated price is between $1 million and $1.5 million.
The Penny is described as “sweet and feminine” and has “…a good balance between the brightness and the sweetness”.
In his lifetime Stradivari made approx. 1,100 instruments and whereabouts of 650 of which are known.
Source: International Herald Tribune and Reuters

 
And now, since we are talking about musical instruments, I’d like to tell you about a very unusual orchestra: Vienna Vegetable Orchestra.

 
The Orchestra was formed in 1998 and consists of 11 musicians, a video artist and a sound engineer. For the duration of the performance they play with their food, and not only get paid by the watching audience in Europe and Asia, but have released 2 CDs as well.

 
The instruments sound as any instruments should, and the repertoire is consisting of jazz, classical and electronic/techno music.
“…the Vegetable Orchestra produce different categories of sound based on their shape and the method of playing them. There are percussion instruments: celeriac bongos, a clapper made from an eggplant, pumpkins to be pounded upon, and dry beans that are shaken to provide rhythmic effects. There are strings (a leek violin), woodwinds (a carrot recorder), and versions of brass instruments (a trumpet made from a red pepper)”.

 
What happens after the performance? I guess, the musicians get to eat their fresh instruments, er.. vegetables, every day.

 
For more details read Interesting Things of the Day.
 
 

The Villa Fontanelle on the shores of Lake Como, which before his tragic death on July 15, 1997, belonged to a famous designer Gianni Versace, is sold to yet another Russian - Arkady Novikov, reports The Times Online.

 
Mostly unoccupied for the last 10 years, it’s ready to open its doors to a new owner who, reportedly, paid for this privilege £26m (approx $50 million), which is £3m over asking price.
Trained as a chef, Arkady Novikov, known as the “blini baron of Moscow” owns a chain of finest restaurants and cafes for the elite in Russia. Restaurants are are famous for their unusual decor and excellent food.

 
He “…is credited with transforming the restaurant scene in the Russian capital. He has introduced sushi, caribou and nachos with deep-fried onion blossom to the menus of a culinary empire that includes 47 restaurants and a chain of cafes. He starred in the Russian version of the reality-television show The Apprentice.”

 
Mr. Novikov and the representatives of Real Estate agency, involved in the marketing of the property, had declined to comment on the  sale.

 
For more details read the original article at: Times Online