The Chair

Well Wesley Snipes is in all sorts of trouble. The US tax office wants to speak to him about some irregularities, but he's filming in Namibia. It seems that the US can't really touch him while he's there. That's a real conundrum isn't it; go back to the US and face prison, or spend the rest of eternity in Namibia? It's a close call, but I think I would chose Namibia. Personally I don't know whether he cheated the tax office but I think he should get the chair just for Blade.

The BBC today reports that there was a disturbance in Stroud last night at the Subway sandwhich shop. The police were called to deal with rowdy youths. And what do you think happened... The police got scared and locked themselves in the shop until things calmed down. I'm astounded, genuinely speechless, I mean honestly, I could understand if it was a Mafia armed siege situation, but we are talking about rowdy teenagers here. The really jaw dropping statement came from the Chief Superintendent of Gloucestershire, Dean Walker who said, "I would like to take this opportunity to praise the officers involved for dealing with the incident in a thoroughly professional manner." You couldn't make it up.

Damien Hirst has been accused of plagerism. His piece "Valium" apparently bears a most striking resemblance to "True Daisy", which appeared in a book some years before Hirst's work was created. Here's my take on this. I've seen the pictures and I'm quite sure Hirst's piece is a copy of the much earlier "True Daisy". He has added some colours, but in my view, he didn't design it. However, Andy Warhol didn't design Campbell's soup cans, Roy Lichtenstein lifted images from graphic novels, and if you really want to take this argument to it's logical conclusion, Constable's Haywain is a painting of a cart not designed by the artist. Where does one draw the line? I have some sympathy for Robert Dixon who was the creater of "True Daisy", but it was Damien Hirst that made it art. It was worth nothing until Hirst worked on it. Hirst earnt the money.

There was an article in the Times this morning about the Oracle at Delphi. A new theory sugests that all the women priests/prophets were high on dodgy gasses rising from the faults there. And I thought they could really see the future.

I didn't spot the train pooper today.