Loot

Amid fierce debate, Russia displays art looted from Germany.

If everyone was to return looted art, England would have to return a lot of the stuff in its museums, ditto France…I believe I learned in school that the diamond encrusted gold shrine in the Cologne cathedral was stolen from a church in Milan hundreds of years ago…

Santa Fe Beeswax Candle Company

Bought some beeswax candles at the candle store on Paseo de Peralta (DeVargas Mall) this afternoon. Found they have a web site and this is what they say:
Candle manufacturing was further enhanced during the first half of the 20th century through the growth of U.S. oil and meatpacking industries. With the increase of crude oil and meat production, also came an increase in the by-products that are the basic ingredients of contemporary candles — paraffin and stearic acid.

That doesn’t sound very nice….here is another quote:
Pure beeswax candles burn brighter, hotter, cleaner, and longer than any other.  As they burn, they produce negative ions that actually clean your air of odors, pollens, smoke, dust, dust mites, and other allergens and hazards.

Art + Artist

Picasso was a member of the communist party for a while – does that devalue his art? John Lennon proclaimed that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus – does that mean we should destroy all Beatles albums? Leni Riefenstahl may have been a friend of Hitler’s – does that mean all of her photographs are worthless? Miles Davis was a pimp for a while – get rid of his records, too? Moby is a vegan – does that mean meat-eaters should not buy his music? (Moby wisely notes in the booklet of Play: These essays are not really related to the music, so if you hate the essays you might still like the music, and if you like the essays you may hate the music). Michael Jackson made some wonderful music regardless of some of the rumors we hear. Some Dixie Chick said something or other – does that mean people shouldn’t listen to them anymore? Bertolucci is or was a commie – burn his movies? Galileo declared that the earth may be round – get rid of the heretic?
Why are people so *outraged* when an artist expresses a view unlike their own, even though they liked the artist’s work previous to that? Is it disappointment in the artist who it turns out was not like them after all? Are they disappointed in themselves for liking an artist who thinks so differently from them? A person’s inability to separate the artist from his/her work/art seems to indicate some kind of arrested development IMO. Just because you l-o-v-e group XYZ’s song does not mean you like them as people. They may in fact not be likable – but their song still is!!