Howdy!

I just got back from the ballgame, and despite the Expos continuing suckiness, I quite enjoyed myself, thanks to the company. Maybe they'll win tomorrow? Naw, it's unlikely, they really do suck. But, it seems like as good time as any to clean up some of the accumulated backlog.

Yesterday Le Devoir ran an article that is available to non-subscribers (surprise, surprise) about the creation of the Guido Molinari Foundation. On the surface it sounds like a cool idea, as they haven't done anything yet, other than promise to follow what Guido Jr. says were his father's wishes; to sell paintings by Sr. and help young artists. I'll believe it when I see it. There are way too many tax advantages to having and/or running a charitable foundation, and I'd like to see this one work, but the wait and see game is what I will be playing for now. We can revisit the situation in a couple of years, ok?

I have no clue how I came across this site, where they proudly state that they want to be "making history as well as reporting it. spiked stands for liberty, enlightenment, experimentation and excellence." Hmmm, maybe we should wait for the jury on this one, too. But while we're waiting, somebody named Josie Appleton writes about cultural diversity in the UK. It is a way long article (with the 26 footnotes, more than 5,500 words! Woo-Hoo!) Basically she summarizes her point thusly:

Instead, cultural diversity policy represents the end of cultural policy as we have understood it. The pursuit of aesthetic or historical understanding, of attempting to distinguish good paintings from bad or correct interpretations from false ones, is deemed impossible. Instead, all cultural institutions can do is to revel in 'diversity', by promoting different kinds of art and competing judgements.

Today's cultural policy rejects the ways of the traditional cultural elite, and presents itself as far more enlightened. However, if we examine the legacy that cultural diversity policy has rejected, we find that some valuable principles have been lost by the wayside.

I won't get into a point by point criticism of what she says, but suffice it to say 26 footnotes, is 26 footnotes too many. And I could also give the off the cuff snarky retort, that British Culture ceased to be meaningful to anybody but the British after the Beatles broke up, but I won't.