#Bill Stinchcomb

[kritikycz]

Bitevní loď - Peter Berg (Dr. Billy Kronk z Chicago Hope) režíruje

Nový Transformeři? No nevím, prostě se svět zbláznil a filmoví producenti vymysleli další ždímání peněz filmových fanoušků. Hlavně Američanů, kteří mají svojí hrdost a jsou šťastní, když pěkní američtí hoši udělají pěkné americké věci, hlavně porazí americké nepřítele, hlavně mimozemšťany. Ano, svět se opravdu zbláznil a občas americkou náturu opravdu nesnáším, když udělá pouze jednoduché hry lodě film…- Více na https://www.kritiky.cz/filmove-recenze/retro-filmove-recenze/2019/bitevni-lod-peter-berg-dr-billy-kronk-z-chicago-hope-reziruje/

[page58-blog1]

Johnny Frank Garrett never killed anyone...Until he died. Watch 'Johnny Frank Garrett's Last Word' (Trailer)

Johnny Frank Garrett never killed anyone…Until he died. Watch ‘Johnny Frank Garrett’s Last Word’ (Trailer)

    “His fingerprints were found right next to her stabbed and violated body.” “We find the defendant guilty of rape and murder.” “I’m innocent! I didn’t her!” They thought they were doing the right thing. They were dead wrong. Based on a true story, ‘Johnny Frank Garrett’s Last Word’ follows the story in 1981 of Sister Tadea Benz, a 76-year-old nun, who was raped, strangled, beaten and stabbed…

[orbemnews]

Renée Fleming Was Back Onstage. Here’s What Happened First. The soprano Renée Fleming sauntered onstage in a shimmering long-sleeve gown, perched on a chair and started to sing. For a renowned performer decades into her career, it might have been an uneventful Wednesday evening at the Shed, the expansive performance space in Hudson Yards. But after 13 months in a pandemic, a sea of faces was a novel sight for the opera star and the trio accompanying her. “Wow, applause!” she remarked after finishing the meditative opening number. “Very exciting.” Exciting, indeed — and no mean feat to pull off. After the Shed and other flexible New York performance spaces lobbied to let audiences in, it got the go-ahead to open its doors for a live event on April 2, after 386 days of shutdown. Fleming’s April 21 show there, before a limited audience, was the fourth performance in a series co-sponsored by NY PopsUp, a public-private program aimed at reviving the arts. While the 85-minute show — a mix of classical, jazz and popular music — went off without a hitch, it demonstrated that mounting indoor events in New York at this stage of the pandemic will still be time-consuming, unpredictable and expensive. To get Fleming and the musicians onstage involved dozens of hours of careful planning; hundreds of dollars in safety equipment like plastic face shields and hand sanitizer; and nearly $2,500 in coronavirus tests. All this for drastically reduced ticket revenue. And while she may have been the headliner, pulling the show off took a large cast of behind-the-scenes figures, some of whom hadn’t worked regularly in the building for months. Monday: Two days to showtime In normal times, the staff in a preshow morning production meeting might be discussing last-minute program changes or the status of ticket sales. On April 19, it was where and when Renée Fleming would get her rapid Covid tests. She would arrive to rehearse at 1:30 p.m. the next day, the staff was told, and head to the sixth floor to the smaller Kenneth C. Griffin Theater, where her dressing room was located. There, she would meet a medical technician who would administer a nasal swab. There would be no servers bringing the talent tea, coffee or food, per health department edict. “We do the barest minimum,” said Laura Aswad, the Shed’s producer, noting that Fleming, who had acted in a play during the Shed’s opening season, wouldn’t be left completely untended: Bottled water, tea bags and a kettle would be in her dressing room. Alex Poots, the Shed’s chief executive, had one big announcement to share with the staff. The venue had not received state permission to expand the size of the audience. In the days leading up to the concert, the Shed had asked to double capacity from 150 to 300, which would still only be a fraction of the roughly 1,200 people the McCourt, its largest performance space, can seat. But the state had essentially told them: Not so fast. The concert had sold out in two hours. Audience members who did secure tickets had already received the first of four emails explaining the coronavirus protocols they would need to follow. Gone was the chance to rush to a concert after work and plop down into your seat as the curtain rose. Before they entered the Shed, concertgoers would need to check one of three boxes: show proof of full vaccination; demonstrate a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of the event; or have taken a rapid antigen test, which is less reliable, within six hours of showtime. This was such a jumble of rules and dates that the front-of-house staff would be provided printed cheat sheets for the day of the show. Tuesday: One day to showtime The guitarist Bill Frisell was surrounded by piles of sheet music — some Handel, some Stephen Foster — laid out on the dining room table and the living room floor of his Brooklyn home. He was writing out his parts in pencil, referencing a list of songs that Fleming had sent to him, the bassist Christian McBride, and the pianist Dan Tepfer. Pandemic restrictions meant only one in-person rehearsal before the day of the show, and Frisell was in study mode. He had played alongside Fleming before — they had recorded an album in 2005 — but never alongside Tepfer or McBride. “It adds a level of stress to the event, no question,” Fleming said. “We still have a lot to figure out in terms of how we’re arranging everything.” As Frisell was reviewing the sheet music to Cole Porter’s “Down in the Depths (on the Ninetieth Floor),” Fleming was up on East 57th Street, visiting her longtime hair stylist, Michael Stinchcomb, at Vartali Salon. Stinchcomb has been an avid fan since the 1990s and first met Fleming backstage at Carnegie Hall. He’s been doing her hair for more than two decades, often traveling around the world when she performs. But last winter Fleming moved from New York to Virginia, and the pandemic had prevented her from visiting Stinchcomb until the day before her Shed performance. “She was so happy to come in,” Stinchcomb said. “She’s a woman who likes to look good.” Later that afternoon, Fleming arrived at the Shed for a three-hour rehearsal, where she and the musicians discussed harmonies, tempos and spots for improvised solos. “A full rehearsal the day before a show?” McBride said. “That’s a lot in the jazz world.” Wednesday: 11 hours to showtime José Rivera pointed at the space between two clusters of seats. “From here to here, it’s 6-foot 4,” he announced, bending to scrutinize his yellow tape measure. “From here to here is 6-foot 1.” That made the grade: According to state rules, the distance between audience members had to be over six feet. He and another facilities employee, Steven Quinones, had been arranging the chairs for some two hours, ensuring that the setup matched a detailed paper diagram. “And see, this is the big aisle that people walk through, so it’s 9 feet, 5 inches,” Rivera continued, raising his voice to be heard over the whirring of a third colleague zooming around the room on an industrial floor scrubber. Five floors up, Josh Phagoo, an operations engineer, checked up on one of the Shed’s most important technologies for Covid safety: the HVAC system. Massive air handlers and chillers in the building’s engine room whirred constantly as Phagoo made sure the machines that keep the air at roughly 70 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity at 50 percent were functional. On the stage itself, the first piano notes of the day were vibrating through the air, up to the McCourt’s 115-foot ceiling. Stephen Eriksson had arrived at 11 a.m. to tune the gleaming Steinway grand piano. While he said his business had disappeared for the first four months of the pandemic, now he is busier than ever. For nearly 30 minutes, he used a tuning wrench to make sure that the piano was concert ready. Afterward, he played a bit of Debussy and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” “That’s a bit of pure indulgence,” he said. Wednesday: Three hours to showtime Within 15 minutes after arriving at the Shed, Fleming — who was scheduled for her second vaccine in New York the morning after the show — got the rapid Covid test in her dressing room. Negative. Afterward, she rehearsed onstage with the musicians, their instruments positioned more than six feet apart from one another, while an audio crew member in a mask and a face shield flitted around them, making sure everything was working properly. The six-person crew working the show was slightly smaller than usual, according to Pope Jackson, the Shed’s production manager. Everywhere they went, they brought along what Jackson referred to as a “Covid cart,” which contained a stock of masks, gloves, sanitation supplies and brown paper bags, which the musicians’ union requires so that players have a clean place to put their masks while they perform. Downstairs, a staff of eight security guards had their nostrils swabbed to make sure that they tested negative. Fleming and the musicians had been doing virtual and outdoor concerts throughout the pandemic, but the security staff was filled with people whose careers had been even more upended. Allen Pestana, 21, has been unemployed for more than a year after being let go from working security at Yankee Stadium; Duwanna Alford, 53, saw her hours cut at a church in Morningside Heights; Richard Reid, 33, had worked in April 2020 as a security guard at a field hospital in Manhattan, where he had tried to forget his health fears and focus on the hazard pay he was receiving. This was the moment before a concert where the theater was alive with preparation and nerves — a bustle missing in the city during the first year of the pandemic. “It’s like doing the electric slide, the moonwalk and the bachata all at once,” Jackson said of the minutes before showtime. “But when the lights go up, it all fades away.” Showtime The front-of-house staff had only 20 minutes to review the audience members’ IDs and Covid-related documents; take their temperatures; and show them to their seats. Icy gusts of wind just outside the doors weren’t making things any easier. But by 8:05 p.m., 150 people had settled into their precisely placed seats, able to snap a photo of the QR code on the arms of the chairs to see the concert program. In between performances of the jazz classic “Donna Lee” and “Touch the Hand of Love,” which Fleming had once recorded with Yo-Yo Ma, the artists chatted onstage about what they’d been doing with their lives for the past 13 months. “Wishing this pandemic would be over,” McBride said. Tepfer said he had been improving a technological tool that made it easier for musicians to play in unison over the internet — a tool that he and Fleming had used to rehearse together virtually. Frisell had not performed for an indoor audience since the beginning of the pandemic. “This is such a blessing,” he said. The show ended with a standing ovation, and then the musicians played an encore: “Hard Times” by Stephen Foster, which Fleming described as a song that tends to resonate in times of crisis. “Hard times,” she sang, “come again no more.” Source link Orbem News #Fleming #Happened #Heres #Onstage #renee

[sportzprime]

Randy Orton Bio, Height, Age, Family and Net Worth

Randy Orton Bio Data

Birthday: April 1, 1980 Nationality: American Famous: Actors Wrestlers Randy Orton Age: 39 Years, 39 Year Old Males Sun Sign: Aries Also Known As: Randall Keith Orton Born In: Knoxville Famous As: Professional Wrestler, Actor Randy Orton Height: 6’5″ (196 cm), 6’5″ Males

Randy Orton Family: Spouse/Ex-: Samantha Speno Father: Bob Orton Jr. Mother: Elaine Orton Siblings: Becky Orton, Jasper Orton, Nathan Orton Children: Alanna Marie Orton

Randy Orton Childhood & Early Life

Randal Keith Orton was born on 1 April 1980 in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the United States. He is the son of Elaine and Bob Orton Jr., a professional wrestler. He has two siblings, a sister Rebecca and a younger brother Nate, who later grew up to become a standup comedian.

From an early age, Orton displayed an interest in wrestling. However, he was discouraged by his parents, as they believed that it was a difficult career choice. His father used to tell him that a life in the ring meant that he would have to stay away from family for long periods.

Orton attended the Hazelwood Central High School, where he developed his wrestling skills and became an amateur wrestler. He completed his high school in 1998, after which he enlisted in the US Marine Corps. However, he was discharged a year later in 1999 for disobeying orders from a commanding officer.

Randy Orton Wrestling Career

Randy Orton made his wrestling debut in 2000. The following year, he signed a deal with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He wrestled well-known stars such as Rico Constantino and the Prototype. Orton, who mostly took part in tag team matches, won the OVW Hardcore Championship twice during this period.

Later, after he made his official WWF appearance in 2002, he fought Hardcore Holly in his first televised match. However, he suffered a shoulder injury around this time, which left him sidelined for a few months.

Once he healed completely, Orton fought with several legendary wrestlers such as Shawn Michaels, whom he managed to successfully beat. He also became infamous for showing blatant disrespect to several reputed senior wrestlers. He gained fame for his move, RKO, a jumping cutter named after his initials, which later became his signature finisher.

After successfully defeating Chris Benoit in July 2004, Orton earned the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time. Later, after defending it successfully for a few times, he finally lost it to Triple H.

In 2007, at the No Mercy wrestling event, Orton was awarded the WWE Championship for the first time, after John Cena had vacated it due to an injury. Since then, he has won the title a total of nine times.

In 2011, he won the World Heavyweight Championship for the second time, after successfully defeating his opponent Christian.

Orton, who had won the Royal Rumble for the first time in 2009, won it for the second time in 2017. Later, in April the same year, Orton successfully defeated Bray Wyatt, winning the WWE Championship for the ninth time.

Randy Orton Acting Career

As an actor, Randy Orton has appeared in a few films and TV shows as well. In 2013, he appeared in the American action film ’12 Rounds 2: Reloaded’ which starred him in the lead role. Directed by Roel Reiné, the film also starred Tom Stevens, Brian Markinson, Venus Terzo, and Cindy Busby. The film mostly received positive reviews.

In 2015, Orton appeared in the American action film ‘The Condemned 2’, which starred him in the lead role. Directed by Roel Reiné, the film is about a former bounty hunter who is on the run and later finds himself a part of a death tournament. Other actors in the film included Eric Roberts, Wes Studi, and Bill Stinchcomb.

In 2016, he made a guest appearance in the American TV drama ‘Shooter’. The series, which is based on the novel ‘Point of Impact’ by Stephen Hunter, was developed by John Hlavin. It stars actors such as Ryan Philippe, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Omar Epps, and Eddie McClintock. The series premiered in July 2016. Orton appeared in the fifth episode of the first season, in a guest role, portraying an ex-navy seal and the leader of a militia group.

Recommended Lists:American Film & Theater PersonalitiesAries Men

Randy Orton Awards & Achievements

As of May 2017, Randy Orton was the current WWE Champion, having already won the title eight times before. He has also won the World Heavyweight Championship four times, the Royal Rumble twice, the Seventeenth Triple Crown Champion once, and the OVW Hardcore Championship twice.

In 2008, he stood at No. 1 on the list of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI: 500 list of the PWI Magazine.

Personal Life & Legacy

Randy Orton’s first wife was Samantha Speno, whom he married in 2007. The couple had a daughter named Alanna Marie Orton in 2008. They divorced in 2013.

In 2015, Orton married Kimberley Kessley. In November 2016, they had a daughter who was named Brooklyn Rose Orton.

In 2007, an article was posted by ‘Sports Illustrated’ in which a list of a number of athletes who were alleged to have used anastrozole, clomiphene, citrate, nandrolone, oxandrolone, stanozolol, and testosterone was published. Orton’s name was also in the list and he gained some negative publicity.

[darringauthier]

The Condemned 2 (2015)

Genre: Action

Who’s In It: Randy Orton, Eric Roberts, Wes Studi, Steven Michael Quezada, Bill Stinchcomb

Who Directed It: Roel Reine

Plot:  A former bounty hunter who finds himself on the run as part of a revamped Condemned tournament, in which convicts are forced to fight each other to the death as part of a game that's broadcast to the public.

Running Time: 90 Minutes 

IMDB Score: 4.2

How I Watched It: Amazon Prime Canada

Why I Watched It: Alright so I love B-Movie action films and I’ve been a lifetime wrestling fan so really I have no choice but to watch.  I also blame Prime cause they’ve added a bunch of WWE films to their library.

Random Thoughts: A couple of things to unpack here, one this is the second film Randy Orton did for WWE Films that was a sequel to a movie another wrestler was the lead in, he’s replaced John Cena and here Steve Austin now to be fair both movies aren’t really clean sequels he’s playing different characters.  Now this one is a stretch at best, this has very little to do with the first Condemned, a lot of people didn’t like it I though it was fine but we didn’t need a sequel and this one is a different set up and let me say this this one is not broadcast to the public at large it’s a group of rich people betting on it.

What I Liked: Randy Orton is fine here, if you know him as a wrestler he has a slow style, one would call it boring and his acting is close to that but he has charisma and he’s a decent actor, he’s a decent action guy in this type of movie.  The selling point here is Eric Roberts who is a hoot, he’s having tons of fun and he’s Eric Roberts so he gives no shits.  He plays Orton���s father and he’s over the top and honestly he seems to be doing what he wants, there’s scenes were there’s tension with the two long and deep rooted and then they’re buddies and Roberts is so alive and big and Orton is not so that was fun.

Heads up Wes Studi is in one scene at the beginning and he’s gone, so don’t except him in a major role which is too bad cause he could have classed up the film.

The best thing I can say about the film is that the action is fine, it’s not a terrible film it is just kind of is.

What I Didn’t Like: The plot if beyond silly, I mean there’s something there but no one put in enough effort to make it more than a cheap B-Movie and that’s what it is, which I’m fine with I just could have used either crazier action or just more of Eric Roberts.  That would have helped.

The film is a paint by numbers film, it moves pretty well but we know where it’s headed, it’s a bland and really forgettable film nothing makes it pop.

Final Thoughts: It’s a middle of the road bad/decent made for DVD action film with a wrestler in it, you could do worse but again you could do a lot better.

Rating: 4/10

[awesomeblockchain]

Every Monday morning, artnet News brings you The Gray Market. The column decodes important stories from the previous week-and offers unparalleled insight into the inner workings of the art industry in the process.

This week, dissecting one subject to put an entire system in view...

Maecenas logo. Image courtesy of Maecenas.

EXECUTION STYLE

On Wednesday, art investment startup Maecenas opened online registration to participate in an event it is billing as -the world's first ever blockchain-based auction of fine art." But in my opinion, slicing into the details lays bare a number of deficiencies that also apply to much of the overheated art and blockchain space. (If you're not familiar with that space yet, check out my primer from earlier this year.)

Presented in partnership with Dadiani Syndicate, which brands itself as the first British gallery to accept cryptocurrency payments, the Maecenas auction in question will feature only one work: Andy Warhol's 14 Small Electric Chairs (1980). The painting will be divided into fractional shares collectively amounting to as much as a 49 percent ownership stake. These minority shares will be distributed to winning bidders paying in Bitcoin, Ether, or Maecenas's own cryptocurrency, the ART token. Sale and subsequent Wall Street-style trading of these shares will be tracked on a blockchain, allegedly creating what Maecenas calls a -transparent marketplace."

To Maecenas and Dadiani's credit, would-be bidders can only participate in the auction after submitting some basic -Know Your Client" and -Anti-Money Laundering" details, including proof of identity and current residence. In theory, this requirement at least prevents the auction from being converted into a washing machine for dirty cash-a legitimate possibility that dogs many crypto-ventures seeking an air of legitimacy and wider adoption.

But what about Maecenas's stated mission to -democratize access to fine art" via the Warhol auction and others like it? Does the blockchain element deliver the revolutionary promises central to the startup? And what do the answers tell us about the many other art/blockchain ventures swarming the industry like fruit flies to a poorly maintained winery?

Infographic on registration for Maecenas's first-ever blockchain-based art auction. Image courtesy of Maecenas.

THE PROPOSITION

In its white paper, Maecenas identifies the -fundamental issues of art investment" as -lack of transparency, lack of liquidity, and most importantly the fact that trust is centralized" with traditional entities like auction houses and galleries. (For the uninitiated, the masterminds behind every crypto-venture, including Bitcoin, write a white paper to detail their product, their goal, and how the former achieves the latter.)

By this logic, Maecenas magic-wands the industry by dividing artworks like 14 Small Electric Chairs into tradeable shares, then facilitating and tracking their movements via blockchain technology.

It's an appealing idea if you want to invest in art but can't afford a collection, right? Allow more people to buy in by lowering the cost of entry, and place the responsibility for monitoring the marketplace into the hands of infallible, incorruptible software rather than fallible, corruptible human experts.

However, in my opinion, this pitch represents a dramatic misunderstanding of blockchain-one that helps propagate myths about the technology that are driving the gold rush of misguided crypto-art startups.

REALITY CHECK

When people like me try to define the concept of a blockchain to the uninitiated, we almost inevitably fall back on some variant of the phrase -decentralized digital ledger." Once you explain that -decentralized" means -jointly maintained by different computers in different locations with different owners," this definition usually helps.

Why? Because a ledger, or an ongoing list of transactions, is a pretty relatable idea. People might picture an Excel spreadsheet tracking expenses or an itemized receipt from a grocery store. Simple, right?

The problem is that these images are somewhat misleading. It's true that a well-written blockchain tracks all the details of whatever transactional history it's recording. But it's false that the info is easy to read if you're just a skeptical customer without some hardcore software literacy.

A crucial point often lost in the analysis of many blockchain art ventures, and many blockchain ventures, period, is this: There is nothing inherently transparent about blockchains. Not all of their data is publicly viewable by default. The creator has some power to choose what to make visible, and who to make it visible to.

Although I didn't find the mechanism detailed in Maecenas's white paper, let's just assume that their blockchains will all provide maximum data visibility to investors. Otherwise, all the company's rhetoric about -democratizing access" and using an -open blockchain platform" would be nothing but chemtrails.

The larger, more important issue is that even an accessible blockchain is hard to review. It's not as if every one of them automatically generates a link to an easily readable table of transactions like the old school examples I mentioned above. The only way to check for accuracy is to do an independent audit of the blockchain at the level of code.

To give you a sense of what that task requires, take a look at the below excerpt from crypto-skeptic Kai Stinchcombe's essential essay -Blockchain Technology Is Not Only Crappy Technology But a Bad Vision of the Future." Here, he's talking about the alleged revolutionary potential of using blockchains to create truly free and fair elections in developing countries.

-Keep your voting records in a tamper-proof repository not owned by anyone" sounds right - yet is your Afghan villager going to download the blockchain from a broadcast node and decrypt the Merkle root from his Linux command line to independently verify that his vote has been counted?

If your response to the above was -WTF does any of that mean?" that's the point! Even a sharp citizen will be almost powerless on their own in this realm without a pretty rigorous coding background. Unless we're all intent on turning ourselves into characters from Mr. Robot, this is kind of a problem.

So what is the average person likely to do in a blockchain ecosystem instead? As Stinchcombe writes, probably something like -rely on the mobile app of a trusted third party - like the nonprofit or open-source consortium administering the election or providing the software."

In other words, any non-hacker buying into blockchain is just choosing to trust software rather than a person or traditional institution. But since software doesn't magically write itself, -trusting in the software" on some level means -trusting in the people writing the software." And unless you subscribe to some fringe Silicon Valley cosmology in which programmers are numbered among the saints, there is no reason to believe that people writing software are inherently more trustworthy than people working at auction houses or galleries. And that matters whether you're investing in fractional shares or hoping for bulletproof provenance verification.

THE TRUST PROBLEM

This leads us back to Maecenas's Warhol offer. In order to feel good about bidding in a crypto-denominated, smart-contract-activated, blockchain-tracked auction, you first have to trust that:

The artwork is authentic.

The owner is the true owner.

There are no other liens or ownership stakes against it behind the scenes.

The software has been written fairly and securely (again, unless you're willing and able to audit it yourself), and...

The certificate verifying your fractional shares in the painting is enforceable off the blockchain (meaning IRL).

About that last part: Maecenas's legal and compliance regime is not outlined in its white paper, either. Instead, you get a grand total of six sentences and one confusing diagram on page 10 that I would argue collectively amount to -just trust us, OK?"

In fact, despite the overtures made to -decentralized networks of trust" and the exclusionary inefficiencies of the traditional art industry, reliance on established art-world and business-world institutions runs rampant through Maecenas's pitch.

Their home page states that -Artworks remain in custody of trusted institutions, vetted collectors, and galleries." (The particulars of this vetting process are not detailed.) Similarly, both nearby and within the diagram I just mentioned, you'll find references to Maecenas's involvement with -art finance experts, law firms, and investment professionals," as well as unidentified -art experts" who verify every artwork's authenticity.

And as the diagram makes clear, guess who's standing at the (ahem) center of all these different traditional experts? Maecenas! Kind of odd for a business using decentralization as a pillar of its mission, no?

This points us toward something that needs to be said more broadly about blockchain ventures and their promises of decentralized disruption of the art market.

Mockup of the Maecenas trading platform. Image courtesy of Maecenas.

THE -PLATFORM" PROBLEM

Maecenas defines itself as a -platform," a word as pervasive in art/blockchain pitches as sad animals in budget petting zoos. Why is this a practical problem rather than a verbal annoyance? Because -platform" is a synonym for -middleman," and middlemen are inherently contradictory to any sincere effort to decentralize anything-at least, if they're charging a fee for their presence at the crossroads.

Maecenas is a perfect example of this. Their white paper states that they charge the consignor of any artwork a six percent listing fee and successful bidders on fractional shares a two percent transaction fee. (Fractional owners are allowed to sell their shares commission-free.)

Unless you've recently been slammed in the head with a frying pan, I can't really give you a pass for preaching the virtues of decentralization while simultaneously pitching yourself as a -platform" for transactions that takes a 2 percent to 6 percent cut. It's internally inconsistent. It's like saying, -I love nature, but I'm not wild about plants."

This brings us to another sirens-blaring, red-alert point about the big picture: Blockchain is a decentralized technology that can still be put toward centralized uses. It's no different than the argument you'll hear made about wedding rings by men living in the cesspool that is the pick-up artist -community": Wearing one can be just as useful for attracting extramarital action as for signaling that you're off limits.

In tech itself, there is no better example of this reality than the web itself. A technology developed to facilitate the free and fair exchange of knowledge without exposure to filters, discrimination, or tracking has today been transformed by various -platforms" into the most aggressive and extensive advertising, monetization, and mass surveillance apparatus in human history.

Say it with me: Technology is agnostic. Its effects depend on the people using it.

Which begs the question: What do the people behind Maecenas and the Warhol auction actually want?

The American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol with his paintings(1928 - 1987), December 15, 1980. (Photo by Susan Greenwood / Liaison Agency)

WILL THE REAL MAECENAS PLEASE STAND UP?

Maecenas's press releases and white paper alternate between two stated goals. One is to democratize access to fine art. The other is to democratize access to fine-art investment. Yet these are wildly different objectives, and the -platform" looks much more tailored to one than the other.

This is apparent even in Maecenas's name. Early in the white paper, they explain their choice of moniker as follows:

We are named after-and inspired by-an early patron of the arts. Gaius Maecenas helped democratize art in Ancient Rome by financing poor poets. We want to be the modern version of Maecenas... ensuring that fine art is available to everyone and not just the ultra-wealthy.

So how does this gel with auctioning off fractional shares in a select group of artworks that, according to the white paper, -will be kept in purpose-built safe art storage facilities" at freeports?

The answer is that -Maecenas, in its effort to democratize access to fine art, will allow investors and their nominated guests to arrange visits to appreciate the artworks" if they're ready to travel somewhere like Singapore, Luxembourg, Geneva, or New York.

Invoking Maecenas, the Roman arts benefactor, would make sense if Maecenas, the -platform," was actually, say, a crowdfunding venture that funneled money to working artists experiencing extreme financial hardship. Or, alternatively, if the historical Maecenas's arts -patronage" had consisted of building a private library of poems where the rights to individual lines or stanzas could be traded in the square, but only read by investors also willing to make an in-person journey to the archive.

But neither of those is true, so the name is ridiculous. To me, it misses the point almost as badly as if someone built a -platform" to invest in the worldwide expansion of British commerce and called it Gandhi.

SUMMING UP

I have a lot of other, smaller questions about both the Warhol auction and Maecenas more broadly. But the key point is that I don't see how blockchain technology actually solves the issues they want it to. For instance, other startups elsewhere in the world have managed to market fractional shares without blockchains. And if the goal is to make art investing more like investing in the traditional financial markets, well, it's not as if the likes of E-Trade, Schwab, or Robinhood needed decentralized technology to thrive.

Instead, Maecenas looks to me like a standard-bearer for so many of the art/blockchain ventures bombarding the industry: a monetization strategy with little genuine interest in art or artists, and no real solutions to the problems it's pursuing. I don't think they're evil, just misguided. But if we want this technology to make any significant changes in a troubled ecosystem, we have to keep asking hard questions about its true limitations and potential.

That's all for this week. 'Til next time, say what you mean, and mean what you say.

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[saturdaynightmatinee]

CALIFICACIÓN PERSONAL: 4 / 10

Título Original: The Condemned 2

Año: 2015

Duración: 90 min.

País: Estados Unidos

Director: Roel Reiné

Guion: Alan B. McElroy  

Música: Trevor Morris, Ted Reedy

Fotografía: Roel Reiné

Reparto: Randy Orton, Eric Roberts, Wes Studi, Steven Michael Quezada, Bill Stinchcomb,Alex Knight, Michael Sheets, Morse Bicknell, Jesi Rael, Matthew Page,Merritt C. Glover, Audrey Walters, Dylan Kenin, Mark Sivertsen, Sonia Maslovskaya

Productora: WWE Studios

Género: Action, Thriller

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4151192/

TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j7VU91iCu0

[ourblackgirls]

Trailer: WWE Superstar Randy Orton gets Condemned in psychological survival video game 'The Condemned 2' with Eric Roberts

Trailer: WWE Superstar Randy Orton gets Condemned in psychological survival video game ‘The Condemned 2’ with Eric Roberts

  “Where are we going? Where are you taking me?” It’ll all make sense when we get there.” The world’s deadliest game is back online. Fight to the death while the rich get richer. The Sequel to Condemned (2007), ‘The Condemned 2’ stars one of the most popular and recognized WWE superstars, “The Viper” Randy Orton. Six players, no rules – one survivor. The psychological survival video game movie…