Willie Nelson canceled a show in North Carolina because of hand pain. But that's only part of the story. Just a short time before several members of his band and road crew were busted by officers on Nelson's tour bus for possessing moonshine and marijuana.
People getting high on Willie's tour bus? Richard, I'm shocked......SHOCKED!!!!
In the three part discussion of Avatar from earlier this month I referenced Joseph Campbell, the great mythologist and author from the last century. Campbell and his writings were a large influence on George Lucas when he wrote the Star Wars Trilogies, as well as with many other artists and writers of this era.
The PBS special from 1988, and its companion book,The Power of Myth, recorded a series of discussions between Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers. Few television programs have resonated with so many people for so long as this one has. Over the years it's airing has become a staple of PBS pledge drives. Personally, it is a project that changed my life. It made me more aware that the spiritual doesn't necessarily need to have a religious connotation. Also, it made me look at storytelling and film in a different way- all are based on universal themes, and some have become classics of modern mythology.
I was able to find several complete episodes online of The Power of Myth.
Below, from the collection of John Allen Bell, is Episode One of the series, The Hero's Adventure. Campbell and Moyers talked about Star Wars, as well as the meaning of the word "hero", and who or what is a hero. Another subject talked about in this episode, recorded in 1985 or 1986- that the earth would give us the next great mythology for mankind.....this was years before are concern about climate change moved to the forefront of our consciousness.
Campbell gives one bit of advice in this episode that he sees as the key to a happy and productive life......"Follow your bliss".
Speaking this afternoon at the CLT Annual Intellectual Property conference, Class 99 founder David Musker gave a round-up of recent design law developments in the UK -- and a bit beyond -- over the past year. In the course of doing so, he revisited the European Court of Justice decision in Case C-299/99Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV v Remington Consumer Products Ltd, contrasting the exclusion from registration of trade marks consist of shapes that obtain a technical result with the exclusion of designs from protection on the basis of the much-debated "form-follows-function" formula, contrasting it with "form-is-functional-but-could-have-been-different".
David's analysis raised some unanswerable questions concerning the rationale that results in the same shape being either protectable or the exact opposite, depending on whether trade mark or design law is invoked as the basis for its protection, and depending on which sort of design it is.
It seems to me that the logical conclusion to be drawn is this: if it is either right or wrong for a business to be able to monopolise a shape in the marketplace, the needs of the marketplace should be identified first and then filtered back into the exclusions from protection for both trade marks and designs, so that they are as far as possible coextensive [adds David, "so long as it's not the ECJ's criteria in Philips ..."].
Last Saturday, I posted some tattoos sent to us from Tammy in Texas. Her son Dean is also tattooed and, in a much bigger way. We'll let him explain:
My very first tattoo was done on my 18th birthday in 2005...[it is] a black dragon with kanji above it. About a year letter I had a koi fish done on my calf...both of these tattoos were just drawings I had found. In 2006 I started working on my rib piece and in 2007 I got together with John from A Different Drummer here in Wichita Falls (he is now at the Lawton, OK location), and the two of us collaborated on bringing the rib piece together. Once the drawing was to our satisfaction, it took a little over 2 months of 3-4 hour sittings weekly until the tattoo was complete. 16-plus hours and worth every minute!
In 2009 I decided it was time for an arm piece and went back to A Different Drummer and Tuan who was in Art Class with me in high school listened to what I wanted... and the arm piece came to life...this one was done in one day and took a little over 7 1/2 hours:
Both pieces are marvelously done.
Thanks to Dean for sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday! And a hearty thank you, as well, to Tammy, for being a cool mom, sharing her pride in her son's amazing body art!
I became a fan of The Tudors during Season 2. For one reason or another I never watched the first year's episodes- why I didn't, I don't really remember all that well. The show is about the reign of Henry VIII of England and his multiple wives, his many affairs, the intrigue of his court, and the lives of his many friends and numerous foes- and it didn't take too much to go from friend to foe in Henry's eyes. Season 4 of the series is in production now, and is tentatively scheduled for premiere on April 11, 2010 at 9:00PM EDT on Showtime.
Showtime has begun airing the earlier episodes of the series, as well as making them available via ON DEMAND services. I went back to Season One to catch up on all that I had missed that first year. The series is enjoyable and interesting, even though at times there are some historical inaccuracies, and combining of several real characters into one composite, eliminating some real people of note, and inventing characters who never existed. The series also, at times, presents historical incidents out of order for dramatic effect. It doesn't really bother me because this is historical fiction on Showtime and not The History Channel. The Tudors does challenge me to find out for myself what is fact and what are "facts according to the genius of the writer". Good historical fiction will make the viewer want to know more about a subject. JFK by Oliver Stone was based on a factual event as interpreted by a filmmaker- you just have to accept it as such. But Oliver Stone's movie helped to sell a lot of books and documentaries by others who did REAL research into what happened in Dallas.
Few questioned Stephen Speilberg about the accuracy of Saving Private Ryan, or Clint Eastwood for Flags of Our Fathers....I read the book and saw the movie; Clint did take some liberties but the spirit of the events portrayed were real. In that light, the viewer has to look at The Tudors as an entertainment, but one with a very real factual base and that the story told is true, with embellishments.
Of all of the performances in Season One of The Tudors, one stood out for me- that of Maria Doyle Kennedy as the ill fated Queen Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife. Ms. Kennedy spoke Spanish fluently in the production, and her English had a decided Spanish accent. She looked like the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. I assumed she was a Latina with Irish ancestry from her father's side of the family, like Anthony Quinn. But she looked vaguely familiar....and I couldn't remember where I had seen her before. So I did some research.
And it turns out that Joss Stone (Anne of Cleves) wasn't the first "musical wife" of Henry VIII
The Commitments- Maria Doyle (Kennedy) at the far right, with Bronagh Gallagher (l) and Angeline Ball.
The amazing stuff you can find on the internet. Maria Doyle Kennedy was then known as Maria Doyle, and sang with the Irish band Hot House Flowers in 1987. By 1991 Ms. Kennedy was in the movie The Commitments, playing "Natalie Murphy". The story was about a group of young Irish musicians who put together a white R&B group, bringing some soul to pubs and clubs of Dublin. In the clip below from the film, Maria sings "Bye By Baby".
Maria Doyle Kennedy has maintained successful acting and musical careers in the time since. More information can be found on her official website. Her music can best be labeled as alternative. Below, the video of her release, Skin.
And the stars of the Commitments are still slugging away. Check out their official website.
In closing, here's a look at a blooper reel from The Tudors, featuring Maria Doyle Kennedy, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jeremy Northam, and Sam Neill.
We hear that Norway may soon join the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement. Norway's accession means that all the EEA countries (the EU, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Lichtenstein) are members of Hague - if and when it happens, it starts to add up to a sensible reason for using the Hague route to cover "greater Europe" and the European borders.
We noted some minor changes to Korean practice last year. Some more significant ones, operative from 1st January, are drawn to our attention by Sohn Kim & Partners in their newsletter. These are:
1 - KIPO will accept 3D drawings in DWG(Drawing), DWF(Design Web Format), and 3DS(3D Studio) format. A welcome emergence from the 19th century! Let's hope other offices follow suit.
2 - The former requirement for 6-orthogonal-plus-1-perspective views has been removed. You can submit as few drawings as you wish if they "explain the design and fully express the essentials of the creation" (to quote Sohn Kim). Again, welcome flexibility - something the UK has had since the decision in Ford's Application [1972] R.P.C. 320, [1971] F.S.R. 314.
3 - Changes (expansions, it seems) to the goods classification.
4 - Expansion of the numbers of articles allowable in sets.
After spending the majority of last week (going into this week) first reviewing Avatar and then committing three blog entries to talking about viewer reactions, and the mythology behind it- originally I had 12 pages of notes on a legal pad- its time to move on and talk about other stuff that's been in the news.
Its time for a new edition of Quick Hits
(1) The AFC Championship Game. I know I picked the Jets, but it was heart over head. When they went up 17-6 on the Colts I thought just maybe they could get it done. Then Manning came back with that touchdown before halftime to make it 17-13. And Boomer Esiason was prophetic on the CBS halftime show when he said Peyton Manning had figured out what the Jets were doing on defense.....if the the Jets were going to blitz linebackers and defensive backs to make up for a lack of a bonafide pass rusher, then look for the weak spot on the field and the best matchup for the offense. So don't throw to Reggie Wayne (who was covered by Darelle Revis most of the game), and chuck it down field to Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon. From 17-13 at halftime it was all Colts in the second half, 30-17.
The Jets had an incredible run in the playoffs after a roller coaster regular season. Revis has emerged as the best corner in the NFL, and rookie qb Mark Sanchez and rookie rb Shonn Greene have become bright young stars who should shine for years to come.
And what else can you say about the Indianapolis Colts other than they are a special team and Peyton Manning is the greatest quarterback of his generation- sorry Tom Brady fans. Brady has more Super Bowl rings but Manning's body of work in the regular season gives him the nod.
(2). In the NFC Championship Game, I lost track of how many times both teams put the ball on the ground, but ultimately it was those lost fumbles by the Minnesota Vikings (3) and interceptions by the Vikes (2) that spelled their doom in the 31-28 win for the New Orleans Saints. The game shouldn't have been as exciting as it was because of all of the miscues by both teams (the Saints lost a fumble and had 9 penalties for 88 yards, Vikings 5 for 32- but all seem to come a critical times in the game).
The game went into OT, and was won by a field goal by Garrett Hartley to win it, sending the Drew Brees and the Saints to Miami to face the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl.
You have to wonder...is Brett Favre really done, or will he retire and then unretire for one more season? If he does not retire and gives it one more year, just how much longer can he keep taking that kind of physical pounding at age 40 before his body betrays him? Also, regarding Adrian Peterson- nobody playing in the NFL has his raw ability and breakaway speed....but how long can any team tolerate a player that fumbles as much as he does? How does any coach entrust a game to kill the clock in its late stages to a guy who can't hang on to the ball? He needs to sit down with Tiki Barber, and who had a similar problem with the Giants, and was cured of it through the coaching of Tom Coughlin.
(3). How about those scenes on Bourbon Street in New Orleans during and after the NFC Championship? While the game was being played, it was like a ghost town there, empty streets, only a few tourists walking around. After the winning field goal, it was instant Mardi Gras.
And good for the Saints, the city of New Orleans, and the fans all along the Gulf Coast. The franchise was in the doldrums most of the time since its birth in 1967. And of course, there was the devastation of Katrina in 2005, an event from which some of New Orleans and the surrounding area has not recovered, and may not ever.
The Saints in the Super Bowl....it won't heal all of the area's wounds, but it will help to ease some of the pain still felt there.
(4). On Saturday night at the Screen Actors Guild Awards the veteran Betty White rocked the house with her speech. Betty, who celebrated her 88th birthday the same day, was presented with SAG's LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. And as usual, she managed to steal the show from her costars. And check out what George Clooney said about the onetime GOLDEN GIRL
(5). I missed the news of the death of author Robert B. Parker, and knew nothing of his passing until Saturday. I was listening to the radio in the morning, and Richard Neer spoke about Parker's death last week at age 77. There were few writers as prolific as Parker, who turned out as many as four novels in a year, who wrote ten pages per day, and never knew what his characters would do or where the plot was going until he was in the act of writing. Most famous for his mysteries, he created the characters Spenser and Jesse Stone. In more recent years Parker has turned his attention to the Old West, creating a series of three novels that I fell in love with- Appaloosa, Resolution, and Brimstone. I wondered how life would turn out for the laconic lawman- turned gunslinger- turned lawman Virgil Cole, his partner Everett Hitch, and Virgil's libidinous lady love Miss Allie French. Sadly, I'll never know.
Robert B. Parker wrote 60 novels in a career that spanned nearly 40 years. I miss him already.
(6). The Jay Leno-Conan O'Brien Fiasco- a nations's long nightmare is over. We can all rest again. Amen.
(7). Kudos to all for helping out in the Haitian relief effort. According to The Huffington Post The World Bank and the United States government each made a commitment of $100 million. Last Friday's celebrity telethon raised $57 million. Americans sent $159 million in private donations. It sounds like a lot of money, and it is.....but check out the amount of destruction and devastation, and the byproducts of the quake- homelessness, food and water shortages, and disease.
And here's a sobering thought- look at those dollar amounts in the previous paragraph. When Rutgers University expanded their football stadium from 42,000 to 53,000 the price tag rose to over $100 million. That was just to enclose an end zone and add seating, and put in premium seats near the Presidents box.
That alone will give you an idea of just how much money in needed to even start to rebuild Haiti. Its going to be a long, arduous process.
(8). President Obama's State of the Union Address. I'll watch, even though I'm still angry at that circular firing squad, aka the Democratic Congressional leadership. Sometimes I look at Mr. Obama and I think he's vintage Michael Jordan playing on the 2009-10 New Jersey Nets.
(9). Damages is back! And Glenn Close is as delightfully devious as ever. I wonder how Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) will work her way back into Patty's (Close) life. And we do know this item due to the show's time shifting format, and its the first secret revealed of Season 3....Tate Donovan (as Tom Shayes) will NOT be back for a Season 4.
That is, of course, he has a twin brother that the audience knows nothing about.
(10). Finally....I want to thank the readers of this blog who's numbers seem to be steadily growing. January 2010 is looking to be are biggest month yet as far as new visitors.
And we did it with minimal reference to home shopping hosts, past or present....that's an inside joke, people!
Late Addition! I just corrected numerous typos 10 hours after originally posting this. I'm not nearly as illiterate as some suspect.
This is the third in a three part series about the phenomenon of the motion picture AVATAR. In Part One we looked at audience reactions and comments about the film, and how it has personally affected some viewers. Part Two talked about the mythology of Avatar, defined "myth", and presented (with video and text) some very important concepts about myths and mythology from the late Joseph Campbell
"One thing that comes out of myths is that the bottom of the abyss is the voice of salvation. The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At that darkest moment comes the light"......from The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, page 37.
We left Part Two with Joseph Campbell's thoughts about attending to one's "inner life". Campbell noted that if you don't attend to your inner self, that eventually with age you will, as he put, "be sorry".
But in order to facilitate attention to our inner selves, Campbell also told us we all need an individual and personal "sacred space". Look and listen to this bit of conversation he has with Bill Moyers from the PBS documentary Joseph Campbell; The Power of Myth recorded in the months before his death in 1987.
There is an importance to having a "sacred space" and taking care of our "inner life". When I first saw Avatar I wondered what Joseph Campbell would have thought about this amazing modern mythology. But that question lead to another one- what would Campbell think about life in the 21st century, where we are bombarded with information constantly? The computer age was dawning at the end of Campbell's life. Could he imagine the conflict technology could have with the spiritual in the new century?
I use the term "conflict" because of the technological revolution and the constant stream of information it generates- and too much of the time its nothing more than useless nonsense- our inner lives are relegated to a back burner. The "sacred space" Campbell talked about isn't allowed to exist, and creative incubation and self discovery never takes place.
PC's, blackberries, and cell phones that can do everything but delivery babies. Texting, tweeting, Facebook, and emails all day and all night. And cable news channels that feed you information, some totally useful and some totally garbage, 24/7. You can hear cellphones ringing during plays, movies, and even while religious services are in progress. Where is the time for creative incubation anymore when we live in a society that seems to us to demand we be "on" constantly?
We don't spend nearly enough time taking walks and gathering in the world around us, or simply looking at the shapes of clouds passing overhead as we did as children. How often do we take time to write, or read a novel, or play a musical instrument, paint a picture or take photographs....or even demanding of ourselves some much needed "quiet time"? And I'm as guilty as the next guy....though the exercise of writing in this blog everyday does help me stretch my mental muscles, as well as help to keep me sane.
Before you conclude that I'm anti-technology, guess again. I think what we've done with high tech communications these past two decades has been extraordinary. I love a lot of the gadgetry. And the very fact that you're reading this on Blogger, and that I'm sharing this information on Facebook and Twitter says that I do have some techno-geek tendencies.
But I think it has a time and place, and I fear that all too often some of us have allowed technology to run our lives rather than using it to serve us. Do we really need to share every moment of our lives with a world that can't get enough of us? I don't think so.
While waiting for Avatar at the theater last week a young couple sat right in front of me. No sooner did they get comfortable then the young guy started to check his messages on his phone, and started texting...and texting...and texting...all the way until the time we were prompted to put on our 3D glasses because the movie was about to start. The young man wasn't even going to allow himself the total escapism of a movie- he was being ruled by need to use his devices.
And I wonder- how did the movie resonate with him? Was it just an incredible exercise in special effects.....or did he "get it"?
Just perhaps Avatar has helped to fill that need to touch the mythological that is lacking in the lives of many of the viewers, the ones who don't have that "sacred space" Joseph Campbell talked about, and have filled the void with the outside world.
The ancients had shaman. The modern world has the artist, in particular the filmmaker, who can serve that same function. Joseph Campbell's good friend George Lucas filled the role of shaman with his classic myths, the Star Wars trilogies. And James Cameron has done the same in Avatar.
Additionally, in our multi-cultural society there is always a need for a common mythology. Maybe Avatar serves that purpose as well. The film may bring some viewers "back on the beam", as Joseph Campbell would put it- a little more introspective and in touch with themselves and the world they live in. It is with great irony that so many people were reminded of what it means to "be human" by the Na'vi, seven foot tall blue humanoids from a fictional world.
There are some who cry out that Avatar is "anti-civilization" and "anti-God".
To those who criticize it for its depiction of humans as being "only the destroyers", there were also sympathetic humans in the story. Pandora,in Greek mythology, was a woman who opened up a box that contained the world's troubles, releasing misery on to mankind. But in this reworking of the theme, it is mankind that brings pain and misery to Pandora. The human characters are only an instrument in this metaphor of reflecting pain inward to destroy goodness and innocence.
The Vatican, for one, has frowned on Avatar for its depiction of pantheism, the deities paid homage to by the Na'vi in the film. But consider this- if intelligent life were found on other planets, wouldn't that leave the traditional answers of Judeo-Christian heritage more than just a bit shaken? Its a topic for another column, but Western religion, as we know it, would never quite be the same.
Avatar might have been one of the most spiritual films I've ever seen, not in a dogmatic sense, but its depiction of a Creator that is present in all living things. This movie was truly a mythology for the 21st century.
The next to last scene of Avatar shows the merciful Na'vi sending the defeated "Sky People" back from whence they came. They give the humans a better break than they might have gotten themselves had they been on the losing end.
The closing scene of the film summed up some of the great themes we've found in religion from the dawn of time. Jake gives up his crippled body and becomes one with his Avatar....we have death, followed by the unknown, followed by a rebirth. Not only have we seen this in world religion, but in the great modern mythologies....Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, and Star Trek. Avatar is in their good company.
"At the dark moment comes the light"
Abraham Lincoln once spoke of our "better angels". And just maybe the Na'vi" were the best angels of all.
There are now 125 design decisions of the OHIM Boards of Appeal reported on OHIM's website. An appeal lies to the General Court (as the Court of First Instance is now known after the Lisbon Treaty). Thus far, for designs, however, only 7 of 125 appear to have been appealed - a remarkably low figure (even allowing for some delay in listing appeals on the OHIM site). What is going on? Are parties happy that OHIM has got it right, is CFI procedure intimidating and expensive, or are designs simply not worth the money and the wait?
Here are the "magnificent seven" design appeals listed by OHIM so far:
Appeal Nº: R1001/2005-3 Date: 27/10/06 Application Nº: 74463-0001 RCD: metal rappers Language: EN CFI: T-0009/07
What should we expect of these? CFI statistics show that IP cases (OHIM appeals) now make up a third of its workload. The Court has become pretty acclimatised to trade mark cases, and pursues a similar line to OHIM, so that the reversal rate is low - 12% in 2008. Perhaps low expectations are the real reason for the low design appeal rate.
Alicante News reports another OHIM Board of Appeal case R 1114/2007-3 on functional designs, following their earlier "Chaff cutters" decision in requiring the presence of some feature "chosen for the purpose of enhancing the product’s visual appearance" to avoid rejection as being dictated by technical function. We shall see whether the Court of First Instance follows the same line in the Chaff cutters appeal.
This case is a little unusual on the facts in that the design, RCD No. 273644-0001, is a single, sketchy, line drawing (apparently done freehand with a ruler) showing nothing much over the voluminous cited prior art - with such a minimal design, there was perhaps little prospect of validity, even though by citing so many close prior documents the opponent might otherwise have shot themselves in the foot by showing a "crowded field".
There was also an interesting finding on the "informed user". As the indication of product was directed to "packaging for foodstuffs", the Board found that the informed user was a trade user not an end-consumer:
"The informed user in this case is likely to be a production manager in a company that makes food products that are packaged in pouch-like containers, rather than an ordinary consumer who buys pre-packaged food products. The design represents ‘packaging for foodstuffs’, not finished products for sale to the end user."
I'm going to step back from "all things Avatar" for a few minutes to give my picks for today's AFC and NFC Championship games....I'll return with Part Three of the "Avatar Phenomenon" on Monday.
I'm sure you can hardly wait, with "hardly" being the operative word.
Here we go.....
AFC Championship; New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts; What a long strange trip its been for Gang Green. About a month ago even their own head coach thought they were mathematically eliminated from contention. Then came the game when the Colts pulled their starters after taking a lead over the visiting Jets, and New York stormed back to beat Indy and give them their first loss in a previously undefeated season. The Jets then went on to embarrass the Bengals the next week to earn a place in the playoffs. Some will say the Jets backed into the playoffs, I say it doesn't matter how you got there, just as long as you made it. Then in successive weeks the Jets beat the Bengals and Chargers on the road...when you win back to back road playoff games you've earned your spot at the top of the ticket.
The conventional wisdom is "take the Colts". Its payback time against the team that first tarnished a perfect record. They'll be playing at home and have the greatest quarterback of his generation, Peyton Manning, under center. There's Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark to throw the ball to, there's Dwight Feeney and Robert Mathis to terrorize Jet's qb Mark Sanchez, and the underrated Gary Brackett at middle linebacker.
The Jets have the power running of Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene, and the incomparable Darelle Revis at the corner. Mark Sanchez has a chance to become the first rookie quarterback ever to lead his team to the Super Bowl.
The Colts are the favorite....but I've been riding a different pony this post season. I'm taking the Jets in a squeaker, 24-21. Decided by a field goal. How appropriate.
NFC Championship; Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints The Saints have been in existence for over 40 years and have spent much of that time at the bottom of the pecking order in the NFL. Peyton Manning's dad, Archie, was a great quarterback on some really bad Saints teams in the 1970's. We all know the story of the Vikings...four Super Bowl trips and four losses, but none since getting stomped by the Raiders so long ago John Madden was Oakland's coach.
Minnesota is an interesting story, with Adrian Peterson at running back and Brett Favre at quarterback, having possibly the best year of his career at age 40. But strangely, I can't help but feel that the Vikings are much like the football version of the Florida Marlins in baseball. The Marlins were built to "win now" on two occasions, only to fall back to mediocrity soon afterwords. I just feel that the Vikings are constructed the same way- this is all for the short term, and I'm not sold on them.
The city of New Orleans is having a love affair with quarterback Drew Brees and this Saints team. Reggie Bush seems to becoming the star all thought he would be. Its a home crowd, and 40 plus years of "wait till next year" will be rained down on the visiting Vikings.
Also....its time for some good Karma for the Crescent City, which dealt with so much pain since Katrina. I pick the Saints, 35-21 .
And that's it.
I'll be back with our new guise as "The Official Unofficial Blog of The Big Game".....(note Commissioner Goodall, I didn't infringe on any copyrights or trademarks).....very soon.
Bill Moyers- What happens when a society no longer embraces a powerful mythology? Joseph Campbell- What we've got on our hands. If you want to find out what it means to have a society without any rituals, read THE NEW YORK TIMES......from The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and Bill D. Moyers (1988).*****
James Cameron's film Avatar is an example of a mythology for a modern world that is hungry for it. Cameron created a world with its own unique living creatures and humanoids, its own history, its own language, its own rites of passage, its own religion and deities- its own mythology. We, the audience, our drawn up and in to this world through the use of cinematic 3D wizardry, so much so many of us- myself included- experienced a virtual reality, where computer generated creatures became real and dandelion-like seeds floating in the air seemed to be falling down so close to us that we could touch them. Consciously and subconsciously we became part of the world of the Na'vi, the blue, seven foot tall inhabitants of Pandora, who in the film became more human to us than the "Sky People"-the earth colonists, who looked just like you and me.
I saw Avatar a week after the catastrophic earthquake that all but destroyed Haiti, the same same Tuesday that that Republican Scott Brown took the Senate seat held by Edward M. Kennedy for nearly three generations, and the very day when Chris Christie was sworn in as the Governor of New Jersey. Some people who have seen the film have experienced depression after leaving the idyllic world of Pandora to return to the reality of their own lives. Its as if one were awakened from a pleasant dream to be brought "back to earth" abruptly.
I had a similar reaction after seeing the film, but it was not the blues. Rather, I felt a sense of anger regarding the situation in America, where we have two political parties who have been engaged in trench warfare for nearly 20 years. In my eyes, the Democrats were inept, the Republicans morally and spiritually hypocritical. Furthermore, the audacity and arrogance of the Wall Street crowd I found even more appalling than before, and the pontificating of the Religious Right seemed more mind numbing than ever.
It was as if during the experience of Avatar I was briefly in a better, but not perfect world, one filled with danger....but the priorities of the simple Na'vi were in the right place, and in harmony with nature, with life, and with themselves. And in looking at the reality of our own lives in the real world, I couldn't help but think....."How did we manage to blow it so badly?".
Since seeing the film I've dusted off my books by and about Joseph Campbell (1904-87), the great teacher, mythologist and author. My prevailing thought for days after seeing the film was "What would Joseph Campbell think of Avatar?
Above, Joseph Campbell speaking to Bill Moyers from a segment of the PBS series THE POWER OF MYTH
But before we go any further, we must first define "myth". We commonly think that if something is a myth, it is a lie. But the most accurate definition of a "myth" is that it is a metaphor. Campbell told Bill Moyers in The Power of Myth, a book and PBS documentary from 1988 based on conversations held between 1985-86, the following;
"Myths are clues to the spiritual potentialities of human life"
Take a look at the video below. It was produced during Campbell's lifetime. Here he explains "myth as a metaphor"
Avatar presented a myth that included several classic themes- "The Quest"; "The Romance"; and "Birth, Death, and Rebirth" to a modern audience that needed such a mythology. Myths can address our psychological need to find out answers to complex questions in terms that are understandable. The audience lives in a "real world" that is in economic recession, that is at war, that is threatened by terrorism, is in danger of falling victim to even more severe climate change. In the film the Na'vi were shown as a primitive but wise and spiritual people with a deep connection to nature and to all living things. They live in a harmonious coexistence with their environment with lives full of rites of passage. The chief deity of the Na'vi is a goddess called Eywa- this is consistent with hunter/gathers on earth, because women are central to creation and revered in many primitive societies as the creative force. Neytiri's mother Mo'at is the shaman for their clan, much like the "wise woman" was found central to Native American societies.
The human colonists in Avatar represent "man the destroyer", too often found in the story of the western march of Europeans and those of European ancestry in the age of exploration, and during America's push for "Manifest Destiny" and beyond. To the "Sky People" nature is a hindrance that must be conquered and exploited rather than treated with respect. The Na'vi were also an obstacle to these colonists- they were the "Others", a term author James Bradley used to refer to the non-white people of America and the Far East by "the Aryans" in his recent history The Imperial Cruise. To The Sky People the Na'vi had to be either removed, or they needed to be eradicated.
Some have criticized Cameron for the portrayal of humans as not being very human. There are humans in the film who are sympathetic and descent- most of them in the film are the scientists. But the humans who work for "The Corporation" and their military mercenaries are shown to have only monetary profit as a motivation. These are the direct descendants of those who killed off the buffalo, destroyed the culture of the plains tribes, and waged war on America's Native Peoples in the 19th century. After the plains were made "civilized" America turned its eyes on Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, China, and the Far East....and later still, to the oil producing countries of the Middle East. Again, for more information on this aspect of American history, refer to The Imperial Cruise. The author, James Bradley, also wrote Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys, both histories of World War II.
Joseph Campbell said that myths are clues to human potentiality. If we use the premise that Avatar is a modern mythology that has been financially successful and has affected its viewers on a personal level, the questions are ....."Why and how?"
I'll break a rule and answer a question with a question.
This is exchange between Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell from The Power of Myth, from the beginning of their conversations (pages three and four"..........
Bill Moyers- Why myths? Why should we care about myths? What do myths have to do with my life?
Joseph Campbell......One of our problems today is that well acquainted with the literature of the spirit. We're interested in the news of the day and the problems of the hour. It used to be that a university campus was a kind of hermetically sealed off area where the news of the day did not impinge upon your attention to your inner life and the magnificent human heritage we have in our great tradition- Plato, Confucius, the Buddha, Goethe and others who speak of eternal values have to do with the centering of our lives. When you get to be older, and the concerns of the day have all been attended to, and you have to attend to the inner life- well, if you don't know where it is or what it is, you'll be sorry.
Attending to "the needs of the inner life". In a world where are attention has been diverted by a constant bombardment of information, a film is released that has a mythology that brings people back.....and makes some of the viewers a little more "centered".
Maybe that is behind the underlying reason for the success of Avatar.
...........I'll continue this discussion in PART THREE with some additional thoughts, and I'll try to sum it all up....
Last summer, my wife Melanie met Tammy on the staff message board of their company's website, where she and other employees across the country can exchange ideas and feedback. As a leader for Weight Watchers, Melanie often comes across members and co-workers who have used tattoos for inspiration and to mark milestones.
When talking to Tammy, a leader in Texas, she learned that she was inked, as well. She sent her the link to Tattoosday, and Tammy sent us photos of a few of her eleven tattoos.
We'll let Tammy describe them for us:
"I got my very first [tattoo] when I was 21 in Virginia while getting a tattoo for my younger brother but I didn't get another for several years at which time I had my uncle in Arkansas place a rose under the butterfly I had done first. It is old and faded but holds so much meaning to me as my uncle passed away in his 40s about 5 years ago so I have him with me at all times...I then waited a couple more years and had a dolphin put on my left ankle as a reminder of a trip we had made to Florida. About a year later an apprentice in Shreveport added an ankle wave under the dolphin.
I then took a long break from tattoos and the rest have all been done in the last 5 years here in Wichita Falls, Texas, with the exception of the tribal butterfly [seen below]. I had it done in Lawton, Oklahoma, when my son was getting his rib piece finished up [a subject of a later post].
On my right thigh I have the New York Yankees logo:
On my left shoulder blade my husband and I got kanji symbols for Eternity for our 19th wedding anniversary. I have a tribal butterfly (the only tattoo I have ever picked off a wall) put on the top of my left foot and I love it:
When I hit 50 pounds gone, my oldest son paid for the star that everyone sees in pictures I post:
And a Pisspot with my husbands name [pictured left]. My husband just retired with 26 years in the service and was AMMO-I always wanted this but was never brave enough nor skinny enough for that so called "tramp stamp"... it actually looks awesome although this picture is a little blurry.
And of course when I hit Lifetime [when a Weight Watchers member reaches their goal and maintains it for six weeks], my rib piece came alive:
The photo above is the tattoo right after it was completed. Here is how it healed:
Its been a couple of days since I saw the incredible motion picture Avatar. After experiencing (rather than merely seeing) the movie, one of the first things I've done was to see what others thought of the film, and where this phenomenon is going- because it appears now that Avatar the Film has mutated into Avatar the Cultural Touchstone.
I've decided to break this entry into three parts; my personal thoughts and a look at the film's mythology will follow in a separate columns to be published later.
One of the most intriguing articles I've read online about Avatar was London's Daily Mail Online. The article's title says it all; "The Avatar effect: Movie-goers feel depressed and even suicidal at not being able to visit utopian alien planet". This piece talks at length about people who were so drawn into the magical and mystical world of PANDORA that, either consciously or unconsciously, they became affected in some manner. The use of 3d imagery and IMAX (in certain theaters) brings the viewer into a situation that is much like "virtual reality"; this fantasy world and its storyline appears to be real and the viewer's subconscious recognizes this as being a "part of the action".
Avatar Movie Forum, has several long threads about how personally people were affected by the film. One thread was titled "Really Sad"- the person who initiated the thread said he/she has felt distracted and sad for days since seeing the movie.
There was another thread, "I'm glad I'm not crazy for feeling like I'm the only one".....the person who began the thread talked about sadness since seeing the movie, as if he were drawn into the story and its characters so much so he felt they were real. His wife and his sister-in-law (according to the writer) think that he's crazy. The writer had a sense of relief after he saw there were others who felt the same way. Some of the responders to the thread had an emotional attachment to the computer generated Na'vi, the simple blue hunter-gatherers who were the films protagonists. One or two felt that those affected were "old souls" being reawakened into action via reincarnation. Some felt resentment at being labeled as "loser geeks" by some media types. There is definitely a segment of the forum members who joined up because they were attracted by the support afforded by others who felt as they did.
Another thread, "A Once In a Lifetime Experience", goes back to early in January and has four pages and counting. Most respondents seemed to have partaken of that once in a lifetime experience on multiple occasions- some speak of going to see AVATAR four of five times. Just about all are in agreement that AVATAR was something unique and among the best, if not the best, motion pictures they have ever seen.
Some comments I found very intriguing were in the the thread Can anyone get it out of your head this movie makes me feel weird. This writer found more of a connection with earth than he had previous to viewing the film, and feels that seeing AVATAR was a life changing experience. Those who have responded seem to concur.
Avatar Blog is another community site with some interesting topics as well. One of the topics that caught my eye was The Cure For The Avatar Blues. The piece talks about a CNN Entertainment report of people feeling depressed after seeing the film. Writer-director James Cameron has the perfect cure for all who are suffering the Avatar Blues"
"Take a walk in the woods, reacquaint with the nature we have right here".
Ask ten different people why they think Avatar has affected people the way it has and you'll likely get ten different answers. I have a personal opinion about it, I may be wrong, I may be right. But I think the underlying reason for the Avatar phenomenon is because it addresses something we tend to neglect in our lives....a matter of our spirit. Not in a dogmatic religious sense, but Avatar quells our need to reconnect not only with nature, but with our own inner selves.
I'll talk about this more in Part Two of this piece.
12:10 PM. Rather than wander in search of ink, I am trying something else. Staying put, here in front of the Amtrak Departures board in Penn Station, and seeing what walks to me.
I have only successfully met 2 of the inked nation in the last 27 days, and I'd like to resume posting more regularly.
I figure, sooner or later, this wintry drought will end.
12:20 A woman walks by with two interlinking gray hearts behind her right ear. I hesitate and decide not to approach her as she walks by. The tattoo didn't speak to me.
12:35 Still nothing. 5 minutes left in my little experiment.
In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court voted today to let unions and big business spend directly to political campaigns. Conservative associate justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas ruled in favor, along with Chief Justice John Roberts, while John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotamayor dissented.
The ruling questions the intent of the the Tillman Act of 1907, in which corporations were barred from contributing directly to federal candidates.
Some voices regarding the ruling....
"The court's ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions around the nation."- Justice John Paul Stevens.
"It's going to be the Wild Wild West. If corporations and unions can give unlimited amounts ... it means that the public debate is significantly changed with a lot more voices and it means that the loudest voices are going to be corporations and unions."....Ben Ginsburg, a Republican lawyer who has represented several Republican campaigns.
If you thought political advertising was out of control already, stick around....its going to get more intense. This ruling could open the door to special interests having point men in Congress working directly for them, for all intents and purposes, it would be perfectly legal.
No more statesmen, but an empowered group of legal bagmen.
If you thought the upset win of Scott Brown was monumental, it pales in comparison to this ruling. Indeed, a sad day for America.
Yesterday it became abundantly clear very early- Scott Brown, darling of the Tea Party set, would win the special election for the US Senate seat once held by the late Teddy Kennedy. The little known Massachusetts state senator defeated favorite Martha Coakley, the Democratic attorney general of the Commonwealth.
The prospect of Kennedy's Senate seat going to a man who's election would probably-and ironically- end any hope of meaningful healthcare reform was a cruel twist of fate. Healthcare reform was Kennedy's baby....and the election of Brown would give 41 Senate seats to the Republicans, giving them the ability to filibuster any legislation that the right wished to, including healthcare reform.
Attorney General Coakley might have run the worst campaign in the history of Massachusetts politics- she had a double digit lead at Christmas, and lost the election 52 to 47 percent three weeks later.
Yesterday I was upset at this probable outcome- so much so I decided not to aggravate myself, and went to see AVATAR rather than watch the returns and the bellowing of the triumphant GOP gasbags. Its ironic that members of the same party that once denounced former Palin- almost-son-in-law Levi Johnston for posing nude in Playgirl- Sarah Palin called it "pornography"- are now welcoming Brown, who posed nude in Cosmopolitan in 1982, as a new GOP superstar.
Its not about legislation or statesmanship anymore. It's about wins and losses, and trench warfare between the two major parties. This struggle between the parties became a bloodsport in the early 1990's, much more so than at any time in our history. What this has devolved into is governmental inertia- inefficient and broken, with members of the two major political parties forever blaming the other for the nations ills.
On one side we have the Republicans, dominated by "ends justify the means" NeoCons, and their allies, the Bible thumping TheoCons. And in the other corner we have the Democrats, of whom, as Bill Moyers said on Real Time With Bill Maher, need to get a spine.
I'm not as angry with the GOP as I am with the Democrats. They had a 60-40 majority in the Senate. They had the momentum and the hammer. They had a majority in The House. And they had a President who still maintains a reasonable amount of popularity. But Democrats being Democrats, they found bigger and better ways to shoot off their own toes. Ted Kennedy's body laid to rest less than five months ago, and the unthinkable happened.
Brown may surprise us and become a voice of moderation. But I wouldn't bet on it, because the Republican Party, with its suggestions of "purity tests", has become more sectarian and parochial than the most stringent of principalities of pre Reformation Europe.
Governor Chris Christie,Rep-NJ
Meanwhile the fun and games began for real in New Jersey where Republican Chris Christie was sworn in as the new governor. The self appointed biggest Bruce Springsteen fan in the state couldn't get The Boss to play at Christie's "Inaugural Cocktail Party", leading some Republicans to chide Springsteen for his progressive politics. You know, the "just shut up and sing" stuff. They're the same people that seem to forget that the Red States and country music are "perfect together", and for Nashvile to even lean slightly to the left would be seen as an act against God and country. Just ask Natalie Maines and the Dixie Chicks how criticizing a Republican president worked out for them.
Governor Christie marched into his office today, sporting what appeared to be an American flag tie. I guess American flag pins are so last decade. He then signed eight executive orders that he says will make New Jersey more business friendly.
All I can say is, he wanted this job, now he owns it. Its not like being a federal prosecutor.
Yesterday I wrote that rather than sit home and watch a political debacle unfold in Massachusetts I'd go to the movies to try to escape from the news for a few hours. Actually, the time was ripe for me to see if all of the hype involving James Cameron's film Avatar was deserved. For weeks all we've heard was how amazing it was, what a benchmark the in filmmaking AVATAR is, and above all...how much money it was earning worldwide.
So I decided to check it out. I opted on the 3-D version at my local multiplex. I paid what I initially thought was an outrageous sum of $13.50 for a ticket, plus anther nine bucks for a Reese's pieces and a small coke. I sat there with the small Tuesday night audience watching the endless commercials, and then the trailers for the upcoming summer movies. At the appointed time we were told to put on our 3-D glasses.And within only a few minutes all my reservations were tossed out the window.
I was seeing something special....amazing....groundbreaking.
In a word....wondrous.
Avatar is more than a film- its an experience. The viewer is dazzled by its special effects, where they are transported 150 years into the future to Pandora, a moon of the planet Polyphemus in the Alpha Centauri star system. This is world being colonized by corporations from Earth- in particular, the United States- because of its abundance of the mineral unobtanium, which is used as a fuel on Earth. Pandora is inhabited by primitive hunter-gatherer humanoids called the Na'vi. They are a tall race with bluish skin and feline features. To these people, all of nature is sacred and they value the interconnection between all living creatures and their mother deity called Eywa.
Predictably there is a collision course between the Earth colonists, called the "Sky People", and the Na'vi. The Avatars are a biological mutation taken from the DNA of the humans and the Na'vi. They are controlled by genetically matched human "operators" in a controlled environment. Jake Sully, a wheelchair bound ex Marine goes to Pandora to control the avatar meant for his deceased twin brother. Jake's avatar goes out on a mission with those of scientists Grace Augustine and Norm Spellman. The Jake avatar becomes separated from the other two. He enters an amazing world of wolflike beasts, lemur-ish creatures, armored giants that resemble rhinos on steroids, and plant life that is...literally...out of this world. Jake meets Neytiri, the princess of a group of Na'vi. He is introduced into the world of the Na'vi and their beliefs. He grows to love Neytiri and her clan, but soon finds himself in conflict with his new life and that of his own real race; the human colonists aim to remove the Na'vi, either by resettling them, or failing that, to kill them.
More on the cast and plot can be found at the avatar Official Website, and Wikipedia does a fair job giving more information and background. I was originally going to add a theatrical trailer to this post, but even those on YouTube are in a wide screen format and would be chopped off in the blog's margins. To see an extended HD trailer for the film click here.
The Na'vi and the Na'vi avatrs were portrayed using performance capture by actors Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, Wes Studi, and CCH Pounder among others. One of the ironies for the viewer was that these computer generated images become more human than most of the human characters in the film. We root for these primitives in their struggle against the earth colonists, led by the evil Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the head of security and possibly the most villainous screen presence since Darth Vadar or Hannibal Lector.
About an hour into the film I realized my jaw had dropped, probably from the start of the picture; also, the bag of Reese's Pieces I was clutching in my right hand had long since melted, and the Coke in the holder on my left was flat because the ice had melted in it. I was into the film so much that I felt like I was drawn into this miraculous, otherworldly 3D universe. The characters were compelling, the theme familiar- there is the obvious comparison to Kevin Costner's DANCES WITH WOLVES. It is a story of the noble primitives who are more in tune with- and have a greater appreciation for- the sanctity of life than those who have come to "civilize them".
James Cameron's film came with a created mythology, customs, rites, and language for the Na'vi. In this way the film was similar to STAR WARS, STAR TREK, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS epics of fantasy. The blue Na'vi are said to be a homage to Hindu deities.
In my spare time I've been reading The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley. In the book Bradley explores American foreign policy in the Far East at the turn of the 20th Century. A little known chapter of our history involves American occupation of the Philippines in the early 1900's, right after the United States seized them from Spain in the Spanish-American War. An insurrection occurred, and as many as 20,000 Philippine freedom fighters were killed, as well as up to 300,000 civilians. They were the victims of US troops, some of whom executed all males in a village over the age of ten to insure they wouldn't raise arms against American forces. I couldn't help but think about the book as I was watching AVATAR- it was as if James Cameron turned into a modern Nostradamus, looking into his pool of water and seeing a possible tragedy in a world far away in the distant future.
And I also thought about the late Joseph Campbell, the great mythologist who's best known work was THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES. Late in his life Campbell became a close friend of George Lucas, and Campbell often used STAR WARS as an example of modern mythology presenting classic themes for a contemporary audience. Campbell would have been astonished by this epic film; he often said that the artist- in this case the filmmaker- is the modern equivalent of the primitive shaman, the interpreter of mythology. "Mythology" is not a false belief, but a universal truth told in the guise of a story.
In AVATAR, James Cameron has taken his place in a modern pantheon of contemporary mythologists- this is an epic tale that will only grow in stature in time.
It is also ironic that so much technology was used to tell a story about the beauty and interconnection of all living things. And when presented with the choice of going on my computer to write this entry or taking a long walk on a mild day in January I chose the former.
But I will go outside and take a few deep, cleansing breaths when I finish.
We learn from the excellent IP NEWS published by Linda Liu & Partners that the Chinese Supreme Court has published new interpretation of the scope of patents, designs and utility models. These took effect on 1st January 2010. Articles 9 to 11 are particularly relevant to designs. A Chinese version is here. We reproduce below, with thanks, the translations by Linda Liu & Partners, noting that those parts amended since the consultation document in June 2009 are underlined. From a European point of view, we note the "overall impression test", but also the significance of the written description of the design in defining its "essential features".
Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law to the Trial of Patent Right Disputes (translation by Vera WEI of Linda Liu & Partners)
Article 9 The People’s Court should determine “the scope of protection afforded by a design patent” prescribed in Article 59.2 of the Chinese Patent Act with reference to an identical or similar design with the patented design used on the identical or similar categories of product as the design patent product. Where the categories of products are identical or similar but the allegedly infringing design is not identical or similar to the patented design, or where the allegedly infringing design is identical or similar to the patented design while the categories of products are not identical or similar, the People’s Court should hold that the allegedly infringing design does not fall into the protection scope of the design patent.
Article 10 Products within the same category referred to in Article 9 of this judicial interpretation means products for the same use; products within similar categories means products for similar uses. The People’s Court can determine the use of a product by referring to the International Classification of Designs, the name and function of the product described in the brief description, and other factors such as sale and actual use of the product.
Article 11 The People’s Court should determine whether designs are the same or similar based on the perceptions of the relevant public to the product of the design. “Relevant public” referred to in the preceding paragraph means one who has basic knowledge about the conditions under which the patented design was created and is able to distinguish the divergences in shape, pattern, and color amongst different designs but who will not pay special attention to minor differences in the shape, pattern, and color of designs.
Article 12 The People’s Court should determine whether designs are the same or similar by considering the overall visual effect of designs and all the design features within scope of protection afforded by the design patent. However, the only one design feature that can achieve the technical effect of the product and those features that cannot affect the overall visual effect, such as the material and internal structures, shall not be taken into consideration. Where the allegedly infringing design and the patented design are so similar that it can confuse the relevant public, the People’s Court shall hold the allegedly infringing design is similar to the patented design. Where the allegedly infringing design does not contain the essential features of the patented design, it should be assumed that the allegedly infringing design will not cause confusion to the relevant public with regard to its overall visual effect. The essential features of a design referred to in the preceding paragraph means the features of a patented design that causes a prominent visual effect in the relevant public when compared with existing designs. The People’s Court can identify the essential feature by referring to the brief description.
Speaking this afternoon at the CLT Annual Intellectual Property conference, Class 99 founder David Musker gave a round-up of recent design law developments in the UK -- and a bit beyond -- over the past year. In the course of doing so, he revisited the European Court of Justice decision in Case C-299/99 Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV v Remington Consumer Products Ltd, contrasting the exclusion from registration of trade marks consist of shapes that obtain a technical result with the exclusion of designs from protection on the basis of the much-debated "form-follows-function" formula, contrasting it with "form-is-functional-but-could-have-been-different". 
We hear that Norway may soon join the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement. Norway's accession means that all the EEA countries (the EU, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Lichtenstein) are members of Hague - if and when it happens, it starts to add up to a sensible reason for using the Hague route to cover "greater Europe" and the European borders.
[pictured left]. My husband just retired with 26 years in the service and was AMMO-I always wanted this but was never brave enough nor skinny enough for that so called "tramp stamp"... it actually looks awesome although this picture is a little blurry.
