Feeling Slightly Guilty

I think that it's interesting that just a couple of weeks after I posted the entry about Steven Spielberg and Norman Rockwell it comes out in the news that Steven Spielberg has been housing a stolen Norman Rockwell painting! (Sorry, I've been meaning to post this for a while. It's sort of old news.)

First, I feel badly that it means that Spielberg purchased a stolen painting. Now, it's been a few years since I took a class on contract law, but if I recall correctly, he just gets to give the painting back, which means that the money he spent on the painting in the first place is gone. And now he has nothing.

Second, I technically posted some of his art (both of their art) on my blog, even though I found it elsewhere on the internet. Is that bad? Should I take them down? Should I follow his good example of turning in stolen artwork and delete it off of my blog? Kudos to Spielberg for turning it in. You have my respect, sir.

Third, I hope that the fact that Steven Spielberg previously owned this stolen piece of art increases the value of the painting.

Fourth, I also hope that he creates a homage to the "Russian Schoolroom" in an upcoming film. Perhaps Indiana Jones IV? Could they be in Russia for that one? Are you listening, Steven Spielberg?

Just to update from the last post, I did purchase my Norman Rockwell book. I decided to get this one because it was compiled by Tom Rockwell (son of Norman), who you may remember from such delightful books as "How to Eat Fried Worms" and "How to Fight a Girl."

Also, I neglected to link from the comments on the last blog. You may have noticed some comments regarding a dog chewing on someone's foot. That was all about a storytelling contest that was hosted by Compulsive Writer, who entertains me from time to time with her writing. I was browsing her blog one night at about quarter to midnight, when I came upon the contest. We were challenged 1. to write prose about how young lovers ended up as you will see on her blog and 2. to come up with a better parting than the "Romeo and Juliet", Thus with a kiss I die. I thought to myself, I can hurry and enter! I didn't win, but you can read my submission here. I wrote it in a few minutes, and I severely borrowed from Shakespeare's Sonnet 116. If you're familiar with the sonnet, it might be funnier. You can either read all of the entries or skip down to mine. It's called "Writing Sonnet 116 Over Again."

Spielberg and Rockwell

Happy Valentine's Day! Don't have a valentine? Consider me your valentine. I choo-choo-choose you!

This post doesn't actually have that much to do with Valentine's Day. I guess I can make a tie to it, though. I usually have a famous person "crush." Well, back in the 90's, one of my crushes was Christian Bale. That is your Valentine's Day reference. You'll see how this ties into my post later.

I can't even remember what brought up the discussion, but my coworker and I were somehow discussing Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms paintings. We were talking about how Steven Spielberg sometimes creates homages to his paintings in his films and how "Empire of the Sun" (the tie-in: starring Christian Bale) has a scene like Rockwell's "Freedom from Fear."

I watched the movie last night, and I decided to post the two. I also accidentally rented an R-rated movie and didn't realize it until the string of f#$&*! and nudity. Yikes!

Norman Rockwell: Freedom from Fear
Artwork from artchive.com

Here is a shot of from "Empire of the Sun."

Photo courtesy of aiming my camera at my computer, which was playing the movie.

PS Google, I love how you change your logo, depending on the holiday or whatnot, but... did you forget the "L?"