The unimportant news thread

[T. D.]

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/24/bob-dylan-sells-recorded-music-catalog-to-sony-music-entertainment.html

Sony Music Entertainment has acquired the entire recorded music catalog of Bob Dylan, the company announced Monday.

"Columbia Records and Rob Stringer have been nothing but good to me for many, many years and a whole lot of records," Dylan said in a statement. "I'm glad that all my recordings can stay where they belong."

The deal includes all of the famed singer's previous albums dating back to 1962 as well as the rights to multiple future releases. The deal closed in July 2021 and is estimated to be worth between $150 million and $200 million, according to Variety.

[MusicTurner]

Due to his wealth & overall work list, got interested in Dylan's lifestyle; there are photos from a Harlem home he sold recently, and actually it's rather disappointingly bland and conservative, with traits of the ~moderately palatial:

https://www.elledecor.com/celebrity-style/celebrity-homes/a9084132/bob-dylan-house/

[Karl Henning]

MFA to return stolen 17th-century painting to heirs of Jewish collector

By Malcolm Gay Globe Staff, Updated January 24, 2022, 3:23 p.m.

The Museum of Fine Arts has agreed to return a 17th century Dutch painting to the heirs of a Jewish collector, resolving longstanding concerns over the artwork's spotty ownership history.

The agreement restores ownership of the looted painting to the heirs of Ferenc Chorin, a Hungarian industrialist who placed the artwork in a bank vault before fleeing Hungary during World War II.

Chorin's heirs intend to auction the painting this April in New York at Christie's Old Masters sale, where it is expected to fetch between $500,000 and $700,000. The painting, titled "View of Beverwijk" (1646) by Salomon van Ruysdael, depicts a rural scene on the outskirts of Beverwijk, north of Haarlem in the Netherlands. It went on public view over the weekend.

"I am so pleased that we were able to quickly come to a resolution, leading to the return of the painting to its rightful owners," said MFA director Matthew Teitelbaum. "As a museum, we will continue to do our part to determine the rightful ownership of objects we hold in trust."

The agreement, which comes amid mounting pressure on museums to return stolen objects, is one of numerous claims the MFA has resolved in recent years. In 2017, the museum paid to retain a group of porcelain figurines sold amid Nazi persecution in 1937, and in 2014 it repatriated a group of looted Nigerian artifacts.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Due to his wealth & overall work list, got interested in Dylan's lifestyle; there are photos from a Harlem home he sold recently, and actually it's rather disappointingly bland and conservative, with traits of the ~moderately palatial:

https://www.elledecor.com/celebrity-style/celebrity-homes/a9084132/bob-dylan-house/

I wonder how much of that was staging?  And dang, no photos of his stereo setup/music room?!

PD

[MusicTurner]

I wonder how much of that was staging?  And dang, no photos of his stereo setup/music room?!

PD

Of course, there's probably been some priorities and cleaning out, but still, some overall impressions remain ...

[T. D.]

Of course, there's probably been some priorities and cleaning out, but still, some overall impressions remain ...

Thanks, very interesting!
I had no idea Dylan resided in Harlem (granted, Striver's Row was even then a rather genteel enclave therein  ).

The photos were all taken from the CURRENT OWNER'S real estate listing (credited to Barbara Corcoran's real estate brokerage), nothing to do with how Dylan decorated the place. Dylan sold it to them way back in 2000.

[MusicTurner]

Thanks, sorry, I missed that detail, so it's uncertain how much of the interior decoration was left by Dylan, and obviously none of the furniture. So maybe his taste is less conventional.

[Karl Henning]

Thanks, very interesting!
I had no idea Dylan resided in Harlem (granted, Striver's Row was even then a rather genteel enclave therein  ).

The photos were all taken from the CURRENT OWNER'S real estate listing (credited to Barbara Corcoran's real estate brokerage), nothing to do with how Dylan decorated the place. Dylan sold it to them way back in 2000.

Ah, illuming!

[T. D.]

I took some time to carefully read the story, because I always got the impression Dylan was extremely private and couldn't imagine him having a residence profiled in a magazine (which generally requires retaining a PR agent to engineer).

Doesn't look like the owner (seller) is playing the Dylan card at all in her 2017 listing (and Dylan sold in 2000). So I'll attribute the decor, layout, modifications to the owner rather than Bob.

I saw "elledecor.com" and thought the site might have been connected with Elle magazine. But it appears to be a non-entity that cribs photos of "celebrity residences" from real estate listings. Not too impressive.

[SimonNZ]

I've always heard Malibu as Dylan's main residence

[Pohjolas Daughter]

MFA to return stolen 17th-century painting to heirs of Jewish collector

By Malcolm Gay Globe Staff, Updated January 24, 2022, 3:23 p.m.

The Museum of Fine Arts has agreed to return a 17th century Dutch painting to the heirs of a Jewish collector, resolving longstanding concerns over the artwork's spotty ownership history.

The agreement restores ownership of the looted painting to the heirs of Ferenc Chorin, a Hungarian industrialist who placed the artwork in a bank vault before fleeing Hungary during World War II.

Chorin's heirs intend to auction the painting this April in New York at Christie's Old Masters sale, where it is expected to fetch between $500,000 and $700,000. The painting, titled "View of Beverwijk" (1646) by Salomon van Ruysdael, depicts a rural scene on the outskirts of Beverwijk, north of Haarlem in the Netherlands. It went on public view over the weekend.

"I am so pleased that we were able to quickly come to a resolution, leading to the return of the painting to its rightful owners," said MFA director Matthew Teitelbaum. "As a museum, we will continue to do our part to determine the rightful ownership of objects we hold in trust."

The agreement, which comes amid mounting pressure on museums to return stolen objects, is one of numerous claims the MFA has resolved in recent years. In 2017, the museum paid to retain a group of porcelain figurines sold amid Nazi persecution in 1937, and in 2014 it repatriated a group of looted Nigerian artifacts.

Sorry that I had missed this story earlier.  I'm glad that the heirs were able to get the painting back.

PD

[Spotted Horses]

On my facebook wall I kept seeing posts by "Anne Sophie Mutter" followed by replies by "Anne-Sophie Mutter" saying that "Anne Sophie Mutter" is a fake account. (Notice the account claimed to be fake didn't have the hyphen in "Anne-Sophie".) Now I see comments from "Anne-Sophie Mutter" that posts by "Anne-Sophie Mutter" are fake, and both names link to the same facebook account? Is Anne-Sohpie Mutter claiming her own account is fake? Did Facebook merge the accounts? I don't care! All I want is for both of them to disappear from my facebook feed!

[Pohjolas Daughter]

On my facebook wall I kept seeing posts by "Anne Sophie Mutter" followed by comments by "Anne-Sophie Mutter" saying that "Anne Sophie Mutter" is a fake account. (Notice the account claimed to be fake didn't have the hyphen in "Anne-Sophie".) Now I see comments from "Anne-Sophie Mutter" that posts by "Anne-Sophie Mutter" are fake, and both names link to the same facebook account? Is Anne-Sohpie Mutter claiming her own account is fake? Did Facebook merge the accounts? I don't care! All I want is for both of them to disappear from my facebook feed!

Bizarre! 

PD

[Spotted Horses]

Bizarre! 

PD

I discovered I was following Anne-Sophie Mutter (but not Anne Sophie Mutter, apparently). I unfollowed, problem solved!

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I discovered I was following Anne-Sophie Mutter (but not Anne Sophie Mutter, apparently). I unfollowed, problem solved!

Ah, mystery solved!

[MusicTurner]

Yes, I noticed it too a while ago (FB will provide you with info about such profiles, if you've shown interest in classical music). The real ASM is the Anne-Sophie Mutter, the one with the 'V' in a blue circle ...

There are many examples of fans creating FB pages allegedly belonging to famous artists, and it's not always obvious what is going on. FB is apparently very tolerant in many cases.

[Todd]

A woman claimed she was virtually groped by a gang of male avatars in Meta's metaverse, report says

Something similar from a purportedly more serious source:

The Metaverse's Dark Side: Here Come Harassment and Assaults

Words have lost all meaning.

[greg]

I didn't read the articles... but from the titles, are they unaware of VR Chat? It's been out for years. I'm sure that happens all the time, this wouldn't be anything new.
Probably they are unaware of it because it would be considered too lowbrow and not connected to any massive corporation, so none of their concern.

Once haptic suits are a thing, I can see the legal aspect of such games being more complicated. At that point, if you put the suit on, you'll just have to accept that anyone, male or female, will be groping your regardless.

[drogulus]

     U.S. Exposes What It Says Is Russian Effort to Fabricate Pretext for Invasion

     Also, this:

     https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtoeKH7BQdzEAClIZoH6vdw/about

     The account started up in mid December. I was surprised to learn a US nuclear sub blew up off the coast of China. Also "20 minutes ago! America openly surrendered Ukraine to Russia- Zelensky's fate was decided that night!"

[Todd]

Meta forced to add 'personal boundaries' to the metaverse after woman was sexually harassed in virtual reality