Watch Elton John’s Concert Tonight

Posted on January 26, 2013 at 3:11 pm

Nothing like this has ever been attempted before!  Tonight, when Elton John plays on a Yamaha Disklavier piano, every touch of his fingers will be replicated at other Disklaviers around the world, and you can watch.

His actual piano keystrokes are then faithfully recreated, note for note, in real time on each of the remote instruments, while the entire orchestra is seen and heard on adjacent monitors, in perfect sync with the remote piano performances.

The whole concert will be broadcast life starting at 8:00 PM (PST), featuring a blockbuster line-up of music industry stars.  Joining the “Rocket Man” onstage will be Amy Grant, Chaka Khan, Dave Grusin, Earth, Wind & Fire, David Foster, Dave Koz, James Newton Howard, LEOGUN, Landon Pigg, Lucy Schwartz, Michael McDonald, Sarah McLachlan, Sinbad and Toto. Legendary bass player Nathan East will serve as music director. Elton John will take the stage approximately 10:25 PM (PST).

Check here for more information about how to watch.

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Music

J.J. Abrams to Direct the new Star Wars

Posted on January 25, 2013 at 10:10 am

I am delighted with the news that J.J. Abrams will direct the new Disney-produced “Star Wars” movie.  The man behind the “Lost,” “Fringe,” “Felicity,” and “Alias” television series has shown himself to be adept at being true to established franchises while revitalizing them with his films “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” and “Star Trek.”  A perfect choice!  Can’t wait to see where he takes the series.

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Directors

If Bilbo Had a Lawyer….

Posted on January 25, 2013 at 8:00 am

James Daily writes intensive, witty, and very astute analyses of the legal issues raised in feature films.  I love his piece on the 5-foot long  contract between Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves in “The Hobbit.”  Here’s a sample on the very important legal principle of “consideration” (which means that there has to be some sort of exchange).

Here, Bilbo is promising to go with the Company to the Lonely Mountain and performing various services there, including extracting the treasure, plus a few more services we’ll get to later. In turn, as we shall see, the Company promises to pay Bilbo one fourteenth of the profits, plus a few other obligations. Thus we have “a promise for a promise,” otherwise known as a bilateral contract.

There are some other details to notice in these clauses. One is the use of defined terms (e.g. “referred to hereinafter as Burglar”). The parties to a contract may define terms however they wish, even in ways that contradict the definition used in statutes or regulations.

This is important in this case because of the use of the defined term “Burglar.”  Contracts to do something illegal are ordinarily unenforceable (e.g. collecting on an illegal gambling debt). But here what matters is not that the parties used the word ‘burglar’ but rather what sort of meaning they assigned to that defined term. As we shall see, the contract doesn’t require Bilbo to do anything illegal (or at least not obviously illegal), and so the contract will probably not fail for use of a questionable term.

And then there are the liability waivers, the non-disclosure agreement, and the provision for binding arbitration!  The write-up on the tax consequences of Clark Kent’s decision to leave The Daily Planet to be a blogger is pretty good, too!

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