Two reports from NPR (my weekends are very dull you know) which I heard; the first concerns the rash of movies this year from the so-called "sword and sandal" genre. They look back at the classics of the genre (Ben Hur and Spartacus) and have some fun with the not-so-classics (Son of Hercules). If you listen to the report or read the transcript, they also discuss a movie not mentioned in the write up, Agora, with Rachel Weisz.
The second, asks the provocative question: "Were Botticelli's Venus and Mars Stoned?" 'Nuff said really. I'm curious though, what do some of you think about the evidence Bellingham presents?
Although Bellingham claims that he was just trying to prove the point that art can be viewed many different ways, it doesn't seem unlikely that Botticelli's use of drugs in the painting was unintentional. It seems (though I'm not totally sure) that drugs have only really been demonized in the modern age. In the past, shamans, oracle, and other religious figures would use them to connect to their gods and recieve visions. So it seems likely that the gods would have access to the same substances.
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