The Writer's Life 10/29 - Art & Money

I came across the following a few days ago. It's too interesting to let fade. A painting done by artificial intelligence recently sold at auction at Christie's for $432,500. The AI used algorithms and drew on a cache of 15,000 portraits in the period from the 14th to the 20th century to create Portrait of Edmond de Bellamy. A 17-year-old West Virginia boy created the code that made it all possible. He generously uploaded it to a sharing platform so others could learn from it. The money went to an art collective based in Paris. I hope they gave the kid a cut. As for me, I wouldn't have bid a dollar for it, but, as is often said, the market is always right. The rest of us have the option not to buy, so it's all good. Here's the work:

In the next to the last chapter of the novel I will self-publish in January, the protagonist runs in the 1980 NYC Marathon. I did it in 1978. Last year a Fenchman ran in the event and wrote a book about his experiences. It has been translated into English. Here's the cover of My New York Marathon by Sebastien Samson, a teacher:

The Fast Takes column in today's NY Post reports this troubling though unsurprising stat: In 2016 judgments and settlements topped $429 billion in the USA, by far the most on the planet, 150% more than the Euro-Zone paid out.

My thanks to Cabbie, who bought The Quickie by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge, and to the woman who purchased How to Succeed with Women by Ron Louis and David Copeland, which is erroneously listed as non-fiction. My thanks also to the two women who donated three books in Russian, and to Herbie, who donated a thick work of non-fiction for which the display had no room until the woman took the aforementioned book, which she got for her shy younger son.

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