“The things that we love
tell us what we are.”
Saint Thomas

My New Year’s resolution is to do more. More bad work is better than no excellent work. 

Today that work is: a photograph of my partner, a photograph of my father, this website in a form that will last a day or two, and a thought.


I was out to dinner, at a holiday party, pictured above, and someone brought up Pinocchio,then someone else brought up Pinocchio, then another person brought up Pinocchio.

I wondered aloud:

what in the zeitgeist is calling for stories about a wooden boy brought to life? Is social media making us feel like marionettes of the algorithm? Is it just further evidence of audiences seeking comfort in the nostalgic familiar as the world grows increasingly chaotic? 

Pinocchio has entered the public domain,
explained my clever friend. 

There’s a term for that, I think. 
Though, with a bit of research I’ve learned that the trademark for the story has been in the public domain since 1960, and the film rights, owned by Disney, are not in the public domain until 2035. 
Not the simplest or most complete answer, but definitely the most boring. 

I don’t know,
I don’t really care.
Mostly it just makes me feel a bit forlorn that it wasn’t something more interesting than intellectual property law.