12 Established 1961 Lifestyle Features Thursday, July 29, 2021

t a serene zen garden in a Tokyo gleaned from clips of the athletes in park, abstract lines inspired by the action is used to “form or make lines” Amovements of Olympic athletes that mirror the movement of their limb are carefully traced in the gravel-not by joints, said the team’s creative technolo- monks, but by robots. The newly gist Joel Luther-Braun. installed artwork, titled “The Constant A 25-year-old Tokyo resident who Gardeners”, features four large industrial stopped by to see the artwork said he robotic arms that work together to sculpt was intrigued by the robots’ “human-like” a traditional Japanese rock garden. Their movements, unlike regular machines drawings are generated by a bespoke AI designed to work at high speed. “I don’t computer program that analyses video get bored by looking at them. They look footage from past Olympic Games, track- almost human and I find them cute,” ing the position of athletes’ limbs to cre- Masato Ito told AFP. Bruges said he was A large-scale outdoor robotic art installation ate unique designs. surprised that people who came to see inspired by the Olympic and Paralympic Games “They’re acting as performers to cre- the installation wanted to know the “The Constant Gardeners” by Jason Bruges is ate this cultural intervention next to the robots’ names. “It’s fantastic being in the seen making the patterns referring to the backdrop of the Games,” the installa- culture where there’s a lot of exposure to movement of the Olympic flame torch runners, tion’s creator, British artist Jason Bruges, technology,” he said. “There’s definitely a at Ueno park of Tokyo. told AFP. The robotic “gardeners”, each culture (that means) people here are about two meters (6.6 foot) tall, have poned Tokyo 2020 Olympics and attaching human characteristics to these been given a new lease on life in Tokyo’s Paralympics, which end on September 5. machines,” he said, adding that there Ueno Park following 10 years of use by a Bruges said he wants to make people may be an opportunity for viewers to car manufacturer. look at technology in different ways and name the robots.— AFP A man takes pictures of the robotic art installation inspired by the Olympic and Paralympic Games They will create around 150 different was “inspired by the athletes preparing “The Constant Gardeners” by Jason Bruges at Ueno park of Tokyo, as part of “Tokyo Tokyo FESTI- illustrations throughout the virus-post- for and taking part in the Games”. Data VAL Special 13”. — AFP photos

immediately clear whether the “Gilgamesh Dream Tablet” would be among the 17,000 US returns to Iraq pieces to be returned this week. The rare fragment, which recounts a dream sequence from the epic in Akkadian treasure trove cuneiform script, is one of many ancient artifacts from the Middle East collected by David Green, the billionaire owner of the of antiquities: Hobby Lobby chain of arts and crafts stores. Baghdad It was seized by the US Justice In this file photo actor Bob Odenkirk attends Department in 2019, two years after Green The Disaster Artist Centerpiece Gala opened the museum dedicated to ancient Presentation during AFI Film Festival in he United States will return to Iraq Christian history in downtown Washington. Hollywood, California. — AFP some 17,000 archaeological treas- The tablet was just one of thousands of Tures dating back 4,000 years and Iraqi-origin artifacts, mostly 3,000- to looted in recent decades, an “unprecedent- 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets and Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch team escort Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra seals, that have been seized from Hobby (left) for allegedly producing and broadcasting pornographic films online, in Mumbai. — AFP ed” restitution, the culture minister in Baghdad said yesterday. Iraqi Prime Lobby and the Bible Museum for repatria- Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhemi was set to tion to Iraq. securing a foothold in the Hindi film The Justice Department said they were industry. take back the artifacts from ancient India court denies Mesopotamia on his aircraft, when he plundered in Iraq, and traded illegally by US-based YouTube and TikTok influ- dealers in Israel and the United Arab encer Puneet Kaur said the business- returns today from Washington where he Emirates. According to the Justice ctor Bob Odenkirk was rushed to bail to Bollywood man contacted her on Instagram this met US President Joe Biden. “This is the Department, Hobby Lobby bought the six- hospital after collapsing on the set year asking her to enter a contest on largest return of antiquities to Iraq,” said by-five-inch (15.2 by 12.7 centimeter) of popular television drama star’s husband Hotshots. “This man was really luring Iraqi Culture Minister Hassan Nazim, hail- A tablet from a prominent auction house in “Better Call Saul” in New Mexico, US people-we literally thought it was spam ing it as “the result of months of efforts by 2014 for $1.67 million. It had originally media reported. Odenkirk, 58, was film- when he sent that DM to me!? Jesus the Iraqi authorities in conjunction with their in porn case been brought illegally to the United States ing the final season of the show in which Christ man rot in jail,” Kaur posted on embassy in Washington”. in 2003 by a dealer, who purchased it in he plays luckless protagonist Jimmy Instagram last week. Shetty, the 2007 Most of the ancient pieces document “the commercial exchanges during the London from a well-known Jordanian trad- McGill, a small-time lawyer and conman Mumbai court yesterday denied winner of British reality show “Celebrity Sumerian period”, his ministry said in a er of ancient Middle Eastern antiquities. who transitions to an eventually promi- bail to Bollywood star Shilpa Big Brother”, has not commented publicly statement. Iraq’s antiquities have been It was then traded several times with nent defense attorney under the name Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra, who since the arrest of her husband but A extensively looted during decades of war false letters of provenance to assure buy- Saul Goodman. The show is a spin-off of has been accused of producing porno- reportedly told police he was producing and insurgency, often by organized crime ers that it was legally obtained, rather than critically acclaimed “Breaking Bad”, graphic films, police said. The arrest is “erotica, not porn” and was innocent. In groups, since the 2003 US-led invasion a product of the underground antiquities widely regarded as one of the greatest the latest scandal to hit Kundra who was 2015, Kundra was banned for life from all that toppled Saddam Hussein. trade. In 2014, Hobby Lobby arranged to television series ever made. In that embroiled in cricket match-fixing charges cricket-related activities, following an “It is impossible to quantify the number buy the tablet in New York, but carried out show, Odenkirk plays the lawyer for six years ago. Mumbai police said the investigation into match-fixing when he of pieces that have been stolen from the transaction in Oklahoma to avoid sales schoolteacher-turned-drug dealer Walter 45-year-old was “the key conspirator” in was co-owner with Shetty of the archaeological sites,” Qahtan Al-Obaid, taxes, according to the Justice White. Entertainment publication TMZ the creation and publication of adult films Rajasthan Royals, a team in the hugely director of antiquities and heritage at the Department. The company then donated it said Odenkirk “went down” on set using internet apps. Police spokesman successful Indian Premier League. Basra Museum, told AFP. Archaeological to the collection of the Museum of the Tuesday and was “immediately sur- S. Chaitanya told AFP the businessman India has stringent laws against pub- sites across the country have been severe- Bible. Since the tablet was seized in 2019, rounded by crew members who called would remain in judicial custody following lishing and transmitting “obscene materi- ly damaged and neglected, and museums the Justice Department has pursued for- an ambulance”. the latest hearing, adding: “His bail was al”, but watching pornography in private looted, with some 15,000 pieces stolen mal ownership through forfeiture laws to be Variety magazine reported that the denied”. Media reports say Kundra is is legal. According to the adult site from Iraq’s only national museum in able to return it to the rightful owners. actor was receiving medical care and the accused of telling aspiring actresses they Pornhub, the nation of 1.3 billion people Baghdad. “I hope that in the near future we “This forfeiture represents an important reason for his collapse had not yet been could break into Bollywood through his was its third-largest source of traffic in will be able to recover the rest of our milestone on the path to returning this disclosed. Odenkirk has received four company, Viaan Industries, which 2018, behind the United States and goods, especially in Europe,” said Nazim in rare and ancient masterpiece of world lit- Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for allegedly produced pornographic content Britain. — AFP his statement. erature to its country of origin,” said acting best actor for “Better Caul Saul” and has for Hotshots, an adults-only mobile app. US attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis of the previously won two Emmys for writing on The women were then pressured into ‘Looted artifacts’ eastern district of New York. “This office is other productions. “Better Call Saul’s” shooting sex scenes on the pretext of Among the pieces to be returned to Iraq committed to combating the black market sixth season is expected to premiere ear- is a 3,500-year-old clay tablet with a sale of cultural property and the smug- ly next year. Social media was abuzz with sequence from the epic of Gilgamesh, gling of looted artifacts,” she said in a concern for the actor who has a huge cult which once sat in Washington’s Museum statement. — AFP following and has also appeared in of the Bible, the US Department of Justice dozens of films including the recently- said separately in Washington. It was not released action thriller “Nobody”. — AFP

ing list of political prisoners. She gets oey Jordison, the co-founder of back in drumming shape through intense For Russian their addresses from social media, where Slipknot and one of the most influ- physical therapy. activists share a database of who they ential metal drummers of his gener- His side projects included consider to be political prisoners and J prisoners, letters where they are serving their sentences. ation, has died at the age of 46, his fami- Murderdolls, Scar the Martyr, Vimic and ly announced. “We are heartbroken to Sinsaenum and he also played live Writing in her small Moscow kitchen, share the news that Joey Jordison, prolif- drums for a host of major metal acts like provide rare Vladimirova estimates she wrote around ic drummer, musician and artist passed Metallica, Korn and Rob Zombie. 600 letters to prisoners in six years, call- away peacefully in his sleep,” his family Metallica paid tribute to Jordison, posting ing it her personal act of protest. When ‘moment of joy’ AFP visited her apartment, she was writ- said Tuesday in a statement carried by a photo of the drummer on their ing to five inmates recognized as political Rolling Stone and multiple US media out- Facebook page with the caption “R.I.P. n a cottage outside Moscow, prisoners by local rights group Memorial, lets. Iowa-born Jordison was one of brother.” Other prominent metal musi- Human rights activist Konstantin Kotov sorts Konstantin Kotov goes through a hand- including a retired Ukrainian captain, a Slipknot’s three original members and cians posted tributes praising Jordison’s letters out in a cottage outside Moscow. Iful of the hundreds of letters he historian and a student arrested over helped power the US nine-piece to global technique and the influence he had on received when he spent more than a pating in multiple protests during anti- protests. “I hope a star shines bright for stardom in the early 2000s during an era their own bands. “Joey’s contributions to year behind bars for violating Russian Kremlin demonstrations in the summer of you,” she wrote in one of the letters. She when rock and metal acts routinely jos- music changed the face of heavy music protest rules. The opposition activist 2019, says he would often receive letters puts extra stamps and paper inside each tled with popstars at the top of the com- on the planet as we know it,” wrote served his sentence in Penal Colony No. several months late, as they had to go envelope so the prisoners have a chance mercial charts. Trivium frontman Matt Heafy. “An 2 in Pokrov-a notorious prison 100 kilo- through prison censors first. Critical ref- to write back. Renowned for their horror-themed absolute legend who changed the game meters (60 miles) outside Moscow where erences to President Vladimir Putin were Yuri Dmitriyev is one of those who facemasks and boiler suits, they burst not only for drums, but metal music as a opposition leader Alexei Navalny is cur- blotted out from the letters, he says. does. A historian who uncovers Stalinist onto the scene in the mid-1990s with a whole,” added popular metal YouTuber rently held. Kotov, who was released last Tired of reading and censoring his crimes, Dmitriyev was sentenced to 13 louder, bleaker and more aggressive Nik Nocturnal. Former Slipknot band- December, says he endured a “wall of flow of letters, prison authorities offered years in prison on controversial pae- incarnation of metal that became both a mates Corey Taylor and Shawn Crahan silence” after prison authorities banned Kotov better conditions if he stopped dophilia charges that rights groups commercial success and a major influ- both posted black squares on their other inmates from speaking to him. Now replying to them. Kotov refused. deem political. “He tells me not to wor- ence on later generations. Behind all the Twitter accounts after news of Jordison’s a free man, the 36-year-old says the let- Navalny-who has compared the Pokrov ry,” Vladimirova says. Olga Romanova, stage pantomime and shock antics was death was announced. — AFP ters-most of them hand-written-stopped prison to a concentration camp-also who runs the Rus Sidyashchaya a technically proficient band propelled by him from “breaking down”. complained about the censors in a satiri- (Russia Behind Bars) group providing Jordison’s tight high speed drumming Phone calls and visits are limited in cal message published by his team on legal help for prisoners, says the letters and relentless blast beats as well as his the Russian prison system and contact Instagram earlier this year. “I’m like Harry can help protect from physical violence. with the outside world is particularly song writing skills for some of the band’s Potter in the first book, remember the let- “The more letters a political prisoner restricted for political prisoners, who are best known tracks. ters from Hogwarts?” he said, referring to receives, the more he is protected,” she often subjected to greater isolation than The band worked with legendary pro- the fantasy series’ hero having his letters says, adding that guards are afraid to ordinary inmates. With letters being the ducer Rick Rubin for their third album taken away from him. “It’s the same for “touch” inmates who receive attention only effective means to communicate, and won their first Grammy in 2006. But me but without the owls and wizards.” In from the outside world. “Letters are a activists have taken to social media to Jordison maintained his proudest per- the post, he called on his supporters to very important (support) instrument,” the encourage Russians to write to those sonal moment was being voted the write to other political prisoners in Russia 55-year-old says. In her kitchen, Irina they consider to be political prisoners. greatest drummer of the previous 25 so they “do not feel alone”. AFP asked Vladimirova sticks a stamp featuring the years by readers of drumming magazine Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service for double-headed Russian eagle on an ‘Letters from Hogwarts’ Rhythm in 2010. Jordison left Slipknot in comment on the censoring of prisoners’ envelope. “I do what I can,” she says. “I Kotov recalls having an hour a day 2013 in acrimonious circumstances, say- letters but did not receive a reply. write letters.” — AFP ing he had been effectively forced out. under strict surveillance to read the let- ters. “It was always a moment of joy,” he He later revealed he been diagnosed Protection from violence says. “It allowed me to preserve the free- with transverse myelitis, a nerve disease Irina Vladimirova, a 50-year-old for- dom inside me that they tried to take that affected his ability to play. In recent mer university lecturer, is one of many away.” Kotov, who was jailed for partici- interviews he said he managed to get Joey Jordison volunteers writing to the country’s grow-