Tuan and I watched a theatrical, musical version of “Whale Rider” at the Auckland Civic Center, and on either side of the stage were a pair of carved lions.  You see those kinds of decorations at countless theaters and auditoriums, but these lions were different: their eyes glowed a piercing, cobalt blue.  I went up to ask the usher if I could take a picture of the statues.  “No,” he said, “We have a copyright on the inside of the theater.”

Obviously, one might well ask why taking a picture violates a copyright--don’t you have to actually build a copy of the theater for that to make a lick of sense? But I gradually realized the wisdom of his words. There’s really nothing cooler than lion statues with glowing eyes. If the word gets out about this, I swear that every major theater in the world is going to swipe the idea.

I really hope this post doesn’t violate any copyrights.