If there was any doubt that Drudge was considered respectable, the decision makers at the Financial Times have assuaged those concerns with their recently added category, "Featured on Drudge".  Good work, FT!

I came across Bruce Sterling's recent essay on the so-called "New Aesthetic", which was discussed at a panel at this year's SxSW. After reading some of the literature, as well as Sterling's essay on the subject, I was hard pressed to think of a single new idea I had encountered.

If I had to sum up the "New Aesthetic", it would go something like this: renditions of imagery using technological devices creates beautiful objects, which are relevant because they use a contemporary visual idiom. (I'm not even sure they're actually saying that much). If that is what they're trying to say, good for them -- we've been there for 15 years.

If there's more to this so-called "movement", please fill me in.

Damien Hirst is thought to be Charles Saatchi's greatest discovery, and a 25 year retrospective of his work will go on display at the Tate Modern, beginning on April 4. Nevertheless, in a recent interview with The Telegraph, Hirst comes off as defensive and even somewhat delusional as he compares himself to Michelangelo, which suggests the public may have a point when it lambasts the cynicism and lack of inspiration in his work. 

People don’t like contemporary art but all art starts life as contemporary - I can't really see a difference. Michelangelo was definitely getting that, everybody was getting it. I’m sure there were people in caves going, ‘I like your cave but I hate that crap you've got on the wall’

Hirst hazily continued:

I love it though when you get cab drivers coming up to you and they say, ‘What you do isn’t art, mate’. It's brilliant that you can have a really strong opinion. I had a passport where I wrote ‘artist’ under 'occupation' and I remember thinking, 'That's it, it’s proved!’

Read the full interview here.

Here's a video tour of the exhibit.

PC World is reporting that Apple has filed a patent for an app that makes 3D avatars. A second patent shows the app working on an iPad, suggesting that the technology may be fairly advanced in its development.

According to Patently Apple, who first reported the story, the technology could be used by artists as well as by law enforcement as a facial recognition device.

Read more here.

Call it the end of an era. After 244 years, the Encyclopaedia Britannica has canceled its print edition.  One can safely assume the decision was reached from a lack of demand for the weighty 32 volume series. According to the BBC, a digital version will be available online, which will be updated in real-time.

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan spoke out against younger musicians at SXSW in an interview with Billboard.  Refering to recent flavors of the months as "fresh strippers", Corgan lambasted millennials as having no artist core, while being primarily concerned by a need to become famous. "I was part of a generation that changed the world - and it was taken over by poseurs." Read it here.

Topps baseball card photographer Gregg Forwerck discusses the business of taking pictures of baseball players for the last 20 years.  Read more here.

Lego adds the Sydney Opera House to its increasingly popular Architecture series. The set contains 270 pieces and will retail for $49.99.  Visit Lego.com for more info.

The NY Times Arts Beat blog is reporting that German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk have agreed to play eight consecutive shows at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  "Kraftwerk Retrospective" will take place from April 10 - April 17, featuring a different album each night.  Tickets go on sale February 22 at noon!

Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request by Bloomberg News, the FBI has released 191 pages of records it kept on Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs. The documents didn't reflect that well on Jobs' character, describing him as "deceptive" and willing to "distort reality in order to achieve his goals." They also reference previous drug use and an extortion attempt on the Apple CEO back in 1985. Read more on Bloomberg.com.

Rumour has it that Paul Cezanne's Card Players recently traded hands for $250 million in a private sale. The price would more than double the previous record for Giacometti's Walking Man, which sold for $104.3 million at auction. Read more at the Art Market Monitor. 

India's 2nd Annual Comic Con will feature recluse artist Robert Crumb, famous for pioneering the underground comix movement in the 1960s. The show will take place from February 17-19 in Dilli Haat and New Dehli on the heels of Crumb's ill-fated visit to Sydney, Australia, which he canceled after receiving brutal criticism in the local media. Visit the website here. 

Dorothea Tanning, Surrealist painter and wife of Max Ernst, died at the age of 101 this week. An exhibition of her work is currently on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Read more at The New York Times.

Heritage Auctions, the world's preeminent auction house for comics and original comics art, is holding a massive sale in New York City on February 21st, featuring some of the top comics available. Original cover art of Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes calendar will also be auctioned off, as well as Robert Crumb's cover to The People's Comix, and John Romita's cover to Amazing Spider-man Annual #3. Check 'em out below.

Comics: 

Detective Comics #27 (DC, 1939) CGC FN+ 6.5, the first appearance of “The Bat Man” (Estimate: $475,000+); 

Action Comics #1 (DC, 1938) CGC GD/VG 3.0, the most important comic book ever published (Estimate: $325,000+); 

All-American Comics #16 (DC, 1940) CGC VF 8.0, the debut of Green Lantern (Estimate: $125,000+); 

Batman #1 (DC, 1940) CGC VF+ 8.5 (Estimate: $125,000)

Marvel Comics #1 (Timely, 1939) CGC VF- 7.5 (Estimate: $125,000+).

Orignal Art:

John Romita Sr.’s Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3 cover art

Dark Knight Returns #1 original double page spread, pages 46-47

Bill Watterson cover art for the Calvin & Hobbes 1989-1990 18-month calendar

Robert Crumb cover art for The People’s Comix

Read the full press release here.

German officials have returned 45 relics to Iraq that disappeared during the US led invasion in 2003. The archaeological objects included a 6,500-year-old Sumerian gold jar and the head of a Sumerian battle axe.  According to German law, smuggled Iraqi artifacts discovered after 1990 must be returned to the country upon confiscation. Via Reuters.