A Greeting for the New Year

A Greeting for the New Year, originally uploaded by lake.sider.

A lot has happened since my last post. I'll try to be less neglectful of my blog! 2008 is going to be great. Happy New Year, everybody!

Freshwater stingrays

People have these as pets in their aquarium. They are the cutest things ever.

Scientists Find Oldest Living Animal, Then Kill It

From www.foxnews.com:

British marine biologists have found what may be the oldest living animal — that is, until they killed it.

The team from Bangor University in Wales was dredging the waters north of Iceland as part of routine research when the unfortunate specimen, belonging to the clam species Arctica islandica, commonly known as the ocean quahog, was hauled up from waters 250 feet deep.

Only after researchers cut through its shell, which made it more of an ex-clam, and counted its growth rings did they realize how old it had been — between 405 and 410 years old.

Another clam of the same species had been verified at 220 years old, and a third may have lived 374 years. But this most recent clam was the oldest yet.

"Its death is an unfortunate aspect of this work, but we hope to derive lots of information from it," postdoctoral scientist Al Wanamaker told London's Guardian newspaper. "For our work, it's a bonus, but it wasn't good for this particular animal."

Age

This angelic, Botticellian person turned into someone who looks 110. This is a flattering photo of him. But so what - Bob Dylan is the greatest.

Bottom photo is AP, Bob Dylan at Jazz Fest 2006 in New Orleans.

That's Church

I don't know if you've ever been to a black church. It's pretty exciting and emotional. I used to go to one all the time, when I lived near Richmond, CA. If you go to about the middle of the video, people are shouting and getting the holy ghost.

Photo by Peter Helms Feresten, Altar Call, Truth Tabernacle, Fort Worth, TX, 1978.

http://www.afterimagegallery.com/ferestenaltarcall.htm

Franz Liszt

Portrait of Franz Liszt painted by Henri Lehmann in 1839.

Franz Liszt had an incredible life, spanning much of the 19th century. He was the equivalent of a rock star in his youth, when he traveled through Europe giving piano recitals. Liszt had a brilliant, charismatic personality, and yet he was a charming and nice man: a true romantic. There is too much to say about him, so I highly recommend the biography by Alan Walker. It is three volumes, but they are page-turners.

Memory, 1870 by Elihu Vedder

Memory, 1870, originally uploaded by vidalia_11.

This is a small painting at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I have seen it a few times, and it's quite mesmerizing.

New sea life discovered

These cuties were discovered in the Southern Philippines. The fish and the squid are only about 1 centimeter long.

Halloween is coming

Witch, originally uploaded by yerffej9.

The Snow White ride at Disneyland. Photo from flickr.

Footlight Parade

A Busby Berkeley extravaganza from the entertaining movie, Footlight Parade, with James Cagney.

Tintype

Why do people from this era look so creepy?

Speaking of hotness

The late Peter Tosh.

Marvin Gaye

God he was sexy!

Annie Oakley

Annie Oakley, originally uploaded by vidalia_11.

From Wikipedia:
(August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926) b. Phoebe Ann Mosey was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and luck led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar. Using a .22 caliber rifle at 90 feet (27 m), Oakley could split a playing card edge-on and put five or six more holes in it before it touched the ground.
...
She also engaged in extensive, albeit quiet, philanthropy for women's rights and other causes, including the support of specific young women that she knew...After her death on Nov. 3, 1926 at age 66, it was discovered that her entire fortune had been spent on her charities.

And now for something completely different

He actually wasn't that great a dancer. And the way he prances around...lol. But I love his Italian male look, the skin-tight clothes, the platform shoes. This is a lot of fun.

Horne, Sutherland, and Pavarotti sing trio from Norma

Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, and Luciano Pavarotti perform the trio from "Norma"
New York City Opera Orchestra
Conducted by Richard Bonynge
Lincoln Center 1981.

Cecilia Bartoli sings Bel Raggio lusinghier

From Rossini's opera Semiramide. I love how triumphant and pleased she is at the end.

Ciao Pavarotti

This article lists some great recordings (click on this post's title):

"I Puritani," Bellini; Bonynge; Sutherland, Pavarotti, Caminada, Luccardi, Ghiaurov, London Symphony Orchestra (Decca)

"La Fille du Regiment," Donizetti; Bonynge; Sutherland, Pavarotti, Malas, Sinclair, Orchestra of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden (Decca)

"L'Elisir d'Amor," Donizetti; Bonynge; Sutherland, Pavarotti, Cossa, Malas, Casula, English Chamber Orchestra (Decca)

"Lucia di Lammermoor," Donizetti; Bonynge; Sutherland, Pavarotti, Milnes, Ghiaurov, Orchestra of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden (Decca)

"La Boheme," Puccini; Karajan; Pavarotti, Freni, Harwood, Panieri, Berlin Philharmonic (Decca)

"Tosca," Puccini; Rescigno; Freni, Pavarotti, Milnes, National Philharmonic Orchestra (Decca)

"Guglielmo Tell," Rossini; Chailly; Pavarotti, Freni, Milnes, Ghiaurov, National Philharmonic Orchestra (Decca)

"Rigoletto," Verdi; Bonynge; Sutherland, Pavarotti, Milnes, London Symphony Orchestra (Decca)

The Library's personal favorite: Bellini - La Sonnambula / Sutherland · Pavarotti · Ghiaurov · NPO · Bonynge.

Chabad Telethon

Chabad Telethon, originally uploaded by vidalia_11.

It's that time of year again!

100 years ago

This fantastic site, http://www.shorpy.com/, has vintage photos of the USA early this century. The images are hi-res and perfect quality. It also lists the photographer and/or collection the photo is from. This one is called "Fifth Avenue Sunday", ca. 1913.

Beautiful classical album

I'm listening to this album of Beethoven piano and violin sonatas. Szeryng and Rubinstein play so beautifully together.

Boney M

Somehow, I missed this group completely during the 1970s. They're the Black ABBA or something. Their songs are really catchy - I especially like the one about Rasputin. I even watched a video of it on YouTube, something I rarely do. (click on post title to go directly to YouTube for the video.)

Victorian etiquette

This is a pretty funny description of some ill-mannered guests. Times haven't changed much.

Obsessed with Photoshop

It's been a long time since I updated this blog. I feel guilty, not that anyone has noticed the blog anyway. The reason is that I've been consumed with cameras, flickr, and learning photoshop techniques. And it's been extremely enjoyable, enough to forget my blog!

Ernst Haeckel - Art Forms in Nature

From the website http://www.mblwhoilibrary.org/haeckel/wall_charts.html:

Ernst Haeckel was the preeminent proponent of Darwinism in Germany. His watercolors and drawings, made during his sojourn in Ceylon (Travel Pictures) and on his scientific journeys (Art Forms in Nature), are landmarks in the field of naturalist illustration, although many would not pass strict scientific muster. Indeed, much of naturalist illustration is not natural at all but permits stylization and distortion for decorative effect. Haeckel aimed Art Forms in Nature at a broad audience rather than specialists. Each of the 100 plates was accompanied by a short, readable commentary that made biological concepts accessible to the public. Moreover Haeckel's use of Art Nouveau techniques made the book even more appealing and "fashionable." The publication was an immediate success and remains a treasure to this day.

Poem by a child - "The Sea"

The Sea


The sun wakes up and rises over the sea,
Shining down and making the sea
Sparkle brighter and brighter,
Until it's almost too bright to look at.
The sea comes alive,
With swaying sea anemones,
Colorful butterfly fish,
And other darting, splashing,
And bubbling creatures.
The wind carries the sea's hearty smell of salt,
For miles around,
And everyone breathes it in,
Has visions of sandy beaches and rowdy pirates.
A reef shark lies low among branches,
Of coral,
Luring in unlucky prey.
A beautiful young mermaid,
With bright, blue eyes,
And long flowing golden hair,
Sits in the bed chamber of her underwater palace,
Admiring smooth gold pieces,
And velvety crowns from a treasure chest.
Enormous waves come roaring towards the beach,
And crash against the rocks.
Seagulls swoop and dive to catch fish,
And along with the fish,
They drink the sea's taste of secrets,
That will never be discovered.
Pieces of a broken bottle,
Wash up on the sand,
Translucent and smooth.
Shimmering pearls, glittering diamonds,
Dazzling emeralds and shining sapphires,
All stolen long ago,
Now rest in a pirate's shipwreck.
Iridescent seashells gleam,
As the sun decides it's time for bed.
The sea glimmers, then changes color,
From red to orange to yellow.
After the sunset is over,
It reflects the light of the stars and moon.

by Miss S, age 10

Nikola Tesla

From Wikipedia:
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 - 7 January 1943) was a world-renowned inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer and electrical engineer. He was born an ethnic Serb subject of the Austrian Empire, and later became an American citizen. Tesla is best known for his many revolutionary contributions to the discipline of electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The Wikipedia article is long and I haven't read all of it. But I will. Tesla was brilliant, eccentric, and strange. In 1943 the U.S. Supreme Court credited him with the invention of radio. Most people think Marconi invented it.

Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang

Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, originally uploaded by Isaac Mao.

From Isaac Mao's caption:

Under the personality cult of leaders Kim Jong-il and his father Kim Il-sung, North Korea has become fiercely isolationist, nationalistic, and totalitarian. Despite being one of the planet's poorest countries, the communist state looks for any achievement to boost itself in eyes of the world. Its people know little or nothing of other nations except for the fact that Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is vastly superior.

The DPRK is also one of the world's most secretive nations. For a North Korean, contact with a foreigner can land one in jail… or worse. But there is one embarrassing secret that is hard for the government to hide, literally. It's the Ryugyong Hotel in the Potong District of North Korea's capital city of Pyongyang. It's difficult to hide because it's a massive, 105-story structure which dominates the city's skyline. It's an embarrassment because it's a complete engineering failure… its empty, dilapidated husk lurks over the capital, mocking the citizens of the proud country.

The hotel's story begins in 1987, when the North Korean government began construction at an estimated cost of $750 million, or 2% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). By comparison, 2% of the United States' GDP would be about $220 billion. Construction of the hotel was a cold war response to other massive skyscrapers in Asia, most notably South Korea's towering Stamford Hotel in Singapore. The North Koreans expected the project to bring in western investors as a first move into their nation. Investors were told to expect little oversight, and assured that casinos, nightclubs and lounges could be added. The North Korean government was so proud of the project that they added it to their official city maps before the project was even started, and they issued postage stamps touting the hotel before it was even half-finished.

The Ryugyong or "Capital of Willows" Hotel stands 1,083 feet tall, and it was planned to have 3,000 rooms and seven revolving restaurants. It has a total of 3.9 million square feet of floor space. The hotel would be the tallest hotel and seventh largest building in the world if it were finished. It would also have been the first building with over one hundred floors outside of New York or Chicago.

The first event scheduled to be held at the hotel was June 1989's World Festival of Youth and Students. The hotel was nowhere near ready for that event. Its construction was plagued with problems, and after five years construction completely ground to a halt due to a shortage of everything… especially funding and electricity. Work on the hotel has never resumed; the project was abandoned, leaving a lonely construction crane perched on its peak.

Pyongyang skyline, showing the Ryugyong Hotel on the top right.The shell of the building is complete but it has not been certified as safe for occupancy. There are no windows, fixtures, or fittings. The extremely poor quality concrete used in its construction has left the building sagging to such a great degree that the structure can never be finished without a massive overhaul.

The North Korean government is still looking for foreign investment, hopefully around $300 million. It's going to be hard to find such an investor considering the DPRK has such a tight stranglehold on visitors coming to their nation. The DPRK only allows about 130,000 tourists in an entire year, and almost none of them come to Pyongyang. To make matters worse, the nation appears to be in a never-ending drought and famine cycle that is not conducive for the operation of a five-star hotel.

Today, few North Koreans are willing to discuss the hotel with outsiders. The hotel, which was once found on city maps before the construction even began, has now been completely stricken from the official maps. Tour guides usually claim not to know where it is. Either a majority of the country is in a state of denial about the whole thing, or they avoid it.

L'Art arabe (1877)

From the NYPL Digital Gallery. A book illustrating Arabic ornamentation, architecture, etc. Very beautiful. I love these old ornamentation catalogs.

Clarence John Laughlin

From site, http://www.stephendaitergallery.com

Clarence John Laughlin (American, 1905-1985) was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana but moved to New Orleans at an early age. Self taught in photography as well as a wide range of other subjects, he began his career as a freelancer, producing mostly architectural photos, and eventually moved on to work for such varied agencies as Vogue Magazine and the US Army Corps of Engineers. His work was influenced by Eugene Atget and other historical purists who tried to capture a decaying urban landscape – for Laughlin, his home city of New Orleans was the staging ground for many of his pictures and he spent most of his life photographing the area. Arguably the first surrealist photographer in the United States, he often constructed elaborate stages and employed models, costumes, and props to create haunting abstractions. His best known book, "Ghosts Along the Mississippi," was first published in 1948.

Photos above are:
The Enigma (1941)
The Mirror of Long Ago (1946)
The Torso in "G" Place (1945)
Laughlin chronicled, in his imaginative way, the fading of one era into another: the Victorian, ante-bellum age being overtaken by the modern age. Memorializing the sadness, nostalgia, and hauntedness of the earlier age trying to hang on in a decaying fashion.

Hotel Ukraine, Moscow

Photo: www.knifethrower.com

This is one of the seven sisters Stalinist buildings in Moscow.

From the site, www.gather.com:

Moscow's Seven Sisters are an architectural legacy of the most ambitious building program ever conceived. They were built at the orders of Jozef Stalin. These towers were built for the glorification of the Soviet State after WWII. The sisters were intended to rival the USA’s skyscrapers that had gone up in the 1930's. Each Sister was designed according to Stalin’s personal specifications and wishes. The architectural beauties are constructed in what is known as a ‘wedding-cake’ style, that concentrates the eye's focus toward the central tower. Stalin mandated that each and every one be given a spire, to differentiate them from their American counterparts. These huge buildings are distinctive in their design as well as their history.

Moscow's Seven Sisters (this one wasn't built)

This is Chechulin's draft for Zaryadye skyscraper from wikipedia's article on "Seven Sisters Moscow".
The Seven Sisters (called высотки, vysotki, the summits in Russian) are seven Stalinist skyscrapers in Moscow, Russia. They were built 1947-1953 in an elaborate combination of Russian Baroque and Gothic styles, and the early twentieth century technology of American skyscrapers. Similar buildings were built in Warsaw, Chelyabinsk, Kiev and Riga.

I find these buildings very spectacular and beautiful. At the same time, I guess they're kind of fascist.

Australian ballerina, Laurel Martyn

I know absolutely nothing about ballet. But I was struck by this photo of a beautiful ballerina. It's Laurel Martyn as Odette in Swan Lake (1944). This site has many incredible photos of ballet performances.
http://www.australiadancing.org/subjects/42.html/

Happy Easter

This is a detail of Raphael's Transfiguration altarpiece, which was his last painting. Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter.

Boris Karloff

Boris Karloff was born William Henry Pratt on November 23, 1887 in London England. His most famous role was that of the Frankenstein monster in the 1931 classic film Frankenstein. He played many horror and villainous roles in his career but in real life was a very charitable and caring man. He died on February 2, 1969 in Midhurst, England.
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/1475/karloff.html/

This still is from "The Body Snatcher" by Robert Louis Stevenson. Karloff played the malevolent cabman, John Gray.

From IMDB comments,

Karloff is chillingly perfect in the role of the sly coachman who augments his salary with a little grave robbing. A gentle man who is kind to crippled children, yet can murder without a second thought, Karloff paints the cunning portrait of a very human monster.

Easter is coming

a bigger one, originally uploaded by vutni.

Beautiful pysanky photo by vutni.

Spring break

Yellow flowered tree, originally uploaded by vidalia_11.

Poe's Library website

A collection of everything Poe. I'm going to check out the audio section where there are links to readings of Poe stories and poems. http://www.houseofusher.net/library.html/

Closed on Account of Rabies

This could be the worst album cover of all time. It's a CD of people reading Poe against eerie musical backgrounds. Some of the tracks are unlistenable, while others are excellent! The excellent tracks: Ulalume read by the late Jeff Buckley, For Annie, read by Gavin Friday, The Raven, read by Christopher Walken, The Masque of the Red Death, read by Gabriel Byrne, and The Tell-Tale Heart, read by Iggy Pop.

For Annabelle

Annabel Lee page 1 holograph, originally uploaded by vidalia_11.

In E.A. Poe's handwriting. From site http://www.columbia.edu/acis/textarchive/rare/76.html/

Soul Sisters

I've been getting into 1960s soul music, especially female singers. These women blow me away with their soulfulness. They're still around, too.
Bettye LaVette - does a fantastic version of Cry Me a River
Brenda Holloway - Every Little Bit Hurts
Betty Everett - You're No Good (later a hit by Linda Ronstadt)
Irma Thomas - does a famous version of Time is On My Side

Passover is coming

Lotsa Matzos!, originally uploaded by pepperedjane.

Not my favorite time of year but what can you do.

Prague Alleyway

Prague Alleyway, originally uploaded by darkling11.

This is Prague, where Franz Kafka lived. Admittedly, Kafka is too depressing to actually read. The last thing I read was "The Metamorphosis" and it was the saddest thing ever. Kafka himself was a nice person, very charming and sweet. Unfortunately he had an insidious attachment to an oafish father whose approval he couldn't get. And he knew it. But it allowed him to define modern paranoia and become immortal.

Dragon Gorge, Ocean Park

I'm not sure if this is an amusement park pre-dating POP in Santa Monica. This postcard was from the LAPL photo collection. Whatever it is, it's pretty impressive.