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.