- Of particular interest to the usual Coffee Crew... considering all the novelties this new year brings, I believe we should insist that henceforth our espresso must be this artistic! (via Hot Links)
- "The idea behind Prosper is a bit unusual today, but, as the site reminds readers, person-to-person lending—loans without a financial intermediary—has been around since 300 A.D. For those more used to the Internet age, think of it as eBay meets your neighborhood bank. Prosper is an online marketplace that allows lenders and borrowers to bid for loans—with fees and rates than can be much lower than those of a lending institution. Prosper uses credit scores to help its users gauge the risks of their deals, and easy-to-follow instructions on the site help clarify the details. (via Time.com Top 10 Websites of 2006, for Tony-Cannoli, Andri & Vippy Zippy!)
- "NEWSVINE: This social news site comes with the tagline 'Get Smarter Here.' A bit blunt, but that's Newsvine's style: the site provides users with quick, undiluted and unedited access to news from all over the Web. Users can comment on stories and vote on stories' importance, add news articles they find elsewhere to the site and write their own blogs. Bloggers can even keep a share of the revenue ads on their columns produce, and make more money by referring friends to the site. Newsvine was founded by members of ESPN, Disney and other media organizations." (via Time.com Top 10 Websites of 2006) & 10 Kick-Ass Opening Credit Sequences (via Linkfilter, for Unca Bill & the Huf!)
- "Credit Where Credit is Due": "2006 Federal Excise Tax Credit - Wow, finally a reason to save all those old phone bills!" (via Hot Links, for legendary packrat Marky-J, tax expert Vippy Zippy & any other taxpaying Americans!)
- Free Will: Now You Have It, Now You Don’t - New York Times about "all the varieties of free will worth having..." (via Hot Links) and The Language of The Simpsons (via Kottke's Best Links 2006) and Bank the Nine (via Yahoo's Link of the Day) and also the "Phobialist" (via Really Magazine, for pool-playing, fellow "medical dictionary syndrome" sufferer and philosopher Marky-J)
- "Update your urban myths: someone actually stole a kidney from the 'Bodies' exhibit in Seattle" (via Fimoculous) and Scientists may have found Medici murder - Yahoo! News (for lil' ol' me & criminologist Ming)
Artistic Coffee and Other Links for Friends
Venice in Recent News
Just a few of the "Michellaneous" tidbits about Venice in this week's news...(For more, you can search "Venice" at the top of the page to get a rundown of MMC's Venetian news for 2005 & 2006!)
"You know you live in New England when..."
Along the lines of the classic "You Know You're From Maine When..." comes the equally true and even funnier meme, "You Know You're From New England When..." passed along to me by JAM. Enjoy!!
- Your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May.
- Someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there.
- You've worn shorts and a parka at the same time.
- You've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number.
- When "vacation" means going anywhere south of New York City for the weekend.
- You measure distance in hours.
- You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
- You have switched from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again.
- You can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching.
- You install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked.
- You carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them.
- You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
- The speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and everybody is passing you!
- Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
- You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
- You find 10 degrees "a little chilly."
- You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.
- You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from New England!
Free Software Giveaway of the Day!
As they say in Italy, "I know my chickens!" (That is, in English, "I know somebody like the back of my own hand"...)
In the land where, according to Uncle Henry's, it's often free for the taking if you can haul it away (lots of stuff, but usually manure and - I swear I am not making this up - "special needs cats"), my Mainer chickens - as well as some friends farther afield - just love "free"!
That's why you can't beat the Free Software Giveway of the Day! Each and every day (for 24 hours and for 24 hours only!) you can download and install (the only catch... You must install the software during the stated giveaway period!) FREE, FULL versions of programs you'd otherwise have to pay as much as $100 for! And they give away all kinds of different programs, but it's particularly good for various multimedia applications!! (Plus games at game.givewayoftheday.com...)
What's the giveaway for today? (And check back... It'll automatically update every day!)
In the land where, according to Uncle Henry's, it's often free for the taking if you can haul it away (lots of stuff, but usually manure and - I swear I am not making this up - "special needs cats"), my Mainer chickens - as well as some friends farther afield - just love "free"!
That's why you can't beat the Free Software Giveway of the Day! Each and every day (for 24 hours and for 24 hours only!) you can download and install (the only catch... You must install the software during the stated giveaway period!) FREE, FULL versions of programs you'd otherwise have to pay as much as $100 for! And they give away all kinds of different programs, but it's particularly good for various multimedia applications!! (Plus games at game.givewayoftheday.com...)
What's the giveaway for today? (And check back... It'll automatically update every day!)
Don't miss it and wind up having to pay for something like it later!
How Italians Tell Time?
Not exactly a common method, but of course that's where the punchline lies... (Which you can pretty much get even if you don't know Italian!) Enjoy!!
(via grow-a-brain)
Funny Photos of Art
(from Bits & Pieces, via Geisha Asobi Blog)
Plus, don't miss the Souvenirs photo slideshow at Flickr...
Photos of kitsch souvenirs at the locations they were made to commemorate. Pure genius!
(via In4mador!)
Exam Bloopers
A couple of these were just so priceless that it's a shame to let them languish forever alone in never-again-read blue books, so I'm sharing one of the "joys" of the profession. Enjoy!
About comparing and contrasting Alexander the Great, Augustus and Charlemagne:
- "The only differences between them were that they lived in different eras. They all had different causes of deaths either from poison or a virus. They all also were from different regions of the world."
- "Augustus was sort of the same, the only difference was I really don't know. I hope I pass [illegible]."
On the persecutions of Christians in Ancient Rome:
- "Despite the size of Christianity as a religion in today's world it was not always accepted. Think about it. Christ was hung on a cross. Yes, it was he did suffer for our sins but that seems a pretty clear picture to me that his religion was not accepted."
- "Christianity also played a role in [ancient] Roman art and architecture with the development of the Sistine Chapel and the Parthenon."
Venice and James Bond
Just saw "Casino Royale" last night. Very interesting idea of James Bond as an anti-hero.
Upon searching for a bit more information on the film, I found out from trivia on the Internet Movie Database that...
Upon searching for a bit more information on the film, I found out from trivia on the Internet Movie Database that...
- "The barrel roll stunt in the Aston Martin DBS broke the world record for the most barrel rolls assisted by a cannon. Originally, the racing specifications of the DBS meant that a standard ramp would not be sufficient to get the car to roll, so the special effects team were called in to install a air-powered cannon behind the drivers seat. This allowed the car to complete seven full rolls."
- Surprised like I was about the Ford? "The 2007 Ford Mondeo sport model used in the beginning of the film is a special, one-off hand-built prototype vehicle, constructed by hand at Ford of Europe's Design Studio in Cologne, Germany, in January, 2006 and shipped to the Bahamas in secrecy for shooting. Actual production is not due to start until the second quarter of 2007.
- Authorities in Venice granted producers permission to sail James Bond's yacht, called Spirit 54, along the Grand Canal between the Accademia and Rialto bridges. No-one can remember exactly the last time a pleasure yacht sailed in the Grand Canal, but it's believed to have been several centuries ago.
- The set interior of the sinking house in Venice measured 45 ft by 40 ft and was 45 ft high. It was built around the existing indoor tank at Pinewood Studios which was increased to 20 ft so the whole set could sink 16 ft."
My good friend Tom's been monitoring the creation of "Casino Royale" for a while now, including the Venice set's destruction by fire!
"The Day After Tomorrow" in Venice?
Just saw "An Inconvenient Truth" a couple of nights ago. It certainly gives one pause... especially if you just happen to live sometimes in Venice, Italy!
What kind of catastrophe awaits the island city if some of the worse global warming threats come true? Take a look (you can even zoom in!) at Alex Tingle's flood map of Venice... (My neighborhood seems to keep its head above water until sea levels rise 4 meters, although I've seen my own alleyway flood if a high tide runs even just 40 centimeters above normal, so I really wouldn't hold my breath! On second thought, maybe I'd better practice doing just that unless we do what little things we can to help stop global warming!!)
What kind of catastrophe awaits the island city if some of the worse global warming threats come true? Take a look (you can even zoom in!) at Alex Tingle's flood map of Venice... (My neighborhood seems to keep its head above water until sea levels rise 4 meters, although I've seen my own alleyway flood if a high tide runs even just 40 centimeters above normal, so I really wouldn't hold my breath! On second thought, maybe I'd better practice doing just that unless we do what little things we can to help stop global warming!!)
You don't have to believe everything you see in "An Inconvenient Truth," but you owe it to yourself (and your descendents!) to watch it with an open mind and make whatever changes to your lifestyle you deem for the best!!
Newsflash: "Precious Tintorettos leaving Venice for Madrid's Prado for rare exhibit"
My initial reaction to Tintoretto was, sad to say, along the lines of a Black Velvet Elvis... He plays so much with light (and the lack thereof!) that he can seem kind of dowdy next to the great Venetian colorists. But I've since developed a soft spot for Tintoretto and his vast work. As they say in this article, you can't beat Venice to get the full breath and depth of his work, but if a trip to Venice or Madrid isn't in your immediate future, maybe one of these museums is in your neighborhood instead... Enjoy!!
Precious Tintorettos leaving Venice for Madrid's Prado for rare exhibit
By Frances D'Emilio, Canadian Press
Saturday, December 02, 2006
VENICE, Italy (AP) - With some apprehension, Venice is letting several of its precious Tintorettos travel to Madrid for a rare retrospective of one of its most prolific painters, celebrated for his virtuosity in brush stroke and inventive use of perspective.
Three churches and the Academy painting gallery, which holds the most important collection of Venetian painting, have agreed to loan a total of six works of the 16th Century artist to be key pieces in an ambitious exhibit at the Madrid's Prado museum Jan. 29-May 13.
Venice's show in 1937 was the last major exhibit of works by Jacopo Tintoretto, whose long life - 76 years - allowed him leave a large handprint on Venetian painting.
The generally enormous physical dimensions of the artist's works - many are more than four metres wide - and where he painted them - often on ceilings or walls of palaces or chapels - can be intimidating for those dreaming of a retrospective.
"There was almost considered to be a curse" of Tintoretto for those wanting to do a major show of his work, said Gabriele Finaldi, deputy director at the Prado for collections and research.
Finaldi and other Prado officials felt first hand some of the anxiety and reluctance of Venetian art caretakers as they toured some of the churches lending paintings.
The pastor of San Marcuola church, where Tintorettos cover two side walls in the altar area, said he decided he would only let the "Last Supper" leave on loan if the Prado would pitch in financially toward the upkeep of the church.
"The parishioners agree with me because they have to shell out of their pockets" to help pay for a US$250,000 roof repair, said the Rev. Federico Niero.
"We didn't put a price on the loan, but we want some help" the priest said. If the Prado was going to show off the church's star Tintoretto, the museum should contribute toward protecting the church's artistic treasures from dampness, said the priest, who worried that the painting might be damaged when removed.
The show's curator, Miguel Falomir, told journalists last week at another church that the Prado would make a contribution "as a way to show our gratitude." He didn't cite a figure.
The San Trovaso Church's "Last Supper," one of the more striking examples of how Tintoretto dramatically experimented with perspective, is also going to the Prado. In the painting, the table comes at the viewer diagonally. The arm of a diner, one of the apostles, seems to almost reach out of the painting as he grabs for a jug.
Both churches now hold copies of other Tintoretto masterpieces which left Venice centuries ago and made their way through various monarchs' collections before ending up in foreign museums.
San Trovaso's "Last Supper" is paired with a copy of the "Washing of the Feet" scene. The original is in London's National Gallery.
"If we lose this one, too," said the church's pastor, Rev. Silvano Brusamento, his voice trailing off anxiously as Falomir lectured to a group of Spanish journalists about the ingenious perspective in the "Last Supper."
"I wasn't in agreement" about the loan, said Brusamento. "There is always a risk . . . I'm worried."
The National Gallery's "Washing of the Feet" won't be travelling to Madrid for the show but another Tintoretto depiction of the Holy Thursday scene of Jesus and his apostles, originally in San Marcuola church, will be displayed because the Prado owns it, Finaldi said.
Among others loaning some of the 50 paintings and 20 drawings for the Prado show are the British Museum, the Chicago Art Institute, New York's Metropolitan and the Edinburgh National Gallery.
With Venice virtually a permanent exhibition of Tintoretto's talents, the question arises: why bother to group so many of them in a retrospective when visitors to the lagoon city can make their own leisurely exploration of the artist?
"It is true, to see Tintoretto properly, you have to go to Venice," said a Venetian painting school specialist, David Rosand, a Columbia University art history professor now on leave.
But exhibits let visitors study artworks close up and often in better lighting than in museums or churches. That is particularly vital with Tintoretto, whose works "you need binoculars to get close to," said Rosand in a telephone interview from his home in New York.
With Tintoretto, "the brush work is so much a part of the painting," said the professor, and close-up viewing helps this appreciation.
Curator Falomir said it long has been difficult to identify all the works done by Tintoretto and those done by his children - three of them became painters - or by his "bottega" or workshop.
"The sheer variety of hands" that worked on the paintings is daunting for scholars, said Rosand. Tintoretto, Titian, Veronese and Rubens had "industrial" production sized workshops, said the professor.
But while Tintoretto's workshop helped in executing works commissioned for palaces of the rich and noble, the artist was believed to have mainly executed his paintings in churches himself.
Precious Tintorettos leaving Venice for Madrid's Prado for rare exhibit
By Frances D'Emilio, Canadian Press
Saturday, December 02, 2006
VENICE, Italy (AP) - With some apprehension, Venice is letting several of its precious Tintorettos travel to Madrid for a rare retrospective of one of its most prolific painters, celebrated for his virtuosity in brush stroke and inventive use of perspective.
Three churches and the Academy painting gallery, which holds the most important collection of Venetian painting, have agreed to loan a total of six works of the 16th Century artist to be key pieces in an ambitious exhibit at the Madrid's Prado museum Jan. 29-May 13.
Venice's show in 1937 was the last major exhibit of works by Jacopo Tintoretto, whose long life - 76 years - allowed him leave a large handprint on Venetian painting.
The generally enormous physical dimensions of the artist's works - many are more than four metres wide - and where he painted them - often on ceilings or walls of palaces or chapels - can be intimidating for those dreaming of a retrospective.
"There was almost considered to be a curse" of Tintoretto for those wanting to do a major show of his work, said Gabriele Finaldi, deputy director at the Prado for collections and research.
Finaldi and other Prado officials felt first hand some of the anxiety and reluctance of Venetian art caretakers as they toured some of the churches lending paintings.
The pastor of San Marcuola church, where Tintorettos cover two side walls in the altar area, said he decided he would only let the "Last Supper" leave on loan if the Prado would pitch in financially toward the upkeep of the church.
"The parishioners agree with me because they have to shell out of their pockets" to help pay for a US$250,000 roof repair, said the Rev. Federico Niero.
"We didn't put a price on the loan, but we want some help" the priest said. If the Prado was going to show off the church's star Tintoretto, the museum should contribute toward protecting the church's artistic treasures from dampness, said the priest, who worried that the painting might be damaged when removed.
The show's curator, Miguel Falomir, told journalists last week at another church that the Prado would make a contribution "as a way to show our gratitude." He didn't cite a figure.
The San Trovaso Church's "Last Supper," one of the more striking examples of how Tintoretto dramatically experimented with perspective, is also going to the Prado. In the painting, the table comes at the viewer diagonally. The arm of a diner, one of the apostles, seems to almost reach out of the painting as he grabs for a jug.
Both churches now hold copies of other Tintoretto masterpieces which left Venice centuries ago and made their way through various monarchs' collections before ending up in foreign museums.
San Trovaso's "Last Supper" is paired with a copy of the "Washing of the Feet" scene. The original is in London's National Gallery.
"If we lose this one, too," said the church's pastor, Rev. Silvano Brusamento, his voice trailing off anxiously as Falomir lectured to a group of Spanish journalists about the ingenious perspective in the "Last Supper."
"I wasn't in agreement" about the loan, said Brusamento. "There is always a risk . . . I'm worried."
The National Gallery's "Washing of the Feet" won't be travelling to Madrid for the show but another Tintoretto depiction of the Holy Thursday scene of Jesus and his apostles, originally in San Marcuola church, will be displayed because the Prado owns it, Finaldi said.
Among others loaning some of the 50 paintings and 20 drawings for the Prado show are the British Museum, the Chicago Art Institute, New York's Metropolitan and the Edinburgh National Gallery.
With Venice virtually a permanent exhibition of Tintoretto's talents, the question arises: why bother to group so many of them in a retrospective when visitors to the lagoon city can make their own leisurely exploration of the artist?
"It is true, to see Tintoretto properly, you have to go to Venice," said a Venetian painting school specialist, David Rosand, a Columbia University art history professor now on leave.
But exhibits let visitors study artworks close up and often in better lighting than in museums or churches. That is particularly vital with Tintoretto, whose works "you need binoculars to get close to," said Rosand in a telephone interview from his home in New York.
With Tintoretto, "the brush work is so much a part of the painting," said the professor, and close-up viewing helps this appreciation.
Curator Falomir said it long has been difficult to identify all the works done by Tintoretto and those done by his children - three of them became painters - or by his "bottega" or workshop.
"The sheer variety of hands" that worked on the paintings is daunting for scholars, said Rosand. Tintoretto, Titian, Veronese and Rubens had "industrial" production sized workshops, said the professor.
But while Tintoretto's workshop helped in executing works commissioned for palaces of the rich and noble, the artist was believed to have mainly executed his paintings in churches himself.
Retired Facebook Favorite Quotes
Just reading some Leonardo da Vinci, and thought I'd change my "Favorite Quotes" on Facebook...
Here are the retirees, some of which have already appeared previously on "MMC":
- "Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects." -Will Rogers, humorist
- "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." -Mother Teresa
- "In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught." -Baba Dioum, Senegalese environmentalist
- "Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life." - Dr. David M. Burns
- "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.... Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings -- that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide." - Buddha
- "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle." -Philo of Alexandria, ancient philosopher
- "I feel the vacuum, the loneliness, the silence, the dehydration of the soul as people who desperately want to save our constitution, our country and planet still wander the street without knowing how to say hi to one another." -Sam Smith
- "The mind, once expanded to the dimensions of bigger ideas, never returns to its original size." -Oliver Wendell Holmes
- "A book ought to be the ax to break the frozen sea within us." -Anton Chekhov
- "Being a graduate student is like becoming all of the Seven Dwarves. In the beginning you're Dopey and Bashful. In the middle, you are usually sick (Sneezy), tired (Sleepy), and irritable (Grumpy). But at the end, they call you Doc, and then you're Happy." -Ronald T. Azuma, CS Engineer
- "The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you're hungry again." - George Miller
Previously retired Facebook quotes:
- "Sacred cows make the best hamburger." - Mark Twain
- "Get not your friends by bare compliments, but by giving them sensible tokens of your love." -Socrates
- "Indifference to the wonder of being is the root of all sin." -Abraham Heschel, Rabbi, Professor, Holocaust survivor
- "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx
- "Either that wallpaper goes or I do." - Oscar Wilde, last words.
Return of the Fun Quizzes of Questionable Utility!
"To most Americans, an accent is something that only other people have, those other people usually being in New York, Boston, and the South. And of those other people, half of the ones you meet will swear they 'don't have an accent.' Well, strictly speaking, the only way to not have an accent is to not speak. If you're from anywhere in the USA you have an accent (which may or may not be the accent of the place you're from). Go through this short quiz and you'll find out just which accent that is..."
My results? Southern?? Apparently, not so much!
(via The Presurfer)
My results? Southern?? Apparently, not so much!
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop." | |
| The Midland | |
| The Northeast | |
| Philadelphia | |
| The South | |
| The West | |
| Boston | |
| North Central | |
| What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes | |
Different ways for bloggers to say "Sorry, I haven't posted in a while..."
(via grow-a-brain)
Oh, BTW, "sorry I haven't posted in a while..."
(My brain must not have been overflowing with "mental clutter"!)
:-)
Quote of the Day...
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice, there is."
- Chuck Reid
(Anybody know who this guy is???)
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