Harems

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The Western world did not employ the harem system. The Moors and Turks did have harems, and they exerted a significant influence of the imaginations of Europeans. Of course, Europeans could never actually enter a harem, so what they painted was a pure fantasy of licentious oriental opulence with, when considered, Western women living out a 19th Century version of the Hand Maiden's Tale, while the men... well, you know what was on their minds.

India and China also had harems. The Chinese were structured, rather than just grabbing pretty girls off of the streets, Chinese concubines would be the carefully vetted daughters of influential families sent to the crown for social and political purposes. 

There are a number of Chinese and Korean dramas set in harems. The dramas, which are entertaining, frequently feature a lowly girl who, although she tries to flunk the concubine selection process, passes it and ends up on the bottom rung of the concubine hierarchy. The harem is populated a bunch of other maids and concubines busily backstabbing each other to climb the social ladder of the palace. She'll have to use her wits and guile to survive. It gets more complicated when, since she's such a fetching vixen, she captures the Emperor's eye and has the Emperess (his wife) and the Empress Dowager (his mother) as well as eunuchs and advisors out to foil her as well.     

Seň Bilen Başga

Get ready for a lovey-dovey weekend with Myahri.

 

Atomic steam engines

Cashing in on the 1950s fascination with atomic energy Louis Marx and Company released the Linemar Atomic Reactor. It was actually a steam engine, with its boiler disguised as the reactor dome and a battery powered cooling tower that had moving lights in it. I guess the moving lights simulated the atomic power surging within the plant.

The German company Wilesco with their R200 Nuclear Reactor steam engine (in the above video) was another steam powered nuclear power plant facsimile. It was released in the 1960s and its high price, coupled with a growing stigma attached to nuclear power, led it not being successful in the toy steam engine market.

Finally, above is an actual radioactive toy from the 1950s. It is the Gilbert Radioactive Atomic Energy Lab Kit with Uranium. I'm sure I would have lusted after it in my boyhood and happily irradiated myself conducting experiments and what-not.

 

Corn (maize)

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Corn, also called maize, is a grain that is by weight the most produced in the world. It will not propagate naturally, it needs humans to raise it. It has many varieties and is used for both livestock feed and human consumption. These are paintings of corn cobs, corn fields, and corn being eaten.  

Southern Cross

Get ready for an antipodalized weekend with Dave Pallett. 

 

The ouija board

This video discusses the ouija board the well-known toy, er... I mean mystical device for communicating with spirits. It is an interesting discussion of its evolution from Victorian era spiritual quackery to its current state.

For those interested in receiving ghostly wisdom from a ouija board, but don't have one handy, I found an online ouija board you can use. It doesn't seem the same as having the planchette magically moving under your fingertips, but hey -- snake oil is snake oil so it will do in a pinch.

   

Jim Beckner's art

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Jim Beckner is a contemporary American artist based out of Colorado. His major subject is cityscapes. As he says he is less interested in the drawing aspects of painting -- form and outline -- and is instead more interested in the color and movement of his subject matter, hence his rich palette and heavy brushwork.  

All The News Is Bad

Get ready for a bitter pilled weekend with The Stray Birds.

 

Happy May Day comrades!

A young comrade keeping a sharp eye out
for counter-revolutionaries and/or Kulaks

Yes, it is the most wonderful day of the year -- May Day! I hope you will all have a fine time celebrating the wonders of the proletariat! I'll be spending my time looking for a bread line to stand in, snacking on tree bark, keeping an eye out for hoarders and wreckers, and of course studying my Little Red Book! Granted that last is a bit difficult because it is written in Chinese, and I don't read Chinese, but a little thing like that never stops us Soviet men!

So, enjoy your struggle sessions and have a good May Day comrade! Remember, you'll own nothing and enjoy it!       

 

The erosion of remembrance

Old faded photograph

And, well, I suppose that's partly why I don't have much faith in the notion of permanence.
Anything can be taken from you, at any moment. Even the past isn't guaranteed.
You can lose that, too, slowly, like water eating away at stone.
- Ava Reid - 

...perhaps it was more like a bread crumb than a proper piece of a memory,
but every lover of fairytales knew that bread crumb trails were always worth following.
- Stephanie Garber -

When memories fade, can one ever really return home?
- Floyd Skloot -

 

Fences make good neighbors

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Fortifications are for defense while fences are merely the physical manifestation of human boundaries. They can mark territory, enforce privacy, or -- in the case of American white picket fences -- stand as a symbol of domestic ambition. These are paintings of fences. Some rural, some urban, some dilapidated, some well maintained. Enjoy.

In The Jailhouse Now

Get ready for a calaboosed weekend with Cesar Benzoni.

 

Making a toaster meal

A cheerful English fellow decides to make a 3-course meal with his toaster. I'll admit that such an ambition never crossed my mind. Then again, I appear to be lagging far behind in toaster technology compared to him. I only have a 2-slot countertop toaster, while his, which he seems quite fond of, is considerably more elaborate. 

Call me a luddite if you must, but while I guess his meal turns out OK, I think there are far simpler ways to prepare it. Still, without such culinary pioneers how can civilization hope to progress? I imagine the fellow who thought to dry and ground up coffee beans, and then pour hot water over them, was laughed at by his tribe mates. Being a visionary can be a lonely path.

 

Easter Lilies

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On this Easter my picture post is a small collection of lilies. They are old naturalist pictures of the flowers from Picture Box Blue where you can find more examples. Enjoy your Easter.

I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire

Get ready for a phlogisticated weekend with Hot Club du Nax.

 

Walking in Thimphu

This is an afternoon walk in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. Thimphu is in a river valley, but it is high in the mountains (7,000 - 8,500 feet) making it one of the highest capitals in the world. The mountains in the background combined with the skyscape are quite striking. 

The city itself is very clean and well maintained. The architecture and decorative flourishes are very attractive. For the most part the people do not dress in western style clothes, instead the women wear an ankle length dress called a kira, and the men a gho which is a sort of robe that reaches to just above the knees. 

The city is comparatively very quiet, with little traffic or crowd noise, which gives it a very tranquil feeling. 

 

Santiago Rusiñol

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Santiago Rusiñol (1851-1931) was a Catalan artist, poet, playwright, and journalist active in the modernisme movement. His colors are interesting, sometimes unnaturally bright as he plays with light and shadow.  

Santiago Rusiñol

Surfer Girl

Get ready for a rip tide weekend with Dave Alvin.

 

Nuclear cooling towers

This video discusses hyperboloid shaped nuclear cooling towers and explains how they operate. He builds a clear model of one so you can see how the water and air flows within it to cycle cooled water back to the reactors. He also briefly discusses other methods of cooling nuclear power plants.   

   

Explorers

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It took a long time to flesh out the map of the Earth. For most of human history travelling any distance has been slow, arduous and frequently dangerous. In California Spanish missions were spaced about 30 miles apart because that was a day's travel on horseback. In these days of airplanes, automobiles, and passports that is a hard fact to grasp. Our ancestors had a greatly diminished horizon. 

Of course, there were always people who wandered far to see what was beyond their homeland's borders. The Romans and Chinese knew of each other, the Vikings pushed west to Newfoundland, The Polynesians opened up the South Pacific, the Chinese explored the Indian Ocean, and so forth. 

However, when we think of explorers we tend to think of the Age of Exploration -- that period when Europeans spread out and explored the globe, leading to the colonization of the New World, the seizing India, scrambling for Africa, and imposing Concession areas in China. 

Regardless of the outcome (and cultural admixtures are frequently very disruptive) the original explorers are quite fascinating. To leave one's home on a long and uncertain trip just so see what's there is a special sort of an ambition.     

Runtah (Trash)

Get ready for a strumpet shaming weekend with

3 Pemuda Berbahaya and Sallsa Bintan.

 

Gigantic bugs

The above animated video show insect sizes in comparison to each other. To portray the insects at a human scale, he concocts a scenario where space aliens land, zap the bugs with an embiggening ray, where they then rampage about causing mayhem. I felt sorry for the poor office workers who got stuck in the spider's web. 

Come to think of it, this would make a pretty good plot for a Sci-Fi channel movie of the week. They might even be able to top the CGI of this video. They would need a washed-up actress to play the female lead. Rachel Zegler comes to mind, now that she tanked her career, she probably could come for cheap.

      

The artwork of Firmin Baes

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Firmin Baes (1874-1943) was a Belgian artist who, although he also worked in oils, is primarily known for his pastel on canvas works. He was from a family of artists and began his career painting interior and exterior designs on buildings with his father. He soon moved onto paintings where he had considerable success. It is his work with pastels on canvas that he is most remembered for,

Firmin Baes

Livin' On The Edge

Get ready for a turbid weekend with

Séverine Ol, Bastien Phillips, Stefán J-Yvesson,

Sylvain Bizon, David Talbot, and Vincent Migeira.

 

Ebroin's Miniatures

A fellow named Ebroin runs the YouTube channel Ebroin's Miniatures. He builds dioramas and there are quite a few videos at his channel. The one above is of a small boat tied up to a pier. I must say I like the overly dramatic music used in the soundtrack -- it is rather majestic. 

  

Still life with glass

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Glass is an interesting subject for a painter. Being transparent, its form is primarily revealed by the light reflecting from it, or the distortion of the light passing through it. Add water to the glass and you have two transparent layers reflecting and light distorting areas to add complexion to the composition.