Asai Seisakusho (Nejiya) Ltd. is a small factory, ran by one man, in Japan. It produces 400,000 screws per day. The work it takes to maintain the machines, manage orders, preform quality control, order the supplies he needs, and do the books is amazing to consider. When done with his workday he says he goes home and drinks beer. That sounds well deserved to me.
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Leon Wyczółkowski (1852-1936) was a Polish artist. He started out as a realist, but as he traveled and matured, he was to be exposed to many other artistic styles which he folded into his work. The strongest influence was impressionism which informed the play of light in his works.
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| Leon Wyczółkowski self-portrait |
May Day, that most wonderful day of the year, falls on a Friday! And so, we have some uplifting music as you prepare for your festive struggle sessions, traditional bread line occupying, and lording it over the wreckers and hoarders! And always remember, you need to break an egg to make an omelet, and you may need to break millions of Kulak's heads to make a Socialist utopia! Your future as a useful idiot beckons!
Have a Happy May Day comrades and enjoy your tree bark snacks as you listen to some melodious and inspiring tunes!
This video takes place in Borneo. It is shrimp season, so they travel down a river to get some shrimp and then return to their home, which is in a long building divided into apartments. They grill and pan fry the shrimp and enjoy their dinner. After eating they relax on the patio area in front of their apartment and then take a walk through the village.
If you want to get some sense of what they are talking about you'll need to turn on Captions>Auto-translate>English. Much of what you'll get will be gibberish, but you can follow along here and there.
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Email has largely replaced written mail, but back in the day it was as feature of life. Now it is little but bills and advertising flyers. These are pictures from the time when the letter was king: postmen, postal workers, mail delivery, reading letters, and mailboxes.
The Taroko National Park in Taiwan is centered around a rather spectacular gorge. The marble cliffs that surround the river that created the gorge are steep and very tall. Along with marble, there are a lot of jade deposits. It is a very impressive natural wonder.
I've been to it. In fact, the hotel he shows is the place that I stayed in. Within walking distance of it is a small village with street stalls, the tall pagoda, and various other temples and monasteries. Throughout the gorge are many other temples. It is well worth a visit if you're in the neighborhood. The gorge itself is spectacular.
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George du Maurier (1834-1896) was a French novelist and artist who settled in London. He was a caricaturist whose illustrations appeared primarily in the satirical Punch weekly magazine. His subjects were the upper class of the Victorian era.
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16th Century Russian tax collectors conducting an audit |
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Henri Rivière (1864-1951) was French artist. When Japan opened up in the 1850s a wave of goods had entered Europe, including woodprints which considerably influenced European artists. They were to influence Rivière as well.
In 1888 the construction of the Eiffel tower began. Inspired by Hokusai’s Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji Rivière decided to do a similar portfolio featuring the tower. He started by trying to replicate the Japanese printing process, although he actually didn't know how it was done. His experimentation led to two prints, but it was a costly and time-consuming process, so he abandoned it for lithography for the rest of the series.
These images are from the Public Domain Review' post Henri Rivière’s Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower (1888–1902). There are more images at that post, as well as a discussion of his series.
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A fellow decides to investigate where the Zzyzx road goes. Because of its odd name I had heard of the road, although I had no idea where it was. It turns out that it is in the Mojave Desert. At the end of it was a mineral springs and health spa founded by Curtis Howe Springer, a mid-20th century quack who was peddling medicinal potions. It is now used as a university's research station.
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The eggs have been decorated, the Easter Bunny has hidden them away, if you're of the mind you've gone to Church, and an Easter meal awaits. Below, in keeping with my habit of posting artwork on Sunday, I offer a small sample of lily paintings.
Happy Easter all.
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Chushingura, or the 47 Rōnin, is a popular Japanese story. It has been told and retold, in various media and with various interpretations. It is about the samurai honor, duty, and revenge.
It is based on a true incident in 18th century Japan. In the Shogun's court two functionaries, Kira and Asano, got into a dispute and one of them, Asano, attacked the other. Because drawing a weapon was forbidden in the Shogun's palace, justice was swift. The fight was in the morning, and by the afternoon the offender was condemned and sentenced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide).
At Asano's death his followers became Ronin, which were unaffiliated samurai. Living in poverty, they plotted for two years and eventually invaded Kira's mansion to avenge their lord. Kira was killed, but the 47 Ronin also sealed their fates with the attack. The Shogun had outlawed their revenge, and so when the raid was over, they turned themselves in and, by imperial edict, had to commit seppuku themselves.
Shortly after the raid plays were written about it. In these plays the Ronin were portrayed as honorable men who had upheld their honor by avenging their leader's death. As the linked article states:
The reason why the tale of the 47 Ronin created such a fuss at that time and became so valued and important in modern Japan is because, according to Benedict, the Japanese have a great appetite for stories of relentless heroes who settle debts by choosing death as the solution. In the West, this type of narrative would be considered resignation to a cruel fate.
In Japan, however, they are chronicles of initiative and unyielding determination in which the heroes exert all their efforts to fulfill an obligation that is incumbent upon them and, in doing so, they redeem themselves from another. The sympathy for the selfless hero comes from the fact that he fulfilled his duty at all costs without anything – helplessness, illness, pain or death – diverting him from his path.
The above video shows what a 16th century explorer's ship would a have looked like, from its hull construction to its rigging. Such ships were small, with a shallow draft so they could work closer to coastlines. As you can see, while not having cargo space like a merchant would have, it was heavily armed if it needed to fight. It looks like the living conditions would have been miserable.
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Maximilien Luce (1858–1941) was a French neo-impressionist painter who also experimented heavily with pointillism. He painted landscapes, portraits, workers, WWI soldiers, scenes of the industrial revolution, and everyday activities.
In his younger years he was an active anarchist. In 1894 he was arrested upon suspicion that he was involved in the conspiracy to assassinate the French president. However, he was acquitted and released after 42 days. Later in his life he drifted away from active participation in politics.
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| Maximilien Luce self-portrait |
Fred and his wife decide to build a fallout shelter in their basement to protect their family in case WWIII breaks out. It ends up being a fairly small concrete block room in the corner. It looks awfully small for 4 people for 2 weeks, but I guess it will have to do.
They stock it with supplies, although I didn't see any guns. Have they not watched any sci-fi TV shows about nuclear war? How do they plan on driving off their panicking neighbors when the big one drops and they try to break in? And that's not even covering how to handle the raiders and mutants when they exit the shelter. Seems like sloppy planning to me.
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Aristarkh Lentulov (1882 - 1943) was a Russian avant-garde painter. His main influence was cubism, but he also used the colorful palette of fauvism and mixed in other influences as he evolved. He painted a lot of cityscapes.
He supported the October Revolution and for a while after it he was heavily involved in the Russian art scene: he painted murals, did set design, and taught art. However, when Stalin embraced the Soviet Heroic Man style of art for propaganda Lentulov's influence waned. Although he was never caught up in the purges, he faded into relative obscurity.
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| Aristarkh Lentulov self-portrait |
