Konrad Adenauer

"History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided."

Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer, German Chancellor from 1949 - 1963, was the oldest democratically elected leader in world history. He was 73 at the time of his election.

In 1917, during World War I, he was mayor of Cologne, an office he lost when Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933. Persecuted for his criticism of the new regime, he was imprisoned in 1944 (some sources say he was in fact sent to a concentration camp), but was restored to his former office at the end of World War II. (Interestingly, he was restored to the position by U.S. military authorities, but it only took the British four months to remove him from office after they assumed control of the city. Apparently they hadn't appreciated the way he considered Germans their equals.)

Just a few years after his renewed fall from office he was appointed by the Bundestag as chancellor to Germany - by a majority of only one vote. He kept the office for fourteen years, founding the Bundeswehr (German army), bringing Germany into NATO, and bringing about the Élysée Treaty between West Germany and France. He was much criticized for refusing to even attempt unification between East and West Germany, believing that a strong, democratic West Germany allied with Western powers would act as a sort of magnet that would bring down the East German regime without the to him distasteful need to deal with the Soviet Union. He called his policy "Politik der Stärke" - Policy of Strength.

He is remembered as one of Germany's greatest Chancellors - indeed, in 2003 he was voted the "greatest German of all time" in a contest by the television broadcaster ZDF, for which more than three million votes were cast.

Andrew Tarusov

There's a lot of Disney fan-art out there, but the villains are less commonly depicted than the princesses. Originally from Russia, this California-based artist created pin-up versions of some of Disney's most iconic villains - and they look gorgeous! Check this out:

Lady Tremaine from Cinderella

The Evil Queen from Snow White

Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty

Mother Gothel from Tangled

Madame Medusa from The Rescuers

Ursula from The Little Mermaid

무시무시한

무시무시한 is a Korean word that, transliterated, looks like this: mushimushihan. 

Guess what it means? Hellacious, ghastly, horrific, and many other such synonyms. A word that sounds like "mushy"! (Of course, "Muschi" in German means vagina... You can imagine my classmates' reactions the first time I used the word "mushy" in English class...)

...That's pretty much all I have to say about mushimushihan. I just thought it was a neat word (and "hellacious" as well)! You're welcome?

Rob Gonsalves

Rob Gonsalves is a surrealist painter (or "painter of magic realism", as Wikipedia calls him) born in Toronto, Canada. His paintings really are magical, typically merging two different concepts and scenes into one image that needs to be seen to be believed. Let me share with you a few of my favorites, and look at his other beautiful work here!

Vi Hart

Victoria Hart is a self-described "recreational mathemusician", and does very neat things with - you guessed it! - math and music. Above is her video "Twelve Tones", a fascinating exploration of such songs as "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" accompanied by neat little bits of information and some very cute drawings. It's funny, it's engaging, it's really very interesting, so check it out!

She has many other videos on her YouTube channel, and funny blog posts about the making of these on her website, so feel free to explore further. (Mom, you would probably enjoy watching her "Doodle Music" video with the little two!)

William Butler Yeats

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

W. B. Yeats was an Irish poet who recerived the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 as the first Irishman so honored. The Nobel Committee described his work as "always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation."

Tamsin van Essen

This artist is a British ceramicist who does some very interesting concept work based on scientific, medical and social historic themes. I found her "Vanitas" project particularly beautiful (probably because I'm very fond of swirls and squiggles), and here is her description for it:

Vanitas Vanitatum
A garniture of beauty and decay

This collection explores the transience of beauty and the vulnerability of excess. Inspired by the melancholy opulence of 17th century Dutch vanitas paintings, and the tragic allure of Dickens' Satis House, I aim to capture the fragile moment when abundance turns to decay.

An exuberance of decoration disrupts the vases' forms, implying deterioration and ruin. Frozen in time just as disintegration begins, the vases represent an ornamental memento mori, hinting at the impermanence of existence and the inevitable decline of beauty.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Today I finally read the first and greatest classic of vampire literature: Dracula! What a fascinating read, and so well-written even though the language seems rather antiquated now. (I found it particularly lovely how commonly people would be described as being "sweet" - speaking sweetly, or with a sweet look in their eye, or any number of sweet things - and this heedless of gender. What a great word!)

My favorite character was definitely Van Helsing, not because probably the most famous vampire anime is called Hellsing (and the main vampire, Alucard, is a fascinatingly creepy person), but because he was such a genuine, passionate, yet logical person. It was he, more than anyone else, that brought together the group of people going up against Count Dracula, he who spurred them on and cautioned them and was both wise and passionate in his speech and manner.

Interesting also was finding out that the entire story is told through diary entries and letters, something I hadn't realized before starting the book. If you haven't read it, you can do so here! It's quite a compelling read.

Marcin Sacha

The air today smelled of snow and winter, and Marcin Sacha's work seems appropriately dreamy and tranquil to share with you today. This Polish photographer has an incredible portfolio full of colors both muted and vibrant, breathtaking landscapes, candid photos of people, and surrealist photography - and it is all worth checking out. I particularly like the foggy landscapes, and here are a few of my favorites.

From the album "Tuscany":

From the album "Fog":

Each album has many, many more photos than I can show you here, and it was difficult to choose only these six! Really, check out his portfolio - it's amazing.  
 

Bikers Against Child Abuse

Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) is a non-profit organization operating in 46 U.S. states and 9 countries. Their sole purpose is to empower abused children, and they do so by providing them the physical and emotional support that family members and therapists are unable to.

There's a wonderful article by reporter Karina Bland that you can read in its entirety on azcentral.com, and I highly recommend that you do - it's a touching, heart-warming tale of these bikers and the good they do in the lives of frightened chilren, standing guard against their abusers and their nightmares.

Here's just an excerpt from the article - follow the link for the rest (and photos!):

"The biker image is what makes this work," says Rembrandt, 54, who is tall and wiry strong. "Golfers against child abuse does not have the same feel. The pink alligator shirt and golf shoes standing in the driveway doesn't do the same thing."

(No offense to golfers. Some bikers golf, too.)

What Rembrandt knows is that a biker's power and intimidating image can even the playing field for a little kid who has been hurt. If the man who hurt this little girl calls or drives by, or even if she is just scared, another nightmare, the bikers will ride over and stand guard all night.

If she is afraid to go to school, they will take her and watch until she's safely inside.

And if she has to testify against her abuser in court, they will go, too, walking with her to the witness stand and taking over the first row of seats. Pipes will tell her, "Look at us, not him." And when she's done, they will circle her again and walk her out.

Graham Gercken

Today's artist is Australian painter Graham Gercken, whose Fall paintings in particular are spectacular. Riotous in color, yet evocative of crisp air and the sounds of nature, I would love to have any of these on my wall.

Shakespearified Modern Slang

This is too good not to share. Here are some modern phrases, and how Shakespeare might have said them. I particularly like "talk to the hand" and "TL;DR" (too long; didn't read). Clever!

Bibimbap

Bibimbap (비빔밥, literally "mixed rice") is a Korean dish that consists of a bowl of warm rice topped with vegetables, and sometimes egg or meat. Sauce (typically gochujang, chili pepper paste) is added and everything mixed together before eating.

When I had this dish in Seoul, the vegetables were all raw and the only sauce was gochujang, so I didn't enjoy it very much. It seems, however, that the vegetables are supposed to be sautéed and seasoned, and bibimbap is widely considered one of the world's most delicious foods! Anastasia prepared bibimbap recently along with two friends of hers, and I have to say, it was delicious.

In the above photo fried carrot, zucchini, and scallion are joined by cucumber and pickled radish, with lightly fried bean sprouts arranged in the center. Sesame seeds are sprinkled on top, and what you can't see under the vegetables are the layer of minced meat and the generous portion of white rice that serves as a base for it all. Mix it all together and voila! You have a delicious, and flavorful meal. Gochujang is optional.

Adam S Doyle

Another artist with bold brushstrokes, Adam S Doyle's animals are airy and evocative, captured beautifully with heavy strokes that still manage to give the pieces a sense of lightness. I particularly love his birds and wolves.

Bonsai

A bonsai (盆栽, literally "plantings in tray")is a tree that is carefully pruned and shaped to remain a diminutive size while mimicking the style and shape of mature, full-size trees. The Japanese art of bonsai began in the 6th century, when Japanese diplomats brought back penjing (盆景, literally "tray scenery") from mainland China, though the Japanese repidly developed their own aesthetics for the art.

From Wikipedia: "Generally speaking, tree penjing specimens differ from bonsai by allowing a wider range of tree shapes (more "wild-looking") and by planting them in bright-colored and creatively shaped pots. In contrast, bonsai are more simplified in shape (more "refined" in appearance) with larger-in-proportion trunks, and are planted in unobtrusive, low-sided containers with simple lines and muted colors." (It seems, however, that different regions of Japan developed different styles - by the late 1860s Tokyo and Kyoto had different styles when it came to bonsai, and neither approved of the other.)

In Utsubo Monogatari (Tale of the Hollow Tree, year 970), Japan's oldest full-length narrative (a literary style comparable to the epic), there is a passage that illustrates the Japanese mindset in this point in history fairly well: "A tree that is left growing in its natural state is a crude thing. It is only when it is kept close to human beings who fashion it with loving care that its shape and style acquire the ability to move one."

One has to say, though, that Japanese aesthetics are manyfold and intricate, considered in Western society as more of a philosophy than anything else while within Japan they are considered an integral part of life. A key point of Japanese aesthetics is mono no aware, a concept originated by Motoori Norinaga in the 18th century, which describes empathy towards beauty. In his Shibun Yoryo (The Essentials of the Tale of Genji, 1763), Norinaga describes it as such:

For instance, if a man, viewing beautiful cherry-blossoms in full bloom, appreciates them as beautiful, he is aware of mono no kokoro or the heart of the thing. Being aware of the beauty of the blossoms, he is moved by it. That is, he is sensitive to mono no aware. In contrast, if a man, whatever beautiful flowers he sees, does not feel them to be beautiful, he is not aware of mono no kokoro. Such a man is never moved by the beauty of the flowers. That is to say, he is not sensitive to mono no aware.

In Japanese culture, a main point of life is to appreciate ephemeral things such as the cherry blossoms, and this certainly extends to bonsai, for which there are many rules. These little trees are trimmed and shaped to best reflect wabi-sabi, perhaps the most important of Japanese aesthetic ideals. This ideal concerns the elegance in imperfection, simplicity and age. In art books, it is typically defined as "flawed beauty". Being moved by wabi-sabi is to be sensitive to mono no aware, and I hope you feel a part of these concepts when admiring the below bonsai from the Japanese collection of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the U.S. National Arboretum.

Japanese Maple, in training since 1906

Hornbeam, in training since 1935

Japanese White Pine, training date unknown

These miniature trees are cultivated over decades, often more than a century, but I do have to giggle at the phrase "in training since"! An interesting turn of phrase to use for trees. It makes me think more of martial art than the art of careful trimming.

Leck Mich Im Arsch

Did you know that Mozart composed a canon literally titled "Lick Me in the Ass"? I didn't know until just now. It's quite a fun canon, too, sung by six voices in a three-part round. It's uncertain what the original lyrics were, but it seems they might have just been repetitions of the line, "Leck mich im Arsch g'schwindi," of which the last word means 'quickly' and is 'geschwind' in its correct spelling.

The most common bowdlerized (censored, reworked) version translates to:
Let us be glad!
Grumbling is in vain!
Growling, droning is in vain,
is the true bane of life,
Droning is in vain,
Growling, droning is in vain, in vain!
Thus let us be cheerful and merry, be glad!

This is the canon - with notes and lyrics! Enjoy.

Silvia Cordedda

Look at this beautiful fractal art by Silvia Cordedda. I saw them only as small thumbnails and am so glad I clicked on the images, because these are best viewed separately and in their full glory. Her deviantART page has other magical work, so be sure to check it out!

Nightfall

Radiance

Malaise

Glimmer on a Sunday Afternoon

Belle Starr

Shed not for her the bitter tear
Nor give the heart to vain regret,
'Tis but the casket that lies here,
The gem that fills it sparkles yet.

The above poem is the epitaph on the tombstone of Belle Starr, the "Bandit Queen". A notorious American outlaw and leader of a band of cattle and horse thieves in the Oklahoma Territory, Belle Starr (born Myra Maybelle Shirley) married three different bandits and associated with other outlaw bands, most notoriously the James-Younger Gang (of which the most (in)famous member is probably Jesse James). A quote by her reads, "I am a friend to any brave and gallant outlaw."

Makuragaeshi

Japanese folk tales have a lot of different ghosts and spirits, many of them geared towards silly or terrifying pranks (such as creating typhoons at funerals, luring humans off cliffs by rolling downhill in the shape of a sake bottle, or sneaking up behind women in the street at night and cutting off their hair). You can check out some of these strange and interesting monsters in these illustrations that describe their anatomy, and if you're familiar with Japanese tales you will be unsurprised to see that quite a few of them consume human souls. There are, however, differing tales in which certain spirits will be more or less dangerous: The Bisha-ga-tsuku, for example, is also said to simply pass you by if you invite it to.

Yesterday I came across a spirit called Makuragaeshi,  which translates to "pillow flipper" or "pillow mover", and thought it was too neat not to share. It's a ghost that haunts specific rooms in a house, and the main thing it does is - you guessed it - flip people's pillows while they sleep! They may also run through ashes and leave dirty footprints all over the house, or sit on a sleeping person's chest to squeeze the air out of their lungs, or, in some of the more sinister tales, steal someone's soul while they're unconscious.

The Japanese do like their soul-stealing spirits.

The Makuragaeshi is generally said to take on the form of a small child dressed as either a Nio (Buddhist guardian), a monk, or a samurai, of which I chose to illustrate the second. Dirty footprints lead up to the bed, where a girl sleeps restlessly, the Makuragaeshi pressing down on her chest as it removes the pillow from under her head. A small smile curves the prankster's lips as the girl's breathing becomes labored... Whether or not it also steals her soul is left to your imagination.

[Edit 07.10.2015: I found out today that the origins of the words "nightmare" and "Alptraum" (English and German, respectively) are of a creature that would sit on the chest of a sleeping person, putting pressure on their lungs and giving them bad dreams. The original word, "mahr", is Germanic, and an "alb" is a demon or elf. How neat!]

Chemehuevi Pottery

I spent several days in San Diego this summer, and saw some pretty neat things: Tide pools, sea lions, rock formations (which Google now tells me are not, in fact, called tafoni), traditional crafts, and much, much more. For now, however, I want to post about some of the aforementioned traditional crafts!

The Chemehuevi are an indigenous people of the Great Basin, and as part of the Southern Paiute people traditionally lived in the Colorado River basin and Mojave Desert. Taken directly from the Wikipedia page: "Chemehuevi" has multiple interpretations. It is considered to either be a Mojave term meaning "those who play with fish;"^[6] or a Quechan word meaning "nose-in-the-air-like-a-roadrunner."^[7] The Chemehuevi call themselves Nüwüwü ("The People", singular Nüwü)^[8][9] or Tantáwats, meaning "Southern Men."^[7]

When visiting the Seeley Stable Museum in Old Town San Diego we saw some very nice baskets and pottery, of which I know for sure that the baskets are by Chemehuevi weavers but unfortunately cannot remember whether the pottery was by the same people. Unable to find anything to either prove or disprove it, I'm afraid I'll simply assume for now that the pottery is also by the Chemehuevi.

Look at this, though! Isn't it gorgeous?

The sign reads "As a consequence, by 1975, there is no Chemehuevi basket weaving being done." Not only a rather sad message, but also unindicative of the origins of these pots.

Erik Olson

The Earth, Neptune and Saturn are so strikingly depicted with thick brushstrokes on a black background in these representations of planets by artist Erik Olson, and I wanted to share them with you. Beautiful!

MOBSTR

Just a quick visual post to get back in the swing of posting here! I came across this graffiti artist today and thought his stuff was pretty fun. Have a few examples and check out his website here!