Happy 4th Of July

I've decided that I'm going to make posting this picture on July 4th my own little blogging tradition (plus I like how it always makes me feel patriotic... in my pants). I hope everyone has a good time barbecuing or blowing shit up or whatever other red-blooded American things you plan on doing during my favorite country's birthday today.

President Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

This was unexpected but congratulations to the president just the same. In my opinion this is a bit premature and I actually think it could hurt him domestically although it will most likely give him more respect and gravitas internationally, which seems to have been the Nobel committee's intent. Regardless, prepare yourselves for the right-wingosphere to officially go batshit crazy in 3, 2, 1...

Happy 4th Of July

Yes, I realize that I used this same picture for last years July 4th post and if you can find me something else that makes me just as proud to be an American (and/or just as happy to possess a penis) you let me know. Until then, I hope everyone has a good time barbecuing or blowing shit up or whatever other red-blooded American things you plan on doing during my favorite country's birthday today.

Famed Nefertiti Bust "A Fake"

And I become just a bit more cynical. I'll explain after the link:

PARIS (AFP) — The bust of Queen Nefertiti housed in a Berlin museum and believed to be 3,400 years old in fact is a copy dating from 1912 that was made to test pigments used by the ancient Egyptians, according to Swiss art historian Henri Stierlin.

Stierlin, author of a dozen works on Egypt, the Middle East and ancient Islam, says in a just-released book that the bust currently in Berlin's Altes Museum was made at the order of German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt by an artist named Gerardt Marks.

"It seems increasingly improbable that the bust is an original," Stierlin told AFP.

The historian said the archaeologist had hoped to produce a new portrait of the queen wearing a necklace he knew she had owned, and was also looking to carry out a colour test with ancient pigments found at the digs.

But on December 6, 1912, the copy was admired as an original work by a German prince and the archaeologist "couldn't sum up the courage to ridicule" his guest, Stierlin said.

I studied archaeology in college and while I didn't specialize in ancient Egypt (I'm a much bigger fan of the Roman Empire) I've always found it to be an equally mysterious and fascinating culture. So I spent the summer of 2003 backpacking across Europe where I visited about a dozen countries, Germany being one of them and Berlin being one of the cities I spent some time in there.

Long story short: I visited this museum (amongst dozens of others that year) and I viewed this specific bust. More to the point, the museum was fairly crowded that day and when I walked into a small side room with this bust set on a pedestal in its middle and encased in a square glass cover it was surrounded by about 10-12 noisy and fairly annoying people. Just as I was lamenting the fact that I had to share the space with so many others (which I almost always do when I'm in a museum; if you have the same problem do what I did: become a museum member and donor. It's a completely different experience walking through silent and deserted galleries alone at night) everyone suddenly cleared out and moved on to the next exhibit.

And there I was, suddenly all alone in silence and face to face with this exceptionally gorgeous and ancient work of art. Now I'm not saying that I felt an explicit kinship with Nefertiti at that moment or that I suddenly channeled a past life as a pyramid builder in ancient Egypt or anything like that, but merely that in those few fleeting moments I felt a very real yet also surreal calm and enjoyment as I privately looked into the face of this beautiful woman who ruled over an entire kingdom thousands of years before I was born. It was a feeling that I still remember quite vividly, so much so that it is one of the more lucid and cherished memories of my trip.

And now I just found out that it's a fake. And while the moment and the feelings that it elicited are still and will always be with me, I must admit that the entire experience now feels slightly cheapened by this recent revelation. And I become just a bit more cynical. And I subsequently open my second bottle of Chardonnay of the night...

(via)

Happy Little Trees Live Again

From Neatorama:

Honestly, I’ve had a crush on Bob Ross ever since I was a little girl. It was something in the way he stroked the canvas and talked in that ever soothing voice about happy little trees and clouds. He mesmerized me in every way he could. Now he’s gone, and it becomes harder and harder to find his shows on TV. Even PBS seems to turn its back to the man who invented hotel room painting.

But we are in the internet age now and love everything retro. To my surprise and disbelief I found a Bob Ross channel on Yubby.com dedicated to Bob Ross and filled with all sorts of his happy little videos. Finally there is bliss in my life again. Even more important: I found a great video collection to fall asleep to!

I used to watch this guy all the time as a kid. He painted beautiful landscapes with a minimum of effort and his voice was indeed more soothing than watching the Golf Channel; you can watch his old shows here.

Bye Bye, Boomers

I've been watching the Obama inauguration on the cable news channels all day and Pat Buchanan just said something on MSNBC that made me think (I know: Buchanan, what were the odds?) He and the other pundits were discussing parts of President Obama's inauguration speech, specifically this passage:

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights. Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics. We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.

I admit that it's a testament to my own partisanship (which I try very hard to control whenever possible but I'm only human) that when Obama spoke about the failures of the past and the challenges that he's inherited I immediately thought, "Damn, he's totally dissing George W. Bush while the guy's sitting right next to him!" Buchanan however had a slightly different take: he said that not only was Obama's criticism leveled at the Bush administration but that it was also an indictment of the Clinton administration before that and this gave me pause.

It's true: in the past Obama has never gone out of his way to avoid blaming Clinton for his failures as president, which I'm sure goes a long way toward explaining the animosity we saw between him and the Clintons during the election last year. But I think Obama meant for his words to convey an even more expansive message than what Buchanan has suggested. I think he meant for his condemnations to apply not just to the Bush and Clinton administrations but in fact to their entire generation, the Baby Boomers.

These two former presidents are not just members of this generation, they're personifications of the two opposing sides of the culture war that has defined it for almost half a century. Had Hillary Clinton won the Democratic nomination rather than Obama and maybe Giuliani the Republican one rather than McCain, we would have seen the absolute worst aspects of this ideological struggle played out against a national backdrop yet again, but mercifully we were spared this cultural bloodletting. Instead the main differences between the candidates last year became generational: Generation Jones supplanting the Boomers rather than the usual 60's infighting and this allowed Obama to win the argument.

So the Boomers are out and Obama has already acknowledged the historical nature and significance of this transition of power. When he speaks of change these are the concepts that principally go through my mind: new generations of Americans thinking up new ideas and new ways of doing things to tackle the old problems that have plagued us for so long now, actually instituting change in politics rather than callously paying that word mere lip service and working towards making the entire country better instead of catering only to certain interest groups or political parties. Obama has promised to be measured and pragmatic when confronting the struggles America faces in the 21st century, which to my mind will be a welcome shift from the last eight years of swaggering and shooting from the hip. Whether he becomes a successful leader governing this way or not remains to be seen but I still have hope, for every generation.

Obamatopia Classic

Do you remember that flush you felt whenever you thought about Barack Obama 6 months ago? Actually, neither do I, but I have to say: the world looks pretty good after 2 terms:

Something I Wish I'd Said

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." -Mahatma Ghandi

George Lucas Frozen In Carbonite

Admit it: you've wanted to see this ever since you first saw Jar Jar Binks in Episode I; and he deserves it, the pretentious prick.

[Update: Apparently someone has made a frozen Jar Jar exhibit as well; I still think Lucas is a self-indulgent asshole though.]

The Most Beautiful Suicide

The caption from Life magazine, 1947:

On May Day, just after leaving her fiancé, 23-year-old Evelyn McHale wrote a note. 'He is much better off without me ... I wouldn't make a good wife for anybody,' ... Then she crossed it out. She went to the observation platform of the Empire State Building. Through the mist she gazed at the street, 86 floors below. Then she jumped. In her desperate determination she leaped clear of the setbacks and hit a United Nations limousine parked at the curb. Across the street photography student Robert Wiles heard an explosive crash. Just four minutes after Evelyn McHale's death Wiles got this picture of death's violence and its composure.

Happy 4th Of July

This is why the terrorists hate us: jealousy, baby. Hope everyone has a good time barbecuing or blowing shit up or whatever other red-blooded American things you plan on doing during my favorite country's birthday today.

Dude, You're Not Helping...

The picture above was taken at a pro-Tibet rally in San Francisco. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with protesters: I frequently agree with their motivations and I really do appreciate that they're out there calling attention to just causes that need media exposure, while at the same time I imagine that they must be some of the most annoying, self-righteous jerks on the face of the planet. Plus many of them are stinky, self-styled hippies, which just compounds my frustration with the whole issue.

Now I am no fan of Communist China; I personally find their history of human rights abuses, especially where Tibet is concerned, abhorant and disgusting and I had serious reservations when I heard that they were granted the right to host the 2008 Olympic games. On the other hand, what good does it do the Free Tibet movement to have idiots like the guy who made this sign out there making everyone else look like ignorant fools?

I equate actions like this to all of those morons at anti-war rallies advertising for Mercedes-Benz instead of waving peace signs, which only gives right-wing hatemongers like the woman I just linked to more ammunition against them on these important issues. There are some people that you just don't want on your side because their actions will only hurt your cause; I have a feeling that Jimbo knows exactly how I feel:

The Dream Lives On

40 years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was fatally shot on the 2nd floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN by an assassin's bullet. While I'm not religious I've always had a great deal of respect and true admiration for Dr. King; if you've never read his "Letter From Birmingham Jail" I would highly recommend doing so. It is an extraordinarily eloquent piece of correspondence, making the case that civil disobedience is justified in the face of unjust laws while citing a myriad of historical, biblical and literary characters and events without the aid of any reference books or even the Google.

Here is his famous "I Have a Dream" speech delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC to over a quarter million peace marchers. It is regarded as one of the finest speeches in the history of American oratory and is as powerful today as when it was first spoken:

Peace Hits Middle Age

The peace symbol will be turning 50 years old tomorrow. Groovy.