Thursday, October 20, 2005

Web Gallery of [European] Art

This is a great site of European art, with something like 13,000 works of various media.

In particular I found the Medieval Section to be fascinating, especially the illuminated manuscripts.

Also of interest are sections on "unknown artists", for example the unknown Flemish Masters. Look for "Masters" in the M section.

Finally, I spent some time in the in depth sections on Michelangelo and Bernini.

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Wednesday, October 19, 2005

New Favorite Musician - Jonathan Coulton

Though his 15 minutes of fame are nearly up with the entire Baby Got Back fanfare, this guys stuff is very cool.

Some day I'll have to buy a CD or two.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

A Tale of Two Movies

It was the best of box office receipts, it was the worst of box office receipts.

From the Yahoo! Movies weekend box office rankings:
This Wk Last WkTitleWeekend Gross Cumulative GrossRlseWks# ofTheaters
21-Good Night, And Good Luck.$421,446$421,446111
2218Oliver Twist$411,790$1,715,3983779


Especially striking is the "number of theaters" column.

I suppose what this tells us is that either people really don't like pedophiliac rapists, or that people are not interested in Dickens. Take your pick. Oh, and that George Clooney still has his box office mojo.

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Thursday, October 06, 2005

The Refrigerator Joke

This is my favorite joke, and I tell it whenever joke telling is encouraged. Andrew Tobias asked for a joke, so this is what I sent him:

Three guys die and go to heaven. St. Peter says "Listen - we're having a really busy century, so we need to manage admissions tightly. Right now we can only admit people who have died in horrible fashions, and those who have died in a more mundane way will have to wait in limbo, and it could take a decade or two to work you in."

So St. Peter takes aside the first man, and asks him how he died.
"Well, I'd been suspicious of my wife having an affair for some time now, so today I came home from work early. I just knew the guy was in my apartment, but I couldn't find him. I looked everywhere and was just about to give up, when I went out on the balcony of my 23rd story apartment and there he was hanging over the edge! He was just barely hanging on, there was no way he could climb back onto the balcony. It was a really stupid place to try to hide. I was livid, so I started punching him and clawing at his fingers, but he held on. Finally I went to get a hammer and started pounding on his fingers, and he fell down. But what really angered me was that he landed in some bushes and fell to the ground dazed, but basically OK! I was so mad I grabbed the refrigerator, threw it off the balcony and it landed on him. Unfortunately I was so riled up by the incident I had a heart attack and died."

St. Peter was taken aback, and said "While you did die in a dramatic fashion, I think we need to look at that whole second degree murder before we let you in - off to limbo with you." He then approached the second man and asked him how he had died.

"I was riding my exercise bike on the balcony of my 24th story apartment, when the thing broke and threw me over the railing! I grabbed furiously at the railing and slipped, but managed to catch on the balcony below mine. I tried to climb up but it just wasn't possible. I thought I was going to fall but then someone came out on the balcony. I thought he would help me, until he started hitting me! I held on as best I could, but when he got a hammer and started hitting me I finally couldn't hold on anymore and fell. Somehow, though, I fell in some bushes and fell to the ground dazed, but basically OK! Just as I'm coming around, I look up and BAM this refrigerator lands on me. So here I am."

St. Peter immediately admitted this second man to heaven, and pulled aside the third man and asked him for his story.

"Picture this: I'm hiding naked in a refrigerator..."

My Daughter, the Four Year Old Libertarian

Last night I was telling the story of Robin Hood to Sabina. She's at the age where she constantly needs to stop stories to ask questions. "Why did the wicked queen want to hurt Snow White?"

As I was telling the story, I said that the Sheriff wanted to catch Robin Hood.

She interrupted again - "Why does the catcher want Robin Hood?"
"Because Robin Hood took all of his tax money to give back to the people," I said.
"But it's not his money, it's the people's money!"

Four years old and she already grasps the concept of taxation.

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