For Yourself's Reading Pleasure

[TheEarl]

He was shot.

Is it wrong for me to laugh at that as a punchline? Sounds more like a comic tale of the results of being a smart-arse than a historical event of someone ridiculing nasty people.

The Earl

 

[Boxlicker101]

I looked at the list and most of them are normal words that I see or use without thinking about it. I might see in a news article that somebody suffers from a spastic colon. I might read about a dwarf star. A magic act might be described as "He waved his wand and "poof" the rabbit disappeared. There is a TV show called "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" To me, a gyppo is either a swindler or some swindle being attempted.

Dita, I have been in restaurants in SF and the menus included a section marked "Beverages" and included coffee, soda, tea, mile, juices, etc. "Drinks" are taken to mean cocktails or highballs.

 

[TheEarl]

To me, a gyppo is either a swindler or some swindle being attempted.

But the derivation of that word comes from the belief that gypsies are untrustworhty and will swindle you given half a chance.

The Earl

 

[Boxlicker101]

But the derivation of that word comes from the belief that gypsies are untrustworhty and will swindle you given half a chance.

The Earl

That's true, but "gyp" is a perfectly normal word in the English language.

 

[TheEarl]

True and I do use it myself. Just has ugly roots.

The Earl

 

[Aurora Black]

One of my proudest moments was being invited to give a talk at the DIA in 1983 (on ballet of all things!) Yeah, Greektown... and the river... and Belle Isle summers...

Oh my God, the world is so small! Dita, I'm also from Detroit! Well, one of the suburbs.

Your speech at the DIA... wow. That really must have been an honor. Yes, Chicago does have better museums (I've never been to NY), but there will always be a special place in my heart for the DIA. It has one of my favorite paintings, "The Nightmare" by Fuseli.

 

[MichelleLovesTo]

Oh my God, the world is so small! Dita, I'm also from Detroit! Well, one of the suburbs.

Your speech at the DIA... wow. That really must have been an honor. Yes, Chicago does have better museums (I've never been to NY), but there will always be a special place in my heart for the DIA. It has one of my favorite paintings, "The Nightmare" by Fuseli.

My favorite is The Nut Gatherers by William Adolphe Bouguereau:

http://img1.yoxio.com/img/223011.jpg

If The Nightmare is the one I'm thinking of, I like that one as well.

 

[Aurora Black]

My favorite is The Nut Gatherers by William Adolphe Bouguereau:

http://img1.yoxio.com/img/223011.jpg

If The Nightmare is the one I'm thinking of, I like that one as well.

It's this one:

http://www.illusionsgallery.com/nightmare.html

 

[MichelleLovesTo]

It's this one:

http://www.illusionsgallery.com/nightmare.html

It didn't show up for me here, but I tracked it down. Yep, that's the one. It was also in a Time-Life book on Legends/Fairy Tales that I got when I was a teenager.

 

[Aurora Black]

It didn't show up for me here, but I tracked it down. Yep, that's the one. It was also in a Time-Life book on Legends/Fairy Tales that I got when I was a teenager.

It's spooky and kooky, that's why I love it.

 

[Guest]

Smiling here. Michelle and Aurora, I know both of those paintings well. When I was in high school a Van Gogh show came to the DIA and I still remember the feelings I had standing right in front of images I'd only seen in books. As much as I hate this expression, thank you for sharing . Small world indeed.

Perdita

Edited to add: DIA

 

[Aurora Black]

When I was in high school a Van Gogh show came to the DIA and I still remember the feelings I had standing right in front of images I'd only seen in books.

That reminds me of how I felt when I went to the Louvre my senior year in high school. I couldn't believe that I was actually there, walking from room to room and seeing these images that I once believed I'd never see.

 

[oggbashan]

The National Portrait Gallery is trying to buy a contemporary portrait of the poet John Donne.

That is a picture I'd like to see.

I can spend hours in that gallery looking at pictures of the greats of English Literature yet the one I keep coming back to is the Bronte Sisters.

Og

 

[Guest]

I can spend hours in that gallery looking at pictures of the greats of English Literature yet the one I keep coming back to is the Bronte Sisters.

Sir, I presume you mean the one painted by their brother Branwell. I have a poster of it, a remarkable portrait indeed. Would also love to see the Donne.

Perdita

 

[oggbashan]

Sir, I presume you mean the one painted by their brother Branwell. I have a poster of it, a remarkable portrait indeed. Would also love to see the Donne.

Perdita

Ma'am,

I do mean their brother's daub. It is amateurish and badly damaged from being creased yet it is compelling.

The Donne portrait however:

John Donne Appeal

is a worthy painting showing him as Anne Donne must have seen him.

I wish I had a few spare millions to sponsor it.

Og

 

[Guest]

Ogg, Thank you for the link, it's a remarkable work and gives me one more fine reason to make it to London someday.

I agree about Branwell's amateurish level but given the family, and his status in its history, the work holds a mystery I daresay an outsider could not have captured.

Perdita, recently of Haworth