Curiosity Cabinet

Two Notes on Art

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 11:03:54 -0600

Art is probably the most broad adjective I can think of. It’s a question that plagues university classrooms everywhere: what is art? How art is defined excludes a lot of work that could be considered art but also includes a lot of work that could be considered “not art.” I’ve got a thing for art, the arts, not really for Art Garfunkel but that is a different gig.

Art Note #1

Art actually has a birthday. Apparently in 1963 Robert Filliou decided that a million years ago (1,000,049 this past year) someone dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water and art was born. Every January 17 groups of art lovers who have heard of art’s birthday celebrate with games, sometimes fortune telling, frequently free art lessons, and cake. Quickdraw Animation and EMMEDIA usually host something for art’s birthday, just so you know. Click here to see the website for art’s birthday.

This is Robert Filliou celebrating art’s birthday

Raining Cats and Dogs 1964-1969

7 Childlike Uses of Warlike Material1971

Art Note #2

This handy website called the Story of Art holds many pieces of work from different modern art movements. It’s pretty handy when you need a quick idea of what a movement was about, who contributed, and some samples of art from the movement.

Here is a sample of a piece from the Futurism movement:

Dynamism of a Dog on Leash (1912) by Giacomo Balla

Katherine Mansfield Website II

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 09:54:46 -0600

Alas I have already posted a full-length ramble on Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield websites but I have found one more.

There is another whole website devoted to Katherine Mansfield I failed to mention. It has pictures of all the places she lived (from New Zealand to everywhere she lived in England), information on her new biography, links to other Katherine Mansfield websites, as well as a large portion of her works online (alongside the periodicals they were first published in). This is more of a a Katherine Mansfield groupie website (so to speak) so if you’re not 100% keen, it won’t be your gig.

The National Archives Blog

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 09:50:17 -0600

The National Archives are, indeed, fantastic but searching through to find a golden nugget of information can be a bit tedious if you’re casually perusing. Introducing the National Archives blog! It’s a quick daily update on something neat someone found in the Archives and wants to share. Posts range from management of information via music to biodiversity to academic articles. Click here to see the National Archives blog. Bonus points to the Archives for the fantastic design of their blog.

Muriel Rekeyser

Thu, 31 May 2012 09:56:01 -0600

Muriel Rekeyser was born to a Jewish family in New York, New York in 1913 and became a poet and avid social activist. Her earlier work demonstrates intricate rhyme scheme and regular meter, qualities that indicate her influence by W.H. Auden on her earlier works. She is best known for her poetic works on equality, feminism, social justice, and Judaism, and her 1968 poetic manifesto “No more masks! No more mythologies!” She was very much involved in the anti-war and feminist movements of the 1960s and 70s, along with rights for the disadvantaged. Her interests also included science and this can be seen in some of her poetic works. She died in 1980 of a stroke with diabetes as a contributing factor. Click here for most poems by Muriel Rekeyser.

Song for Dead Children

We set great wreaths of brightness on the graves of the passionate

who required tribute of hot July flowers—

for you, O brittle-hearted, we bring offering

remembering how your wrists were thin and your delicate bones

not yet braced for conquering.

The sharp cries of ghost-boys are keen above the meadows,

and little girls continue graceful and wondering.

Flickering evening on the lakes recalls those young

heirs whose developing years have sunk to earth,

their strength not tested, their praise unsung.

Weave grasses for their childhood—who will never see

love or disaster or take sides against decay

balancing the choices of maturity.

Silent and coffined in silence while we pass

loud in defiance of death, the helpless lie

-October 1935

How many writers in a blog?

Wed, 30 May 2012 09:58:31 -0600

On a gander through the internet I came upon some societies for authors I am quite fond of, notably Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf.

The Katherina Mansfield Society holds a conference every year on her birthday as well as a another conference held typically in in the spring/summer part of the year. The location of the latter conference changes yearly and her birthday conference is typically held in London.

Click here to visit the website devoted to her birthplace in Te Puakitanga, New Zealand.

Click here (or on the logo beside her portrait above) to visit the Katherine Mansfield Society’s webpage.

And now Virginia Woolf.

On a short perusal of Virginia Woolf societies I found three that were of interest to me: The Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain, Blogging Woolf, and La société d’études Woolfiennes (literally the society of female study of Woolf). Apparently Virginia Woolf is quite the popular writer.

Click here or on the picture above to go to the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain. This society has been around since 1998 and publishes the Virginia Woolf Bulletin three times yearly. Their focus is on Virginia Woolf’s work and life and desire to bring together Woolf lovers and new information on Virginia Woolf’s life. Some benefits of being a member include invitation to their AGM in April, access to their reading club, birthday lecture, and study holidays.

Click here or on the picture of A Room of One’s Own above to go to the La société d’études Woolfiennes. La société welcomes scholars of any ranking (PhD, MA, students, profs, teachers, etc.) to join them in advancing knowledge on Virginia Woolf but more broadly, knowledge on Modernism and the Bloomsbury Group. They host an international conference every two years and have been around since 1996.

Click here or on the Mrs. Dalloway cover above to go to the Blogging Woolf website. Blogging Woolf aims to compile information on Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group. This is the more casual of the Woolf websites, with a section for “Woolf Sightings” telling members where Virginia Woolf’s work has been sighted in plays, reading clubs, the news etc. Their focus is really on the contemporary version of Virginia Woolf although they do host an annual international conference on Virginia Woolf.

The British National Archives

Mon, 28 May 2012 09:59:00 -0600

The British National Archives are online and available for your perusal. The National Archives are archives of British documents up until about 1971 (not all areas are updated to this year), from the Archives you can look up just about anything: the census; court reports; soldiers in any British battle; who got married, was born, or died; the history of all schools, the list goes on. Click here for a link to the National Archives Government homepage and take a walk down Secret Files Lane. Searching can be done by subject, topic, or time period so take some time to peruse.

Click here to head to records of the Second World War.

Here is a link to a database you can search to find any British soldier in the First World War, the medals they received, and who they’re related to.

Like places and spaces? Click here to search all of the places in the UK and the history.

What the heck are you going to do with endless sources of information? Remember them for when you’re curious about something British and want to know the inside scoop on it. If you’re curious about prisons you can totally check out all of them online.

Spooky. By clicking the picture you can also find links to crminal trials and records in Britain up to 1971. Sweet deal if you like telling ghost stories or te history of British criminals.

[anyone lived in a pretty how town]

Sun, 27 May 2012 09:19:18 -0600

Who is this fellow who doesn’t use capitals in poetry let alone his own name? Why e.e. cummings, of course! Edward Estlin Cummings (note the fantastic middle name) was an American poet and writer who was quite the master of poetry. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1894, he went on to do his Bachelors of Arts (1915) and his Masters of Arts (1916) at Harvard. Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound were among his professors (I’ll post on them later) so it is not all too surprising he is the genius he is. In 1917 e.e. published a selection of poems and left for France to help in the First World War as an ambulance driver (Hemingway was an ambulance driver too, just so you know). His novelThe Enormous Roomis based on his experience there when he and a friend were interned in a prison camp by French authorities on suspicion of espionage due to his anti-war comments. e.e. returned to the States and split his time between rural Connecticut and Greenwich Village, peppered with visits to Paris. In 1920 seven of e.e. cummings’ poems were published by The Dial.

e.e. cummings was quite the experimental writer and poet for his day, toying with punctuation, capitalization, spelling, syntax, and form. As is career meandered on he was criticized for not pushing the boundaries he used to and complacently creating poetry without evolution. Regardless, e.e. cummings was and is one of the top poets, and received an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, two Guggenheim Fellowships, and the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship at Harvard among others. He died on September 3, 1962 in Boston, Massachusetts.

[anyone lived in a pretty how town]

anyone lived in a pretty how town

(with up so floating many bells down)

spring summer autumn winter

he sang his didn’t he danced his did.

Women and men(both little and small)

cared for anyone not at all

they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same

sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few

and down they forgot as up they grew

autumn winter spring summer)

that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf

she laughed his joy she cried his grief

bird by snow and stir by still

anyone’s any was all to her

someones married their everyones

laughed their cryings and did their dance

(sleep wake hope and then)they

said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon

(and only the snow can begin to explain

how children are apt to forget to remember

with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess

(and noone stooped to kiss his face)

busy folk buried them side by side

little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep

and more by more they dream their sleep

noone and anyone earth by april

wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)

summer autumn winter spring

reaped their sowing and went their came

sun moon stars rain

Poetry Magazine August 1940

Click here to listen to e.e. cummings reading the poem.

Click here to read more e.e. cummings poems.

Oh, so special you are.

Sat, 26 May 2012 09:29:44 -0600

How neat is it when you meet someone new and you find out through one way or another that you share a birthday? This has not actually ever happened to me but I imagine it would be pretty neat. Sure, it’s a birthday but it means you are the exact same age as someone else you are walking with right then. I find it interesting anyway.

So how common isyour birthday? This website will tell you. I’ve posted a picture of the graph below but to see your birthday rank you will need to go to the website and scroll over your birthday. You will note how there are A LOT of September babies and that the conception date for September the 16th babies is Christmas Eve. Neat.

1983 ... or 4

Sun, 06 May 2012 10:03:30 -0600

Oh em gee CURIOSITY. I found this websit e called 1983 while looking for samples of Mandy Barker’s photographs to post (post on May 5, 2012) and love it. I took a very brief shuffle through and adore it. It focuses on illustration, design, and photography so youcan just imagine how neat it is.

Kaleidoscope snapshot by Keleidolism (seriously, check these people out! It’s an online kaleidoscope!) (Seriously, go do it. It’s an online kaleidoscope.)

The best part is, all the pictures posted on 1983 are linked to their respective websites! Because I am a nice person I have also linked the pictures with their respective websites.

Mandy Barker

Sat, 05 May 2012 20:43:00 -0600

She’s British, she’s clever, and she takes great photographs. She has two books out one of which is Soup(the book the pictures below are from). She’s clever enough not to allow right-clicking on her website so these are the only pictures I’ve managed to be able to post. Check out her website and maybe buy her book(s)!

The BBC on Poetry

Tue, 01 May 2012 09:50:59 -0600

The BBC has impressed me again! They have produced a little collection of documentaries on poets, including Sylvia Plath, William Wordsworth, and Lynette Roberts. I highly recommend watching them.

This is Sylvia Plath, I have no idea how old she is here, presumably younger than when she died.

Optical Delights

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:02:49 -0600

The Laura Hays and John Howard Wileman Echibit of Optical Toys is online (kind of)! If you’ve ever wondered about animation and how in the name of Phenakistoscopes anyone ever came up with it, you ought to poke around this website.

Zoetrope, 1834 by William George Horner

Thaumatrope, John Ayrton Paris, 1825 - You’ve seen these in Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp

They are fascinating yet very eerie at the same time. Modern television really does not grasp the true miracle of animated objects and where they came from, if only there was some sort of course you had to pass on animation before you could watch television. Ha. Either way, this online exhibition reminds me of how amazing animation really it and how easily our eyes are duped.

E. L. Trouvelot

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 10:06:08 -0600

The Atlantic posted an article in January about French artist and astronomer Etienne Leopold Trouvelot. His style reminds me a lot of 1920’s and 30’s advertisements with the long, smooth lines that are carried throughout. It also reminds me a bit if aestheticism, too.

This reminds me of the Christopher Marlowe play Doctor Faustus, particularly Mephistopheles and the fiery arms of Hell that await Faustus.

The Early Kodak

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 10:05:42 -0600

Sadly, Kodak must close its doors because of the boom in digital photography which has taken over the market. I wish it weren’t true but it is, and the irony is that Kodak had one of the first digital cameras on the market.

The NY Times has dug up some of the winners from the early Kodak photography competitions and posted some of the winners here. I’ve posted my favourites below. In addition, here is a link to Paul Sim

By Miss P.C. Bell, 1929, animals category

By Ernest Keil, 1929, unusual category (this one reminds me of James Joyce’s Dublinersstory “The Dead” - click here to read it online.)

By HFP Middleton, 1931, mailed from Durban, South Africa

This one reminds me a bit of Katherine Mansfield’s “Something Childish but Very Natural” - there is a link to this story here.

Click here to listen to Paul Simon’s Kodachrome.

The Placebo Effect is all about placebos and how they work. I do...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:08:25 -0600

The Placebo Effect is all about placebos and how they work. I do not know where they got that information from but I sure hope it is reputable. Either way, the graphics and animations and very cool and attractive so it is fun to watch regardless.

"Nevermore, nevermore," cries Edgar Allan Poe.

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:30:23 -0600

The Globe and Mail posted an article featuring a Poe-down between Christopher Walken and James Earl Jones. I decided to find some versions of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” and post them here just for fun.

Christopher Walkin: http://youtu.be/rBq27WcNjZ0

James Earl Jones: http://youtu.be/sXU3RfB7308

Christopher Lee (I like this one best): http://youtu.be/MyxsPHWSxlY

MPT’s Knowing Poe website is a aimed more at younger audiences (still worth a look).

The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore (as a reminder, he was American, not British despite what you may want to believe) has a lot of information on Poe’s life, his house, and a ton of other things. I heard on the CBC not too long ago that they are going to have to shut down his house as a museum because it is not making enough money. I suspect that if Poe were British or had lived in a more convenient spot for literary tours it would make a lot more money.

I feel sorry for him, he had a very troubled childhood and now he gets all sorts of silly comments thrown at him as a literary figure. I know this stuff is inevitable but I still feel sorry for him.

Artophile

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:05:00 -0600

I found some neat botanical drawings along with some other neat stuff on Artophile.

Circa 1820, art on paper

Various grottoes, 18th century

A rare 1920’s advertisement

As a side note, Artophile’s things are for sale.

Five Historical Misconceptions by CGI Grey (whatever that is)....

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:14:28 -0600

Five Historical Misconceptions by CGI Grey (whatever that is). They have a number of neat videos on all sorts of things, like first past the post voting and what a leap year is exactly. Check out the rest of their videos here.

Cave to Canvas

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 09:16:00 -0600

I found this website that posts different art pieces every day called Cave to Canvas. It’s neat, you should check it out.

George Barbier, 1926 Le Feu

Wassily Kandinsky, 1903 The Singer

Emil Nolde, 1924 Autumn Evening

All this, when will all this have been … just play? Samuel...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:01:53 -0600

All this, when will all this have been … just play?

Samuel Beckett wrote Play in 1962/3, it was first performed in 1964 in Germany. The three characters, a male (M), and two women (W1, the wife, and W2, the mistress) are in urns and speak without acknowledging anyone else is present.

For theatre nuts, check out the Beckett on Film website. Anthony Minghella (author of Truly, Madly, Deeply and director of this film ofPlay) admits his obsession with Beckett and there is extra information on the film and play.

Don’t forget to watch the rest of the play on YouTube (parts 2/3 and 3/3)

Clicking on the top title will take you to the script.