Yummy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALL YOU TAURUS PEOPLE!

For what it's worth, here is a shot of a portion of my deep sea fish birthday cake. We'd already eaten part of the tales and fins, because they were a little wobbly. Even working day and night shifts at two jobs, my daughter still wanted to make this cake for me—and it tastes even better than it looks! And my wife made a lovely real fish dinner, even though I'm not a Pisces.

I'm a lucky lucky guy to have a wife and daughter like I do.

A yummy birthday!

'Appendectomy' . . . Right

What the heck. I'm gonna post this pic every year on this date . . .

Her "supposed" appendectomy . . .

UPDATE:

I'm sorry folks, I guess I should have done this on April Fool's Day, except then it wouldn't have made any sense at all, at least to me.

I received a nice email from a person who was concerned about the 'facts', as he uses MM's appendectomy as part of his medical lectures. This is part of the note I sent back to him:

I'm sorry for any confusion. It was a stupid conceit on my part. 

Several years ago I posted this picture with a tongue in cheek reference that "MM and I were in a hospital on the same day. She was getting her appendix removed, and I was being born. Coincidence? You decide", kind of thing. Cuz, well, that WAS the day I was born.

My blog takes flights of fancy here and there, and with this post I was hoping to amuse people who were in the know. 

Sorry for the Delineated conceit. In fact, I'm going to use the very words above as a disclaimer on the post.

Corresponding from Another Dimension

Ah, 1972. I was in the Army, but had lots of down time, hanging out with my hippy friends, some of them in the Army too. It's not just long hair that makes a hippy. It's an attitude, and so many of my Army buddies were drafted (forced) into the armed forces and there was just as much dope and stuff in the military as out. 

For short breaks, the underground comics were our readings of choice, and several of us artsy types tried our hand at drawing the underground style. Dave Sheridan and Fred Schrier were our idols for that kind of work. Crumb was good, but seemed a bit brown shoe for our efforts to emulate. Shelton was good too, but didn't seem stoned enough, maybe he seemed too vaudevillian and slapstick. 

Whereas Sheridan and Schrier seemed like they were corresponding from another dimension. Here, Sheridan has drawn some phunny money that was used for promotional handouts, and in a pinch could be used to roll your own smokes, this one surviving somehow.

 Above and below, Dave Sheridan's front and back of the phunny money.

Unique Personalities

I love these sorts of photo portraits, and by that, I guess I mean of unique personalities confidently showing their eccentricities and connecting through the camera lens to us folks in the far future.

photo by d'Ora of the artist Tsuguharu Foujita — 1928

Spirit of the Garden

We've had some more snow hereabouts, but gardening is on our minds (with some of our earlier planting gone to frozen hell). 

This is a painting called The Spirit of the Garden, which doesn't look very green and seems a bit off-topic to its title, but can maybe still raise our spirits a bit.

Robert Lewis Reid — The Spirit of the Garden

And This is How You Travel There . . .

Witold Pruszkowski

This is a Rest Stop on the Way Home

© Gilbert Williams — Portal of the Pleiades

O - M - G

Iron Man 3! 

I am SO there. Have you seen the clip of falling out of the airplane?! Sequels are supposed to get worse, by tradition — Marvel movies just get better and better. The effects are superlative! Robert Downey Jr! I don't know if he's my favorite actor, but he's my favorite media personality! Go see this movie! 

Pepper Potts! Yay!!!

'Nuff said!

Robert Downey Jr. — Iron Man 3

Just About Right

Sometimes the work of Annie French seems too fussy, too detailed for my taste. This image seems just about right for her style.

Annie French — early xxth century

The Look

No matter whether in the movies, photographs or illustrations—Carole Lombard had The Look. In this case of course, Zoe Mozert helped add to the charm.

Zoe Mozert — Romantic Movie Stories — 1936

O-O-O-Ophelia

Another contemporary of Mucha (among hundreds of others, of course) was Joseph Kirkpatrick. While he is one of those not particularly associated with the Art Nouveau, his work was romantic and lyrical as was the case of so many other artists of the time. Perhaps because that was what the art academies and exhibitions were fond of, artists gravitated to similar subjects and manners — Hamlet's Ophelia being a favorite fantasy.

  

Joseph Kirkpatrick — Ophelia — 1896

Exquisite Flow

A contemporary of Mucha was John White Alexander who also infused an exquisite flow into his paintings though he was not truly an artist of the Art Nouveau, but rather was distinguished as a portrait painter, illustrator and Symbolist painter. The image below is seen here and there, but this is the warmest reproduction I've seen, which I think gives strength to the mysterious light source.

John White Alexander — Isabella & the Pot of Basil — 1897

New Year

I love finding Mucha artwork that I haven't seen before, let alone a thousand times as we've seen most of his work. This is a mezzotint print from the old days.

Alphonse Mucha — New Year — circa 1898

Remember, if we treat it right, every day is the start of a new year!

Never Came to Be

Tim Hildebrandt created some fascinating concept art for a Wizard of Oz theme park in Kansas that never came to be. 

Bring in some cliffs and maybe, um, real tornadoes?

 Tim Hildebrandt — Wizard of Oz 

Theme Park Concept Painting— 1992

 Tim Hildebrandt — Wizard of Oz 

Theme Park Concept Painting — 1992

Our friend Larry left an excellent comment that pretty as these paintings are, most people would need more action and excitement than is shown here. Good point! So consider this:

Amongst a dozen other experiences, MAYbe Dorothy's house in that first pic would really come twisting and turning through the air to land on one of them wicked witches. MAYbe the other wicked witch would pop up here and there in green smoke and threaten visitors and then chuck firebombs at them. MAYbe the tin man would always be dancing his little heart out (chuckle). MAYbe the apple trees would be their mean nasty selfs and whop you with fruit. MAYbe you could lay down in a field of opiate poppies and have amazing personal adventures. MAYbe you could experience palace intrigue at the emerald city (that appears to be frozen white). MAYbe them flying monkey buggers would make everyone pee in their pants while hot air balloon rides let you escape to the parking lot!

How Ime Feeling 2day

F X Leyendecker

Mythic

I love this mythic illustration by the Russian illustrator, Losin.

V. Losin

Blessed State

This appears to be some form or another of a blessed state of being, though an odd potpourri of elements to my way of thinking, what with them dragons and creepy-looking elders. The dames can stay, though. Chocolates, bring in chocolates!

Otto Eckmann — 1899

In 1899

In 1899, there was no sensitivity to 'politically correct' issues. People just kept bumping into each other without thought — regarding race, creed, color, religion, belief, human rights, animal rights, on and on. And why not — the world still ran under Newtonian physics, resources were inexhaustible, imperialism was a way of life, two world wars were decades away, women still didn't vote, and the thought of animal extinction was relegated to just the Dodo Bird.

So, to put an illustration on the cover of Jugend magazine of a woman wearing a polar bear stole would not offend anyone and may or not have been a fashion statement to the editors. But when one goes further back in the magazine and sees a 'man stole', well then, perhaps we can consider the whole thing as a joke.

Or, I dunno, maybe that's an arctic wolf. Still . . .

 Above and below, Jugend magazine — 1899

Mystery and Wonder

Ah, the mystery and wonder of the Orient, as portrayed by Hollywood photography of the 1930s. Adventure awaits the theater patron.

Otto Dyar — Anna May Wong — Shanghai Express — 1932

The Poisoned Chalice

This is a clipping from a book that had already been trashed, heading for the recycle bin. Fritz Lang is always an interesting subject, but this anecdote especially caught my fancy. 

A few hours to consider, uh huh.

Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse