Haemotoxic Jupiter

 Like a lot of people, I had a Star Wars phase when I was a kid. But unlike most people, I had this phase without actually watching any of the movies. Star Wars is such a massive cultural phenomenon that it's impossible to know how or when I would have first been exposed to it. I was a kid while the prequels were being made too, so it would have been relevant at the time, and it had a big marketing push. It being a series that originated in the '70s, it was influential and nostalgic for the artists that were in turn making the art that I grew up with, and there were tons of homages and parodies to be found. I suspect that I would have been exposed to such parodies before the real thing, but either occurence would have happened so early in my life that it's unknowable. Zurg and Buzz in Toy Story 2 In 2005, Burger King had a cross-promotion with Episode III, where the kids' menu would come with a Star Wars toy. Pretty much all of the toys were based on the original tril...

       I was looking up information about horned animals when I found this image of a scurred ewe that looks sick as hell! It looks like it's an album cover. It's an image from a scientific journal that was published all the way back in 1912! That's 114 years ago! Now, when I first saw the picture I did worry about whether the sheep is alive in it. I think it is! There are other pictures in the journal where the animals are more obviously alive, so there's no reason to think this one would be dead.      I imagine most people learn about the basics of farm animals when they're about 3 years old. Cows go "moo", sheep go "baa" etc. And then you don't really think about it for over 20 years. Which can lead to misconceptions, because your assumptions from when you were a little baby will stay dormant in your head. I've heard a bunch of times that as kids, people believed that all dogs were male and all cats were female. But dogs and cats are m...

I was browsing online when I came across a post about a painting, which prompted me to look deeper into the story it is based on. It was a painting by Gourlay Steell, called "Llywelyn and His Brave Hound." It's based on a Welsh fairy tale. There was a prince called Prince Llywelyn. He had a dog called Gelert. Gelert was very loyal to him. Llywelyn loved going hunting, and he and Gelert went hunting together. Llywelyn was married and lived with his wife and Gelert in a cabin in the forest. After some time, he and his wife had a baby. One day, Llywelyn and his wife went out for a stroll and a hunt, leaving the baby and Gelert at home. I think Llywelyn meant to bring Gelert along, but the dog couldn't be found in that moment, so they went without him. When they came back home, the house was a total mess! All of the furniture had been toppled over, there were random items tossed all around, pots broken, everything was a mess. And out came Gelert, happily, to greet his o...

The film in question is A Midsummer Night's Dream (1967). So, I was browsing online when I came across these promotional pictures for a ballet from the '60s. It was A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's a ballet by George Balanchine, based on the play by William Shakespeare. The promotion worked so well that I wanted to see the ballet despite it having been about 60 years since then and despite living nowhere near New York.  So, I started searching. The play was first put on in 1962 by the New York City Ballet. In that, the role of Titania was played by Melissa Hayden. That is not the person in these pictures. The person here is Suzanne Farrell, and this version of the play is from 1966. The thing that impressed me the most about these pictures was the costuming and the stage design. It looks like a Renaissance painting. So, if possible, I would like to see this specific production of the ballet. I went online to see if I could find a taped version of this play. That is somet...

 The other day I was walking home from a walk when I saw Jupiter. I didn't know that it was Jupiter when I saw it. You'll agree that it's difficult to tell the planets apart when they're so far away. But I saw that it was this big bright glowing thing in the sky, and it wasn't twinkling, so it couldn't have been a star. So I went to get my phone where I have this app installed that shows you where the planets are using your phone's gyroscope. And I learned that it was Jupiter. I took a picture of it, and some pictures with it. It's not every day that you get to take a selfie with Jupiter. It's like running into a celebrity. You hear about it basically your whole life. I can't even remember the first time I learned about Jupiter, I was probably 3 or something. And then one day, you're just walking on the street, and it's there in front of you. I was starstruck. Or rather, planetstruck! Jupiter in the distance, taken by me So then I decided...