"How I learned to stop worrying and love 2012"
(With apologies to Dr. Strangelove.)
Some zodiac signs have filtered in to the language as proper names, either as people's surnames, first names, or of businesses.
We have:
Leo Sayer
Libra Thompson (apparently a Big Brother contestant, once upon a time)
Gemini has variations - Geminia, Gemelle, Gemmina
John Virgo (British snooker player)
Alan Leo (astrologer) - not his birth name though
Melissa Leo (American actress)
Robert Scorpio (character in TV's General Hospital)
There's the Ford Taurus saloon car and a few company names using other signs, such as the predictable Pisces Swimming Pools, or Hotel Capricorn in Kilimanjaro, Africa.
In art and film, occasional muddled thinking has been detected with regard to depiction of the Moon. The topic of artistic Moon muddle is discussed here :
Painters tend to depict only full or crescent Moons in their work, but even then they get it wrong sometimes. They have shown it in an impossible orientation. Turner makes the mistake of seeing the Sun when on the horizon as larger than the Moon in one of his pencil sketches. The same error was made in a painting by Jules Breton. Another that shows the crescent Moon is named Moonrise, whereas the Moon is an evening crescent which must be setting.
One artist who didn't fall into the trap of Moon Muddle was 16th century painter Adam Elsheimer. His painting "Flight into Egypt" is said to even show the consellations in correct configuration. Clicking on image below should enlarge it sufficiently to see stars. In case Blogger's capability is too limited, there's a large and enlargeable version available here.
On Thursday evening we attended the last of the Chisholm Trail Arts Council's shows for this season at our local theater: The Golden Dragon Acrobats of China. It was a delightful finale. We weren't supposed to take photographs, but the husband, naughty as ever, sneaked one or two and hoped nobody was looking! A couple of them are below, followed by a 30 second YouTube promo video. If the acrobats come your way - go see 'em, it's a glorious spectacle, and a time honored tradition that began more than 27 centuries ago. The company has performed in over 65 countries on 5 continents; and in all 50 states of the USA.
(With apologies to Dr. Strangelove.)
Some zodiac signs have filtered in to the language as proper names, either as people's surnames, first names, or of businesses.
We have:
Leo Sayer
Libra Thompson (apparently a Big Brother contestant, once upon a time)
Gemini has variations - Geminia, Gemelle, Gemmina
John Virgo (British snooker player)
Alan Leo (astrologer) - not his birth name though
Melissa Leo (American actress)
Robert Scorpio (character in TV's General Hospital)
There's the Ford Taurus saloon car and a few company names using other signs, such as the predictable Pisces Swimming Pools, or Hotel Capricorn in Kilimanjaro, Africa.
In art and film, occasional muddled thinking has been detected with regard to depiction of the Moon. The topic of artistic Moon muddle is discussed here :
"Even film directors are not immune from being ignorant about the phases of the Moon. Steven Spielberg shows an unchanging morning crescent Moon several evenings running in ET, for example. It's surprising that no-one on the production team realised that the Moon changes phase from night to night, or the difference between a morning and an evening crescent."
Painters tend to depict only full or crescent Moons in their work, but even then they get it wrong sometimes. They have shown it in an impossible orientation. Turner makes the mistake of seeing the Sun when on the horizon as larger than the Moon in one of his pencil sketches. The same error was made in a painting by Jules Breton. Another that shows the crescent Moon is named Moonrise, whereas the Moon is an evening crescent which must be setting.
One artist who didn't fall into the trap of Moon Muddle was 16th century painter Adam Elsheimer. His painting "Flight into Egypt" is said to even show the consellations in correct configuration. Clicking on image below should enlarge it sufficiently to see stars. In case Blogger's capability is too limited, there's a large and enlargeable version available here.
On Thursday evening we attended the last of the Chisholm Trail Arts Council's shows for this season at our local theater: The Golden Dragon Acrobats of China. It was a delightful finale. We weren't supposed to take photographs, but the husband, naughty as ever, sneaked one or two and hoped nobody was looking! A couple of them are below, followed by a 30 second YouTube promo video. If the acrobats come your way - go see 'em, it's a glorious spectacle, and a time honored tradition that began more than 27 centuries ago. The company has performed in over 65 countries on 5 continents; and in all 50 states of the USA.
Looks like a great night, I love circuses of any kind.
ReplyDeletethe painting is awesome.
XO
WWW
What is a saloon car?
ReplyDeleteWWW ~~~ Yes - I'd like to see the original. :-)
ReplyDelete~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kaleymorris ~~~ Hi!
Oh - isn't saloon car a common term here then? It's
"a motor car with enclosed seating space for driver and at least three passengers." In other words a bog-standard family car.
What's bog-standard? Dunno! But the Brits use it a lot, and it's said that maybe it's a corruption of "box-standard" (ie. straight from the box, not customised or adorned). :-)
Oh. So, I shouldn't suggest my husband start serving drinks in his Taurus?
ReplyDeleteNot really, K.....there's really not room for the dancing girls - that'd ruin the atmosphere. ;-)
ReplyDeleteMissed this one - loved the cartoon! I wonder if that's how the maya really saw it? :-)
ReplyDeleteAN ~~~ That's the 64,000 dollar question isn't it ? :-)
ReplyDeleteIt was actually my first reaction when the whole 2012 thing first erupted years ago.
2012 is the end of one of the Mayan cycles, but all kinds of cycles are ending regularly, and we're still plodding along on planet Earth - albeit awkwardly at times. :-)