tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-135584692024-03-19T01:08:57.591-04:00*Michelle's Mental Clutter*Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.comBlogger1223125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-28897883682856280252013-06-09T18:03:00.000-04:002013-06-09T18:04:21.122-04:00"Man is a giddy thing": Much Ado About Nothing & Mumford and SonsFinished watching a splendid rendition of "Much Ado About Nothing" that played the West End back in 2011, which starred David Tennant and Catherine Tate (formerly the Tenth Doctor Who and his companion Donna Noble) as the famously witty unwilling lovers, Benedick and Beatrice! I <u><b><i>HIGHLY</i></b></u> recommend it renting or buying it here:<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjmqSJ0ElNs&feature=pyv" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">David Tennant and Catherine Tate star in Much Ado About Nothing - Available from Digital Theatre</a> </b>In the meantime, you can catch a free preview below! <b> </b><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zjmqSJ0ElNs" width="560"></iframe> <br />
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When watching the production, a keen ear will recognize lines from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7TrU4_-JTY" target="_blank">Mumford and Sons' song, "Sigh No More"</a>!<br />
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I found a wonderful write-up of both at SongMeanings.net, which I thought was very much worth sharing... Enjoy!!<br />
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<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent">"It's been almost 15 years since I had the great fortune to play
the role of Signior Benedick in a regional theater production of "Much
Ado About Nothing". But, when I heard the first line to "Sigh No More"
("Serve God, love me, and mend") I knew it immediately.<br /> <br /> Many (but not all) of the lines to "Sigh No More" are taken directly from "Much Ado About Nothing" (MAAN)<br /> <br />
If only one or two lines of the song were from MAAN, it could be
considered "artistic license". But more than half of the lines are
pretty much direct quotes from MAAN.<br /> <br /> So, it makes sense to
first know a little about the plot of the play. While there are several
sub-plots, the primary story follows Benedick and Beatrice.<br /> <br />
Benedick and Beatrice have known each other for many years. (Beatrice:
"You always end with a jade's trick: I know you of old.")<br /> <br /> Benedick, a veteran soldier, is an avowed bachelor ... as is Beatrice.<br /> <br />
But, they are not just common acquaintances. There are hints of an
earlier relationship between them ... one that did not end so well.
Perhaps with infidelity on the part of Benedick:<br /> DON PEDRO: Come, lady, come; you have lost the heart of Signior Benedick.<br /> BEATRICE : Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it,<br /> a double heart for his single one: marry, once before he won it of me<br /> with false dice, therefore your grace may well say I have lost it.<br /> <br />
They have an obvious attraction to each other that all can see.
However, they are constantly jibing and parrying with each other. There
is a "merry war" between them.<br /> <br /> Benedick starts the play railing
against love: "I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard
heart; for, truly, I love none." And "I will live a bachelor."<br /> <br /> As does Beatrice: "I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me."<br /> <br />
Their friends and family conspire to make them fall in love with each
other (or at least, to admit that they already ARE in love with each
other) by simply letting each one know that the other secretly loves
them.<br /> <br /> It is while Benedick's friends are in the process of tricking him that Balthasar sings his song:<br /> Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,<br /> Men were deceivers ever,<br /> One foot in sea and one on shore,<br /> To one thing constant never:<br /> Then sigh not so, but let them go,<br /> And be you blithe and bonny,<br /> Converting all your sounds of woe<br /> Into Hey nonny, nonny.<br /> <br />
Benedick then "overhears" (by design) his friend's conversation that
Beatrice loves him and she is too proud/frightened to tell him. His
friends leave him to ponder this and he delivers a pretty great
Shakespearean monologue with lines like:<br /> "Love me! Why, it must be requited!"<br /> "I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me, because I have<br /> railed so long against marriage: but doth not the appetite alter?"<br /> <br /> Beatrice's friends and family do the same thing to her ... and it works just as well:<br /> "Benedick, love on; I will requite thee!"<br /> "If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee to bind our loves up in a holy band"<br /> <br />
Claudio (Benedick's friend) and Hero (Beatrice's cousin) are the young
lovers in the play. They are engaged to be married. On the wedding day,
Claudio arrives and essentially calls off the wedding, claiming that
Hero has been unfaithful ... that he saw her the night before, at her
window, with another man. This is all a choreographed ruse perpetrated
by Don John, the "villain" of the play. (But nobody figures this out
until later on).<br /> <br /> Beatrice is heart-broken for her cousin, and
angry that Claudio would defame Hero. Benedick attempts to comfort
Beatrice and eventually confesses: "I do love nothing in the world so
well as you: is not that strange?" Beatrice then confesses that she
loves Benedick, and things get really interesting ...<br /> <br /> BEATRICE: You have stayed me in a happy hour: I was about to protest I loved you.<br /> BENEDICK: And do it with all thy heart.<br /> BEATRICE: I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.<br /> BENEDICK: Come, bid me do any thing for thee.<br /> BEATRICE: Kill Claudio.<br /> <br />
(As an aside here, that line above is one of the reasons why people are
still performing this guy's plays 400 years after he died. "I love
you", "Prove it ... kill your best friend")<br /> <br /> Benedick tries to
calm Beatrice down ... to explain that there must be some kind of
mistake, that Claudio is not this evil person that he appears to be.
Beatrice will hear nothing of it. She is angered that she even needs to
ask someone else (a man) to take care of this for her: "O God, that I
were a man! I would eat his heart in the marketplace."<br /> <br /> Eventually, her grief and emotion are too much for Benedick to bear and he agrees to fight his friend to the death.<br /> <br />
Benedick challenges Claudio: "You are a villain; I jest not: I will
make it good how you dare, with what you dare, and when you dare."
(NOTE: Benedick is a much more seasoned warrior than Claudio and he will
dispatch him quickly. Benedick and Claudio know this.)<br /> <br />
Luckily, the world's dumbest town sheriff (Constable Dogberry) stumbles
upon some of Don John's men bragging about the treachery they performed
(framing Hero). Therefore, everyone discovers that Hero was not
unfaithful after all.<br /> <br /> Word of this discovery has not yet
reached Benedick and Beatrice. He meets with Beatrice to confirm that he
has challenged Claudio. They have a playful moment where they once
again express love for each other. But there is a serious undertone as
well ... Benedick knowing that he will have to deal with Claudio, and
Beatrice knowing that her cousin Hero has taken ill from the stress and
grief she feels. This all leads to the following exchange:<br /> BENEDICK: ...how doth your cousin?<br /> BEATRICE: Very ill.<br /> BENEDICK: And how do you?<br /> BEATRICE: Very ill too.<br /> BENEDICK: Serve God, love me and mend.<br /> <br />
This is an incredibly gentle, loving moment. And, it can be thought of
as a sort of "emotional climax" for the play. Until now, all of the
declarations of love and hate between Beatrice and Benedick were grand
statements, sweeping gestures. Here it is simple, basic, perfect ... "I
will protect you".<br /> <br /> And amazingly, the very NEXT line of the
play is delivered by a handmaiden who runs in to inform Beatrice and
Benedick that: "...it is proved my Lady Hero hath been falsely accused,
the prince and Claudio mightily abused; and Don John is the author of
all!"<br /> <br /> So in the end, Claudio marries Hero and Benedick marries
Beatrice. This is where Benedick says (to Claudio) "live unbruised" and
also "we are friends".<br /> <br /> Everyone rails at Benedick (the professed bachelor is now getting married).<br /> He defends his position as best he can:<br /> "In brief, since I do purpose to marry, I will think nothing to any<br /> purpose that the world can say against it; and therefore never flout<br /> at me for what I have said against it; for man is a giddy thing,<br /> and this is my conclusion."<br /> <br /> The play has been a journey for Benedick ... to understand the nature of love.<br />
He is given several lengthy monologues on the subject and spends much
time debating the nature of love and whether it really has a roll in his
life. But, in the end, it is the moment when he says "Serve God, love
me, and mend" where he realizes the simplicity of it. Love is impossible
to describe. Impossible to understand. Impossible to control.
Impossible to ignore. Love just IS. For man is a giddy thing.<br /> <br />
If you've made it this far, congratulations ... you have no life! But
hey, it could be worse, you could have been the one writing this instead
of reading it!<br /> <br /> For what it's worth, I'll finish with the lines from the song (in CAPS) along with some notes where they tie-in with the song.<br /> <br /> "SIGH NO MORE" - Mumford & Sons<br /> <br /> SERVE GOD, LOVE ME AND MEND<br /> Benedick (Spoken to Beatrice), Act V, Scene 2.<br /> <br /> THIS IS NOT THE END<br /> Not a direct line from the play.<br /> <br /> LIVE UNBRUISED,<br /> Benedick (Spoken to Claudio), Act V, Scene 4.<br /> <br /> WE ARE FRIENDS<br /> Benedick (Spoken to Claudio), Act V, Scene 4.<br /> Does not immediately follow "Live unbruised" though.<br /> It is part of Benedick's next line.<br /> <br /> AND I'M SORRY ... I'M SORRY<br /> The word "sorry" is used several places in the play.<br /> Most notably is Beatrice (spoken to Benedick), Act IV, Scene 4.<br /> But it is not an apology. Her line at that point is:<br /> "I'm sorry for my cousin"<br /> <br /> SIGH NO MORE, NO MORE<br /> Balthasar (singing), Act II, Scene 3.<br /> It is a song about the unfaithful nature of men.<br /> <br /> ONE FOOT IN SEA AND ONE ON SHORE<br /> Balthasar (singing), Act II, Scene 3.<br /> <br /> MY HEART WAS NEVER PURE<br /> Not a direct line from the play.<br /> <br /> AND YOU KNOW ME ... YOU KNOW ME<br /> Most likely a reference to Benedick in Act V, Scene 2.<br /> He sings:<br /> The god of love,<br /> That sits above,<br /> And knows me, and knows me.<br /> <br /> BUT MAN IS A GIDDY THING<br /> OH MAN IS A GIDDY THING<br /> OH MAN IS A GIDDY THING<br /> OH MAN IS A GIDDY THING<br /> Benedick (to all), Act V, Scene 4. One of the last lines of the play.<br /> <br /> LOVE IT WILL NOT BETRAY YOU<br /> DISMAY OR ENSLAVE YOU, IT WILL SET YOU FREE<br /> BE MORE LIKE THE MAN YOU WERE MADE TO BE<br /> THERE IS A DESIGN, AN ALIGNMENT, A CRY<br /> OF MY HEART TO SEE,<br /> THE BEAUTY OF LOVE AS IT WAS MADE TO BE<br /> None of the above comes from the play.<br /> However, it is, without question, the conclusion that Benedick comes to in the end.<br /> And, ultimately, the entire point of the play." </span></span></h5>
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<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}" style="text-align: right;">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"> (<a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.songmeanings.net%2Fsongs%2Fview%2F3530822107858781875%2F&h=PAQEVRlY4AQFtTGN4bXbZHA2dn3bQL8BaqGI2cXqWjNU8MQ&s=1" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858781875/</a>)</span></span></h5>
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Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-39328446201935860192013-02-12T16:44:00.001-05:002013-02-12T16:51:13.225-05:00History Bloopers!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Just going through some old files and discovered a short list of student bloopers I'd taken down once upon a time. (Bloopers were always so much better when I gave identification quizzes!) Enjoy!! ☺</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Battle of Britain: "Battle to find out who got the land between Germany and France."</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Industrial Revolution: "A revolution fought between Italy and France" or "Started by Martin Luther."</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Iron Curtain: "U.S. submarine sunk at the beginning of WWII."</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Grand Army: "Britain's army was called this because they had all the weapons and fancy uniforms."</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Blitzkrieg: "Means 'lightning war,' an invention during this time." </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Boris Yeltsin: "Former leader of Russia. Has big brown spot on head."</span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And, last but not least, </span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Ur: "The last frog to talk in the Budweiser commercials." </span></span>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-2495387081430423982012-12-18T00:25:00.000-05:002012-12-18T00:50:06.271-05:00The Rain Falls on the Just and the Unjust Alike...<span class="userContent">The horrific events in Sandy Hook Elementary School have led to much soul-searching in recent days, as we have sought our own answers to the terrible question "why?" The resulting polemic is rapidly becoming far more visceral than most any political discussions in recent memory, with fingers being pointed in three main directions: a) lax gun control; b) insufficient mental health services; and c) Americans' supposed irreligiosity.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent">Unfortunately, religion is no guarantee that a
society will be free from misfortune, for as the Gospels say, "He makes
His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just
and on the unjust." (Matt. 5:45) Especially when you consider that
violent gun crime rates are actually still much lower in several
countries which nowadays identify themselves as being both far less
religious an</span>d far less Christian than the United States...<span class="userContent"></span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
For example, last year, there were just 51 firearm-related deaths in
the UK, their gun homicide rate is .04/100,000 persons, and out of 56
million people, 33 million identify themselves as being Christian, while
as much as a fourth of the population does not declare themselves to be
religious at all.<br />
<br />
Compare that to the US, which has a firearm
homicide rate of 3.7/100,000 persons and over 70% of the population
which define themselves as Christian and another 10% religious of
different faiths. Or El Salvador, which has the highest gun-related
death rate in the world at over 50/100,000 persons, is about 80%
Christian and almost 90% religious of mixed faiths!<br />
<br />
In the end
it seems truly that "blessed are the peacemakers." Righteous or not, the
societies which stand by guns cannot at the same time avoid ever being
cut down by them...</div>
Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-5909166567236534552012-10-02T21:31:00.004-04:002012-10-02T21:31:53.351-04:00Coming (Hopefully!) Soon: Doctor Who, "Angels Take Manhattan" and Generally Overthinking It!Watch this space! (DON'T BLINK!!)<br />
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<a href="http://www.bbcamericashop.com/media/products/main_16864.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.bbcamericashop.com/media/products/main_16864.jpg" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.bbcamericashop.com/jewelry-and-apparel/doctor-who-keep-calm-and-dont-blink-t-shirt-16864.html?utm_source=bbcamerica&utm_medium=bbcacom&utm_campaign=web#.UGuVLCJA99o.blogger">BBC America Shop - Doctor Who: Keep Calm and Don't Blink T-shirt</a>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-29412209716146167462011-12-27T12:44:00.080-05:002011-12-27T21:44:14.555-05:00"A Christmas Story": Gender, History and Generally Overthinking It<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ChristmasStoryPoster.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 384px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/ChristmasStoryPoster.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family:verdana;" ><u>A Dulled Cutting Edge</u></span><br />On Christmas Day, I proudly posted on FB how glad I was to have introduced my Italian mother-in-law to<span style="font-style: italic;"> "A Christmas Story," </span>which immediately elicited a surprising comment of profound sympathy on her behalf.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />It was only then I realized that this movie, which had been pretty counter-cultural when it first came out and when I had first seen it on early cable tv nearly 30 years ago, was now totally mainstream and - as a result - boring to any twenty-first century edgy crowd. But consider the wonderfully florid and intellectualized prose of the narration, together with the occasionally absurdist and ever-so-slightly subversive take on the usual overly saccharine family tableaux... It most definitely presaged the humor of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons">Simpsons</a> that debuted just 4 years later! It was rather cutting edge at the time and, yes, I was precisely in their target demographic!!)<br /><br />Apparently my own little anti-"Christmas Story" troll however wasn't alone, since Mike Ryan of Moviefone also subsequently posted <a href="http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/12/25/10-things-that-confuse-me-about-a-christmas-story/" rel="bookmark"><span id="ppt20135113">10 Things That Confuse Me About 'A Christmas Story'</span></a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family:verdana;" ><u>Overthinking "A Christmas Story": What's Gender Got To Do with It?</u></span><br />In the spirit of another blog that I follow, <a class="l" href="http://www.overthinkingit.com/">Overthinking It</a>, for some inexplicable reason I've decided to address at least briefly these concerns head-on, cuz I think there's a reasonable explanation for most of them (while I still have a couple of others that nevertheless continue to perplex me).<br /><ol><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The seventeen-year difference in Ralphie's parents' ages</span>: Yeah, it's striking. But the way I figure it, the story is told from the point of view of an older Ralphie remembering how he used to view the world. And his dad is, of course, "the Old Man." So, I figure he just remembers his dad as always having been older (for more, see number 10 below...)<br /></li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Goggle-kid in the Santa scene:</span> A quick look at <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085334/">the film's IMDb page</a> shows that there had been Flash Gordon scenes cut out. Sure, the kid's creepy, but maybe he was there cuz his hero was Flash, just like Ralphie was there cuz his hero was Red Ryder.</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Flick:</span> re goggles, see above. Flick recurs, I seem to recall, in the book of tales which was the basis for the movie, <a class="title" href="http://www.amazon.com/God-We-Trust-Others-Cash/dp/0385021747/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325009850&sr=8-1" jquery1325009851571="74">In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash</a> (written, not coincidently, by the film's narrator <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Shepherd">Jean Shepherd</a>).</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">A good movie?</span> It's a fun and often clever movie, certainly... but, okay, it's by no means a masterpiece. 1980s nostalgia factor?? Most definitely!</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Glitter cowboy:</span> That's easy... it's what a kid during the golden age of Hollywood would imagine his hero wearing. (I'd be really surprised if Roy Rogers had never been forced to wear a similar get-up for some publicity shot somewhere...)</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">BB gun: </span>Of course it's a bad idea for kids! Then again, our chemistry sets back in the day could legitimately blow stuff up... Not a terribly good idea either! :-)<br /></li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The Old Man's 'Blue Ball': </span>See number 10 below for more regarding Ralphie's dad!<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"></span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Jean Shepherd's voice sounding different from Ralphie:</span> Doesn't bother me too much... Jean Shepherd was the story's original author, while Peter Billlingsley is ideal in the role of Ralphie. If the vocal qualities of the two were even to match, that would have just been icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned. </li><li style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Fake teeth episode:</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Likely based on a vignette from Shepherd's stories... At the very least, communicates pretty quickly how patiently long-suffering Ralphie's teacher is, which comes into play again later.<br /></span></li><li style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Ralphie's dad supposedly being a "prick":</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I'm honestly pleased to see that Mike Ryan has no point of reference for really understanding the character of the "Old Man," which has <span style="font-style: italic;">everything</span> to do with the idealized gender role of mid-twentieth-century authoritarian father figures...</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">My dad (supposedly Ralphie's generation) wasn't like that, but my granddad definitely was! They were </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">supposed </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">to be distant and intimidating (not to mention legendary in their ability to fix absolutely anything). The one emotion that society could easily accept from them, if they were to show any at all, was anger... Hence, most of their emotional range tended to be channelled into being nearly permanently irascible. Above all, the film's "Old Man," as he is always called, successfully models the "man's man" of the time by being this kind of father!</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Any inconsistencies with the character, like Mike Ryan noted in number 8 above, for example, arise from the fact that no matter how effectively he presents an idealized tough male attitude, he actually could possess a soft heart that he couldn't readily show... That's why he gets so enamored of his "major award" or else allows himself to be sweet and good-humored at least one day a year, on Christmas Day. (Of course, his indulgence of Ralphie's Christmas wish also allowed him to begin indoctrinating his own son with tough masculine values, so he could doubly allow himself to be accommodating on this day...) Ralphie fondly remembers these rare moments when his dad was not so, shall we say, "prickly."<br /></span></li></ol><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family:verdana;" ><u>Where's the History in "A Christmas Story"?</u></span><br />In the end, though, these are not the things that, as Mike Ryan put it, confuse me about "A Christmas Story." <span style="font-style: italic;">Instead, why is there no mention at all of the war? </span> There's never a date beyond "the 1940s" given for the setting, but let's say even that it took place right in 1940 (since they show the "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032138/">Wizard of Oz</a>" characters bopping around). Wouldn't it make Ralphie's memories far more poignant if they were explicitly the last untroubled ones of his childhood before America entered World War II? (Not to mention the fact that Ralphie's big Christmas wish had been<span style="font-style: italic;"> a gun!</span> Surely, there'd have been some subsequent ambivalence about that!)<br /><br />Realistically, however, I know that these stories had originally been set by Shepherd during the early 1930s, so it's natural that there'd be no reference in them to WWII. But at <span style="font-style: italic;">that </span>time there would have been the Great Depression, which then makes a story about the all-importance of receiving <span style="font-style: italic;">stuff</span> for Christmas a difficult one to accept without any explanation, even - I would argue - from an older child's perspective during that time.<br /><br />But even these weighty issues of authentic historical context vex me less than "A Christmas Story"'s greatest puzzle of them all: <span style="font-style: italic;">what's with the mom's hair?!</span> It's not 1930s... it's not 1940s... heck, it's not even 1960s!! Why, oh why does the verisimilitude decide to check out here??!!!<br /><br />(Then again, maybe I'm just overthinking it... May your own holidays be uncomplicated!!)<br /><br />:-)<br /></div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-52331907220442266532011-11-21T21:36:00.000-05:002011-11-21T21:36:51.256-05:00Venice's Madonna della SaluteToday, as recounted by the entry on <a href="http://beyondthebridge.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/madonna-della-salute/">Madonna della Salute at the blog "Venice from beyond the bridge"</a>, is Venice's locally observed feast day of Our Lady of Health. <br /><br />Every Italian city is allowed one local holiday. But since that of the Venetian patron saint, Saint Mark, is the 25th of April and just happens to coincide with the Italian national holiday celebrating "Liberation Day" at the end of World War II, Venice gets to choose another local holiday to observe. It selected that of the Madonna della Salute, founded to commemorate the end of a massive epidemic of plague that began in 1630 and culminated in the construction of the glorious basilica dedicated to the Madonna who was credited with eventually saving the city from the plague. <br /><br />Today, Venetians don't fear the plague, but many of them still make a pilgrimage to the Basilica to light a candle to the Madonna on this day. Tradition has it that those who do will not get the flu this winter. One year, the cousin of the father of my Venetian husband (say that three times fast!) stopped us on the street on November 21st and asked us whether we were going to the church ourselves. When we said we weren't planning to, she was shocked. "One GOES to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Salute,</span>" she insisted.<br /><br />Best wishes to all for a healthy winter on this feast day of the Madonna della Salute!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://beyondthebridge.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/madonna-della-salute/"><br /></a>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-5188028286052798672011-11-12T12:46:00.004-05:002011-11-12T12:51:41.389-05:0011/11 = Venice's San Martino!<div style="text-align: justify;">Yesterday was not only the U.S.' Veterans Day, but it was also the Feast Day of Saint Martin of Tours, which is celebrated to this very day in Venice!<br /><br />It's a bit like "trick or treating" in the States... Children go to shops and sing a traditional song about San Martino while banging pots and pans until the shopkeepers give them small change, and then they move onto the next shop.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://beyondthebridge.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/p1060907.jpg?w=480&h=360"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 357px; height: 268px;" src="http://beyondthebridge.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/p1060907.jpg?w=480&h=360" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I have to say though that my favorite part of the day is the decorated sugar cookie in the form of Saint Martin (who was a knight on horseback until his religious conversion)... Here's a particularly ginormous and ornate one!<br /><br />You can see more photos at the great blog <a href="http://beyondthebridge.wordpress.com/2011/11/12/san-martino/">Venice from beyond the bridge</a>!</div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-9375411753985947032011-11-06T22:42:00.001-05:002011-11-06T22:45:06.609-05:00Art imitates Academia<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XuFKvEoBc4U/TrdT15zriQI/AAAAAAAAAmc/7LmH6I0vWk4/s1600/Historiography.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 247px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XuFKvEoBc4U/TrdT15zriQI/AAAAAAAAAmc/7LmH6I0vWk4/s320/Historiography.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672094441212184834" border="0" /></a>That's right... Even in video games like the Sims Social, they apparently make you write historiographical essays!!<br /></div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-41206808277398309492011-08-15T09:59:00.004-04:002011-08-15T10:12:54.659-04:00Gondola Joy Ride<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/77235779@N00/4218606145/"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 319px; height: 425px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2647/4218606145_69b579961c.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>From this week's "<a href="http://www.veniceword.com/">Buongiorno Venezia</a>" newsletter:
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>"Another 21-year-old tourist, this time from United States, distinguished himself by stealing something quite showy, precious, and much bigger than the seven eggs [stolen from a contemporary art exhibition this week]. He nicked a gondola and travelled the canals in a state of inebriation with no idea of how dangerous his actions were. Witnesses say he was rowing as if pickaxing, and when he was blocked by the police, he asked them, 'Where is the boat's rudder?' His knowledge of gondolas was as minuscule as his sobriety."
<br /></blockquote></div>Just great... Another bad impression left here by another drunk American! *sigh* Oh well...
<br />Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-57665471173999712742011-08-09T11:09:00.001-04:002011-08-09T11:12:06.305-04:00Traditional Transport in Venice<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EnffKlrKF-w/TkFOGoOWiTI/AAAAAAAAAmU/3D_4PbvAN5o/s1600/Bread.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 351px; height: 236px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EnffKlrKF-w/TkFOGoOWiTI/AAAAAAAAAmU/3D_4PbvAN5o/s400/Bread.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638874084228368690" border="0" /></a>
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I've been meaning forever to post here on *MMC* this photo from a French blog dedicated to Venice, <a href="http://tramezzinimag.blogspot.com/2009/05/paolino.html">TraMeZziniMag</a>, so here it is! When I first arrived in Venice 18 years ago, I still saw (rarely) products being carried through the streets this way... but it's been years since the last time I've seen it. I hope it's not dead and gone the way of so many other lost Venetian traditions...
<br /></div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-69309431607784229652011-08-06T15:10:00.010-04:002011-08-12T18:14:16.348-04:00Modern Library Built over (Nearly) Millennarian Covent Ruins<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.instagram.com/media/2011/08/06/eb08518d38d64bee9b0a7f259062184c_6.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 306px; height: 306px;" src="http://images.instagram.com/media/2011/08/06/eb08518d38d64bee9b0a7f259062184c_6.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Well, as you can see in the sidebar, I do more FBing of my interesting weblinks than blogging nowadays, but I thought these photos were worth firing up Blogger for! ☺<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">First thing to know</span> is that these originate from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instagram">Instagram</a>, a <a href="http://itunes.com/apps/instagram/">free iPhone app</a> that's also fast becoming a photosharing sensation, not to mention a global social-network community for enjoying others' photography! (Those who don't use the iPhone or iPad can vicariously appreciate Istagram-ography by observing a live-stream of photos as they are being uploaded from all over the world at <a href="http://www.hashtagram.com/">Hashtagram</a> or by using the <a href="http://web.stagram.com/">Webstagram</a> service. FYI: I'm on there as <a href="http://web.stagram.com/n/misciel/">@misciel</a>!)
<br />
<br />Now, the photo here is from Instagram user <a href="http://web.stagram.com/n/mariannehope/">@mariannehope</a>, a Norwegian who usually lives in Holland and typically shoots lovely desaturated, minimalist images of still-lifes and panoramas. That's why these images caught my eye... not like her usual style at all. Turns out that's because she wanted to give a strong sense of this fascinating building!
<br />
<br />It is the Tønsberg Library, which she just visited. According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%B8nsberg">Wikipedia</a>, Tønsberg is generally regarded as the oldest town in Norway, and they've got the ruins to prove it! As Marianne writes,
<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">What's special about this building is that it's built on and around ancient ruins from the year 1180, the ruins of a convent. They also found 6 graves from the Vikings on the grounds. The building was built in 1992 and is a fantastic piece of modern architecture mixed in with the historic stones.</span></blockquote>For more images of this interesting building, you can check out <a href="http://web.stagram.com/tag/t%C3%B8nsberglibrary/">#tønsberglibrary on Webstagram - Instagram Web Viewer</a>! (Turns out that Marianne will even be posting more tomorrow...) Enjoy!!</div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-57286640138647512822011-06-10T05:54:00.004-04:002011-06-10T07:48:33.947-04:00Gorgeous Venice Photos on Panoramio!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eMGd8IPMgWU/TfIDnnOgT4I/AAAAAAAAAmM/6QT_Z3fvTH0/s1600/Panoramio.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 168px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eMGd8IPMgWU/TfIDnnOgT4I/AAAAAAAAAmM/6QT_Z3fvTH0/s400/Panoramio.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616555664364031874" border="0" /></a>Until today, I had never heard of <a href="http://www.panoramio.com/">Panoramio</a> (which is odd considering that it's even a <a href="http://blog.panoramio.com/2011/03/see-world-through-lens-with-panoramio.html">Google product</a>!)<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />But while I was reviewing and cleaning out some of the less-used photography apps from my iPhone, I happened to open <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nearpics/id283854851?mt=8">NearPics</a> which shows you photos taken nearby your current location and posted to Panoramio. Expecting to see the usual trite schlock taken of Venice, I was actually surprised to see <a href="http://www.panoramio.com/map/#lt=45.4343363&ln=12.3387844&z=4&k=2">truly original, creative and gorgeous views of the island city</a>!<br /><br />Give <a href="http://www.panoramio.com/">Panoramio</a> a try... see if you too are surprised by the unexpectedly beautiful images taken in <span style="font-style: italic;">your </span>own backyard!! ☺<br /></div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-19148322048733528932011-05-22T13:35:00.004-04:002011-05-22T13:39:55.500-04:00Getting Ready for Blogging SeasonAs my annual <a href="http://michellesmentalclutter.blogspot.com/2005/08/transhumanceor-ill-be-away-from.html">transhumance</a> is increasingly imminent, thought I'd dust off the blog and update its look a bit... While these days I Facebook and Twitter the links and brief observations I used to blog years ago when I first started *MMC*, I usually do more blogging in the summer when I'm overseas. See you on the flipside! ☺Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-59618509730144552292010-10-04T18:29:00.005-04:002010-10-04T18:44:54.151-04:00PhotoHunt: Letters<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TKpY0_xHXkI/AAAAAAAAAlk/a1CqwBLB6Ws/s1600/Y.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TKpY0_xHXkI/AAAAAAAAAlk/a1CqwBLB6Ws/s200/Y.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524325560417214018" border="0" /></a>I didn't think I had anything to offer for this week's <a href="http://tnchick.com/archives/1879">PhotoHunt theme</a><a href="http://tnchick.com/archives/1879"> Letters</a>, that is, until I posted this on FB and my Mom pointed out that it's perfect for it!<br /></div><br />So, in the spirit of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LCmVg5ExyM">William Wegman's spelling weimaraners</a>, today's <span style="font-style: italic;">Letter Y</span> is brought to you by Sophie!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/photohunt" rel="tag"><img style="border: 0pt none; vertical-align: middle; margin-left: 0.4em;" src="http://static.technorati.com/static/img/pub/icon-utag-16x13.png?tag=photohunt" alt=" " />photohunt</a></div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-17094894545267552472010-09-26T16:56:00.011-04:002010-09-26T22:16:53.415-04:00PhotoHunt: "Natural" at Walden Pond<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TJ-72EaThjI/AAAAAAAAAlM/JQLyUzftAk4/s1600/image0088.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 319px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TJ-72EaThjI/AAAAAAAAAlM/JQLyUzftAk4/s320/image0088.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521338205750920754" border="0" /></a>My <a href="http://tnchick.com/pshunt">PhotoHunt</a> contribution this week is a tad late, but I couldn't actually even get this photo until yesterday. It is a close-up detail of autumn leaves floating in Walden Pond...<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />Far bigger than what you might think from its name (as you can see below), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden_Pond">Walden Pond</a> is located near Concord, Massachusetts and was made famous by the writings of the great American author, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendentalist" title="Transcendentalist" class="mw-redirect">Transcendentalist</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau" title="Henry David Thoreau">Henry David Thoreau</a>. His book, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden"><i>Walden; or, Life in the Woods</i></a>, is one of the most important books on nature ever written.<br /><br />As a result, I thought it would be a fitting expression of <a href="http://tnchick.com/archives/1873">this week's PhotoHunt theme, "natural"!</a> After all, as Thoreau himself said in <span style="font-style: italic;">Walden</span>,<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><blockquote>"Yet I experienced sometimes that the most sweet and tender, the most innocent and encouraging society may be found in any <span style="font-weight: bold;">natural </span>object, even for the poor misanthrope and most melancholy man. There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of Nature and has his senses still."<br /><br /><span><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TJ_-c9geBAI/AAAAAAAAAlU/LnOkMVG_bNg/s1600/image0089.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 252px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TJ_-c9geBAI/AAAAAAAAAlU/LnOkMVG_bNg/s400/image0089.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521411441680057346" border="0" /></a></span></span></blockquote></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/photohunt" rel="tag"><img style="border: 0pt none; vertical-align: middle; margin-left: 0.4em;" src="http://static.technorati.com/static/img/pub/icon-utag-16x13.png?tag=photohunt" alt=" " />photohunt</a></div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-78913756005994414762010-09-10T12:51:00.017-04:002010-09-26T17:28:29.668-04:00PhotoHunt: "Anniversary" Locks of Love on the Ponte delle Tette<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TIwbSuzJD8I/AAAAAAAAAk8/ePBcszAKaFw/s1600/image0087.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TIwbSuzJD8I/AAAAAAAAAk8/ePBcszAKaFw/s320/image0087.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515813652236144578" border="0" /></a>My <a href="http://tnchick.com/pshunt">PhotoHunt</a> post for this week's theme, "<a href="http://tnchick.com/archives/1867">Anniversary</a>," is a bit late, but the photo is actually a few weeks old and I was just waiting for this occasion to post it!<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />Venice is, of course, a city filled with bridges, and most of them are named for a particular landmark nearby. This image is of the bridge named the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_delle_Tette"><span style="font-style: italic;">Ponte delle Tette</span></a>. It gets this characteristic name from the fact that during the Renaissance it was right next to the city's municipal brothel, and the prostitutes used to hang around in the windows above, letting it all hang out (as it were!)<br /><br />Surely by now you are wondering what this has to do with anniversaries! Well, notice the padlocks on the railing of the bridge... Known as "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_padlocks">love padlocks</a>," apparently they've been appearing on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Milvio">Ponte Milvio</a> in Rome since 2006, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/world/europe/05iht-rome.4.6991537.html">when an author for his teen romance novel invented what he called the long-standing tradition of lovers commemorating their commitment to each other by closing a lock onto the bridge and then throwing the key into the river</a>. From there, the locks spread to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Vecchio">Ponte Vecchio</a> in Florence, and this past summer officials apparently <a href="http://www.comune.venezia.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/37197">cut 123 padlocks</a> from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_dell%27Accademia">Accademia bridge</a> over the Grand Canal in Venice.<br /><br />When I was walking around the city back in July, I discovered that the practice had also appeared, interestingly enough, on Venice's <span style="font-style: italic;">Ponte delle Tette</span>. So here's my tribute to these strange but rather poetic (and/or ironic) expressions of anniversary! Enjoy!!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/photohunt" rel="tag"><img style="border: 0pt none; vertical-align: middle; margin-left: 0.4em;" src="http://static.technorati.com/static/img/pub/icon-utag-16x13.png?tag=photohunt" alt=" " />photohunt</a></div></div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-2041899230788961942010-09-03T14:17:00.012-04:002010-09-04T04:40:17.900-04:00PhotoHunt: "Hot" Dog, Italian Style<div style="text-align: justify;">Turns out that "hot" was the perfect theme for this week! We've been unseasonably hot on the east coast of the U.S. this past week... In fact, it was Maine's first real heatwave (defined as three or more days above 90 degrees F. ) since <span style="font-style: italic;">1999</span>!<br /></div><br />Anyway, today's pic is one that I snapped on the <a href="http://michellesmentalclutter.blogspot.com/2010/08/photohunt-colorful-burano.html">colorful</a> Venetian <a href="http://michellesmentalclutter.blogspot.com/2010/08/photohunt-orange-houses-for-you-me.html">island</a> of <a href="http://michellesmentalclutter.blogspot.com/2010/08/photohunt-framed.html">Burano</a> back in early August, because when I saw it, I just knew it was the perfect "hot" dog!<br /><br />So, here is my entry taken for this week's <a href="http://tnchick.com/pshunt">PhotoHunt</a> theme, "hot"... a little dog basking in the heat of the island's sunny central piazza. Enjoy!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFxllDJfhAI/AAAAAAAAAjM/aMgXKxUTPEg/s1600/image0084.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 303px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFxllDJfhAI/AAAAAAAAAjM/aMgXKxUTPEg/s400/image0084.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502384531914589186" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/photohunt" rel="tag"><img style="border: 0pt none; vertical-align: middle; margin-left: 0.4em;" src="http://static.technorati.com/static/img/pub/icon-utag-16x13.png?tag=photohunt" alt=" " />photohunt</a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Doing the PhotoHunt Too? Sign in here with your name and URL!</span><br /><script src="http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=38517" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-90616923976548891572010-08-27T14:53:00.007-04:002010-08-27T14:53:00.522-04:00PhotoHunt: "Framed"<div style="text-align: justify;">Two very different shots from my jaunt back in early August to the <a href="http://michellesmentalclutter.blogspot.com/2010/08/photohunt-colorful-burano.html">colorful</a> <a href="http://michellesmentalclutter.blogspot.com/2010/08/photohunt-colorful-burano.html">island</a> of Burano in the Venetian lagoon, taken expressly for this week's <a href="http://tnchick.com/pshunt">PhotoHunt</a> theme, "framed"!<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFx3w2bUhZI/AAAAAAAAAjU/6HKrkoLGUQU/s1600/image0085.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFx3w2bUhZI/AAAAAAAAAjU/6HKrkoLGUQU/s400/image0085.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502404525867435410" border="0" /></a>Here, I'd turned a corner in Burano and stumbled upon what was once a Venetian Gothic window that had been turned into a brightly painted, impromptu shrine with the addition of this improbably small icon. Still, it made a perfectly unique frame.<br /><br />Below, on the other hand, is a view of the 1000+ year-old <a href="http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_di_Santa_Maria_Assunta_%28Torcello%29">basilica</a> on the adjacent island of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torcello">Torcello</a>, the oldest continually-inhabited area of Venice (and <span style="font-style: italic;">well </span>worth a whole trip in itself!)<br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFxaj1ex-NI/AAAAAAAAAjE/0vn3l-d19f0/s1600/image0083.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFxaj1ex-NI/AAAAAAAAAjE/0vn3l-d19f0/s400/image0083.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502372416438008018" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://corrieredelveneto.corriere.it/veneto/notizie/cronaca/2010/19-maggio-2010/rischio-crollo-chiuso-campanile-basilica-santa-maria-torcello-1703047329261.shtml">Back in May, the belltower (<span style="font-style: italic;">campanile</span> in Italian) was closed because of an imminent risk of collapse resulting from a recent lightning strike.</a> It is therefore currently undergoing restoration, and thus is appropriately - as you can see here - also <span style="font-style: italic;">framed</span>!<br /><br />Have a great week! ☺</div><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/photohunt" rel="tag"><img style="border: 0pt none; vertical-align: middle; margin-left: 0.4em;" src="http://static.technorati.com/static/img/pub/icon-utag-16x13.png?tag=photohunt" alt=" " />photohunt</a><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Doing the PhotoHunt Too? Sign in here with your name and URL!</span><br /><script src="http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=38514" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-28642157933871084222010-08-26T23:20:00.006-04:002010-08-26T23:34:41.352-04:00A Blast from Italy's Past<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675053694_vehicular-traffic_Milan-Cathedral_Street-lamps_motorbikes-and-cars"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 178px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/THcvrbCFB7I/AAAAAAAAAkk/6wJ-8Xyzaw4/s320/clip.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509925092148447154" border="0" /></a>A <a href="http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675053694_vehicular-traffic_Milan-Cathedral_Street-lamps_motorbikes-and-cars">wonderful clip</a> of traffic and pedestrians in 1950s Rome and Milan on <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367729,00.asp">the latest video site to make the Internet rounds</a>, <a href="http://criticalpast.com/">Critical Past</a>. Enjoy!! :-)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">(via <a href="http://twitter.com/RobertaK/statuses/21511957380">@RobertaK & @SanctuarePress</a>)</div></div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-61872449572159766672010-08-21T07:19:00.010-04:002010-08-21T07:54:04.680-04:00PhotoHunt: "Numerical"<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TG-448YcOCI/AAAAAAAAAkc/iLLxzbKP6bk/s1600/image0086.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TG-448YcOCI/AAAAAAAAAkc/iLLxzbKP6bk/s400/image0086.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507824157718231074" border="0" /></a>Howdy all!<br /><br />Since I was in the midst of my preparations for this year's "<a href="http://michellesmentalclutter.blogspot.com/2005/08/transhumanceor-ill-be-away-from.html">transhumance</a>" back to the States, I was unable to dedicate a whole lot of time to today's <a href="http://tnchick.com/archives/1858">PhotoHunt theme, "Numerical</a>." So I grabbed this shot on the fly this past week!<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">It's not much... a simple detail from the pegboard that keeps all the keys for the beach cabanas at the <a href="http://www.zerodelta.net/stabilimenti_balneari/kuyaba_venezia.php">Kuyaba</a><a href="http://www.zerodelta.net/stabilimenti_balneari/kuyaba_venezia.php"> Beach</a> (also known as Spiaggia Garbisa) on Venice's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lido">Lido</a>...<br /><br />See you next week... with better photos even!! ☺</div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-37369932110494772172010-08-13T12:04:00.002-04:002010-08-13T12:04:00.619-04:00PhotoHunt: "Orange" Houses for You & Me<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFw3FNeuxgI/AAAAAAAAAiM/yjFC7e4FuOQ/s1600/image0077.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 216px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFw3FNeuxgI/AAAAAAAAAiM/yjFC7e4FuOQ/s400/image0077.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502333407397332482" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Ever seen an orange house? Well, you're about to see a bunch right now!! ☺<br /><br />Today's <a href="http://tnchick.com/pshunt">PhotoHunt</a> theme, "Orange," is again brought to you courtesy of <a href="http://michellesmentalclutter.blogspot.com/2010/08/photohunt-colorful-burano.html">Burano</a>, Italian island of many colors!<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFw8jLloMmI/AAAAAAAAAik/_xgCSWz5Cpw/s1600/image0080.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 290px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFw8jLloMmI/AAAAAAAAAik/_xgCSWz5Cpw/s400/image0080.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502339419843605090" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFw7hNcZJ4I/AAAAAAAAAic/_MtELYPTlO8/s1600/image0079.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 355px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFw7hNcZJ4I/AAAAAAAAAic/_MtELYPTlO8/s400/image0079.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502338286470375298" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFxH7aNkz1I/AAAAAAAAAi8/EToIYzDgMPQ/s1600/image0082.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 269px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFxH7aNkz1I/AAAAAAAAAi8/EToIYzDgMPQ/s400/image0082.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502351930714017618" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFw6Ou277vI/AAAAAAAAAiU/9ko0Fdp83Lg/s1600/image0078.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 368px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFw6Ou277vI/AAAAAAAAAiU/9ko0Fdp83Lg/s400/image0078.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502336869510934258" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/photohunt" rel="tag"><img style="border: 0pt none; vertical-align: middle; margin-left: 0.4em;" src="http://static.technorati.com/static/img/pub/icon-utag-16x13.png?tag=photohunt" alt=" " />photohunt</a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Doing the PhotoHunt Too? Sign in here with your name and URL!</span><br /><script src="http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=38437" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-83804734337485642152010-08-11T10:39:00.020-04:002010-08-11T14:44:22.489-04:00The Iron Curtain Once Fell Here<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TGLQeqeYwZI/AAAAAAAAAjs/DRhnhCr2z4A/s1600/Map.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 210px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TGLQeqeYwZI/AAAAAAAAAjs/DRhnhCr2z4A/s320/Map.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504190919816561042" border="0" /></a>This past spring, I was startled to realize that, for the first time ever, students to whom I was teaching the Cold War had never lived during the Cold War.
<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />That's right, they were born after the attempted coup of August 1991 that effectively rendered the Soviet Union moot. Now, we've truly arrived at the end of an era, even though for years now I've already had to point out regarding the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain which was the physical barrier and which was the metaphor... ☺
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<br />As you will see, however, even metaphors have a history...
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<br />Yesterday, we were driving around the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friuli-Venezia_Giulia_wine">Collio</a> "wine road" in the Italian region of Friuli near the Judrio river that forms there the Slovenian border, when we chanced to see a small gravel track on a little bridge which crossed the river bed. Thinking I'd suddenly get to add visiting an additional country (even just for a few minutes) to my vacation, I suggested we stop and walk across.
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<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TGLS4lfZC0I/AAAAAAAAAj0/2VEprATarrA/s1600/DSCN0970.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 306px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TGLS4lfZC0I/AAAAAAAAAj0/2VEprATarrA/s400/DSCN0970.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504193564178451266" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;">That's when my husband noted, "Once upon a time, this is where the 'Free World' ended."
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TGLYUHFKBxI/AAAAAAAAAkE/TFUBdPiIEig/s1600/DSCN0969.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 250px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TGLYUHFKBxI/AAAAAAAAAkE/TFUBdPiIEig/s320/DSCN0969.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504199534609827602" border="0" /></a>Sure enough, I'd forgotten that not only was this the boundary between Italy and Slovenia, but it had also been the frontier between Western Europe and the communist East.
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<br />Now, however, the end of the Cold War and the Schengen Agreement unifying the borders of the European Union have rendered all that obsolete. So together we sauntered unhindered down a path which once separated two worlds...
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<br />What's left here where once the Iron Curtain fell? Not much... On the Italian side, there is a little checkpoint hut falling into ruin and a flagpole that used to fly the good ol' Red, White and Green. (Another view, together with the former crossbar, is <a href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7184704">here</a>, and the bridge with the river <a href="http://mapa.nocowanie.pl/wlochy/san_pietro_al_natisone/zdjecia/7657493/">here</a>...)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TGLoNldEtRI/AAAAAAAAAkU/QHYdMuQdfeU/s1600/DSCN0974.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TGLoNldEtRI/AAAAAAAAAkU/QHYdMuQdfeU/s200/DSCN0974.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504217014690166034" border="0" /></a>
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<br />On the other side, we found a building (now a private house) that had performed the same function for Yugoslavia (together with the unused flagpole) and the little hamlet of <meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CMichelle%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CMichelle%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CMichelle%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> 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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]-->Mišček. At one time, there were in this village a number of inhabited structures, but it seems now that many are abandoned (as also pictured <a href="http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=7022133">here</a>).
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TGLfRyaJsVI/AAAAAAAAAkM/W8PyDjAqen0/s1600/DSCN0972.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 307px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TGLfRyaJsVI/AAAAAAAAAkM/W8PyDjAqen0/s400/DSCN0972.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504207191282397522" border="0" /></a>
<br />A search for this placename came up with a <a href="http://www.sconfini.eu/Itinerari/jugoslavia-slovenia-europa-a-miek-niente-di-nuovo.html">traveler's account in Italian</a>, which seems to put all these enormous geopolitical changes into context in this lonely rural place. "Here, everything's falling to pieces..." one inhabitant said. "Here, nothing's changed. Yugoslavia, Slovenia... it's all the same. Now, Europe... but what's changed? Here nothing."
<br /></div></div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-47597576807609664912010-08-08T06:20:00.000-04:002010-08-08T06:20:00.752-04:00Another Splendid "Astronomy Picture of the Day"More eye-candy from <a href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100730.html">APOD</a>... A time-lapse image of the recent solar eclipse as viewed from Easter Island!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100730.html"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 600px; height: 900px;" src="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/1007/TSERapaNui_blanchard900h.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-79360561651335416552010-08-06T12:06:00.011-04:002010-08-07T14:13:17.821-04:00PhotoHunt: "Colorful" Burano! [UPDATED]<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFrsOuErwWI/AAAAAAAAAhk/e3Bduo7X4fo/s1600/image0072.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 119px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFrsOuErwWI/AAAAAAAAAhk/e3Bduo7X4fo/s400/image0072.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501969632416481634" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFrPe2jE_fI/AAAAAAAAAgs/UNdPvd2XBT0/s1600/image0065.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 178px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFrPe2jE_fI/AAAAAAAAAgs/UNdPvd2XBT0/s320/image0065.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501938023732149746" border="0" /></a>If you were to ask anyone in Venice where one could take good photos of things that were "colorful," there would only be one answer... Go to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burano">Burano</a>!<br /><br />So, for this week's <a href="http://tnchick.com/pshunt">PhotoHunt</a> theme, I did just that. I took advantage of what seemed like it would be a mild day yesterday and rode the vaporetto across the northern Venetian lagoon to the little island of jewel-colored houses.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TF2h1E74-xI/AAAAAAAAAjc/U7RP1VBnWDM/s1600/image0066.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TF2h1E74-xI/AAAAAAAAAjc/U7RP1VBnWDM/s320/image0066.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502732252946692882" border="0" /></a>The story about why the buildings are painted so brightly seems to be that, in ancient times, the colors allowed the fishermen to find their way home in the fog (see above!) I don't know, but I just don't quite buy it... Lots of foggy places live off fishing but aren't so vividly painted. Besides, it doesn't explain why practically <span style="font-style: italic;">all </span>the houses look like that, not just those on the waterfront...<br /><br />No, IMHO, it's because there are few places as melancholically gray as the northern lagoon during the wintertime, and the brilliant colors lend a much-needed joyful glow to what otherwise would likely be a <span style="font-style: italic;">very</span> dreary little place for nearly half the year!<br /><br />So, for my PhotoHunt entry for this week, here is a "colorful" visit to Burano! Enjoy!!<br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFrSejtgXSI/AAAAAAAAAg8/A5SktWpZxlg/s1600/image0067.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 353px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFrSejtgXSI/AAAAAAAAAg8/A5SktWpZxlg/s400/image0067.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501941317210496290" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFrhGojzX9I/AAAAAAAAAhU/ink-ZZer3pY/s1600/image0070.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 272px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFrhGojzX9I/AAAAAAAAAhU/ink-ZZer3pY/s400/image0070.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501957398869532626" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFrub7pgBLI/AAAAAAAAAhs/arC-cXtHjmQ/s1600/image0073.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 307px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFrub7pgBLI/AAAAAAAAAhs/arC-cXtHjmQ/s400/image0073.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501972058422117554" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFrowpWIh1I/AAAAAAAAAhc/Wf_ibw7rUa0/s1600/image0071.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 280px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IfMcsUOHH5c/TFrowpWIh1I/AAAAAAAAAhc/Wf_ibw7rUa0/s400/image0071.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501965817216534354" border="0" /></a><br />UPDATED (8/7/2010): Want to see more of multi-colored Venice and Burano? <a href="http://vimeo.com/hd#12358381">Here's</a> a short but breathtakingly lovely technicolor video called "<a href="http://vimeo.com/hd#12358381">Around Venice</a>" which celebrates just that! Enjoy!! (via <a href="http://www.openculture.com/2010/07/venezia.html">OpenCulture</a>)<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/photohunt" rel="tag"><img style="border: 0pt none; vertical-align: middle; margin-left: 0.4em;" src="http://static.technorati.com/static/img/pub/icon-utag-16x13.png?tag=photohunt" alt=" " />photohunt</a><br /></div></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Doing the PhotoHunt Too? Sign in here with your name and URL!</span><br /><script src="http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=38301" type="text/javascript"></script></div>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13558469.post-41808004432979877512010-08-06T06:02:00.006-04:002010-08-06T11:51:33.362-04:00Beautiful "Astronomy Picture of the Day"From a few days ago on <a href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100803.html">APOD</a>... it's what's called a "little planet projection."<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100803.html"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 556px; height: 476px;" src="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/1008/planetdish_cherney_annotated.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Michelle-aneous Musingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798093699932942873noreply@blogger.com1