¿Disturbing?

1776 has some really good pictures in it, and I was browsing through them when I came across something a little odd.

A soldier named John Trumbull did some studies on the image of General Hugh Mercer being bayoneted to death in the fury of the Battle of Princeton (one of which is pictured below) - pretty disturbing.  I'm not sure that it's my kind of art, but I did think it was just so weird that I'd share it.

Oh, and they are making another "Mummy" movie (preview picture below) with the same cast as "The Mummy Returns".  I'm so excited!  It comes out sometime next year, but that'll make four!  There good, but obviously  not historically accurate.  They never are, but they are meant for entertainment and not education, right?  =)

This time its setting is China, so I don't know if I'll like it as well, because the Far East hasn't ever really interested me.  Maybe it'll kick off a new interest, though, I don't know...

Duh, I didn't even tell you what it's called (silly me) - The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

I think that poster is really clever (if you didn't get it, the signature "M" is turned into a "3").  =)

Tags: Life, History, Movies, Books

What Are Guinea Pigs Used For?

"Lunch."

- The Book of General Ignornace

"...Peruvians consume an estimated 65 million of them each year."

According to the book the guinea pigs (montage of guinea pigs below) taste like rabbits.  Also, the best part are the cheeks (on the face, don't freak!), but I've never had the honor of eating guinea pig before, so I can't give any testimony to that.

Oh, and get this...

"In Peru, the animals are kept in the kitchen because of the ancient Andean belief that they need smoke, and folk doctors in the Andes use guinea pigs to detect illness in people - they believe that when the rodent is pressed against a sick person, it will squeak when near the source of disease.  In the cathedral of the city of Cuzco, Peru, there's a painting of the Last Supper in which Jesus and the disciples are shown abou to eat roast guinea pig [below, bottom]."

That's fascinating!

 

Ha, ha... and I tied it into history... =P

Tags: Life, Animals, History, Food, Pets, Culture

T.V. Shows

I have to apologize for my lame posting this week.  I've been a lot busier than I normally am, but I think it should all be regular now.

I don't know if any of you watch "Dancing With the Stars", but I like that show.  My parents used to teach ballroom dance, and I know some, so I enjoy watching it.  I cannot stand the judges however.  They don't know anything!  The score the good ones too low and the bad ones too high!  Erggg... and Wayne Newton this season... I cannot stand that man!  I'm so glad he's gone, but he should've been the first.

Probably my favorite show is "Boston Legal".  Not a lot of people watch it, but once you do you get hooked.  I have the first season on DVD (box depicted below, from left to right: Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen), Alan Shoore (James Spader), and Denny Crane (William Shatner)) and am looking for the others.  If you don't know about it, it's concerning this law firm only everyone there has there... well... quirks... sort of speak.  Like one of them has Asperger's and when he's upset he'll pur... yes... like a cat.  One's a cross-dressing, African man named Clarence, who sometimes comes to work as his multiple personality, Claire.  Denny Crane (William Shatner), one of the name partners, is very anti-Democrat, but has never lost a case (his record is 6,429 to 0).  The main character, Alan Shoore (James Spader) is very smug, insubordinate, and sexually harrasses pretty much the entire female population of the firm, but is probably only second to Denny in lawyering.  There's an ex-marine who is so homophobic that he has to get Alan to say "lesbian" him if the situation ever comes up.  It's just so crazy, and the cases are really weird.  This one guy was sueing for wrongful termination, because he got fired from his Santa Claus job at Gordon's when they found out he was a transvestite.  It's hilarious.  What's really cool about it though is that they talk about a lot of current political topics, so you learn something too!  =)

There is one show I like that I am constantly ridiculed for, but... you don't love "Desperate Housewives" until you try it!  You have to see it to believe it!  If you haven't seen it, don't judge it, because at the end the narrator voice comes on and it always has this mushy moral to the episode, but still... it's great.

"Brothers & Sisters" is an awesome show.  It's about a family that redefines dysfunctional.  There's a gay lawyer, a Democrat (in a family of Republicans) running with her boss who she recently became engaged to for President of the United States, a brother working in a business wither their dead father's mistress, a brother in Iraq (ironic with a Democratic sister), and a sister whose husband had an affair with the dead father's daughter by the mistress without knowing it.  It's pretty wild.

I like "Criminal Minds" and "Survivor", but not as well as the others.  They aren't funny enough for me though.

I can't wait for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" to come out!  It looks so good!  =)

Tags: Life, Television, Movies

Columbus Day

"Some people celebreat Columbus [Day] while others villify him..."

- World History for Dummies

Sponsored by some of the biggest idiots that ever ruled Spain, Columbus himself was an even bigger one.  He made four trips to the "Indies" (map below, top), died during the last one, and according to World History for Dummies, he committed three major errors:

~ Thinking that Asia was a lot larger than it was in reality.

~ Finding the Earth's radius to be three-fourths of what it truly is.

~ Being stubborn enough not to reevaluate his position.

Not to mention that he didn't really discover America, Leif Erikson was there about 500 years before him.  The only two good things he has to his name is discovering hammocks and pineapples, but someone would've done that later anyway.

Did you know that he actually kept two logs, one with true distances, and another was a false one to give the crew the impression they'd gone farther than they had in order to keep them sated.

The stories of him torturing Native Americans is also well known (to him they were Indians, and that was another thing he refused to accept, that they could be from a whole different continent).  Not that that was semi-provoked, the natives weren't exactly nice to him either, but it was their land.

Did you know that there are no surviving paintings of Christopher Columbus?  All the paintings you'll see of him were done after his death (below, middle).  No one knows what he really looks like

Oh, and my mom just picked up this awesome looking book called The Book of General Ignorance (depicted below, bottom).  It has a bunch of random stuff like "Do Marmots [Groundhogs] Kill People?" and "How Do Lemmings Die".  It's hilarious!  =)

We were bored and came up with this -

Tags: Life, History, Holidays, Exploration

Snap

Life can change... fast.  I experienced that more than any other day of my life.

School was normal, but when I got in the car today, my mom and my brother were in obvious distress.  As soon as I got in I remember my mom saying, "Bad day..."

Queen Hazel Marie, sovereign over all the world had been hit by a car.  It was imconceivable to me.  I had lost pets before - cats all the time.  No other cat besides Hazel had lived two years.  That's how it is with barn cats who could die from a diseased mouse, coyote attack, or even kitten-birth.  I had no idea that it would even be possible for Hazel to be killed on the road, because she never hunted down by the road, which is a quarter mile away from the house.

My mom claimed to had seen her on the side and recognized the colors.  She couldn't go look, so she called dad who came down and put her into a box, which we would later take care of.

I was in denial.  There was no way she could be dead.  She had disappeared for days at a time when she was younger, only to return a week or so later.  That's how it was with barn cats.  But now she had settled down, and it was different.  She's five-years-old - ancient for our cats.

We drove home - all of us very upset.  The car ride was pretty silent.  We got home finally, and I was going to go outside to the barn, where I had figured they would've put the box.  On my way out my mom confirmed what I had guessed.  She and my brother followed far behind, because although we all had connections with her all these years, it was with me that she was most in touch with.  I swear sometimes I can understand her, and her understand me.

I got to the barn and found the box for what it obviously had to be.  It wasn't there the night before and it was cat-sized.  I almost didn't make it to the box.  I couldn't bear to see what was inside, but convinced myself to check, because I knew I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't.

I looked inside, but to my bewilderment was surprised by all the black markings on the shoulder.  I figured it must be matted blood, and proceeded to stroke the spot just as I had so many times before for so many years.  To my further shock, it wasn't wet or matted as the fur should be at all!

Upon further frantic inspection I quickly realized it wasn't her at all!

The legs were too wide; the tail too long.  I quickly rushed outside the barn door and my mom and brother must've seen a maniacal look in my eyes as I shouted out, "IT'S NOT HER!  IT'S NOT HER!"

They assumed that I was just in denial over the loss of my closest pet.  I showed them what I'd found and they came to the same conclusion.  It wasn't her.

I ran outside once more and called for her into the woods, also ringing the bell on my deck that she always responds to.  Right on que, she bolted out from the path along the hill the barn's on.

The whole day's been a bit dreamlike.  I'd gone from being the saddest person on earth to elated in a manner of minutes.

Don't take what you love for granted, keep your friends close, and get an extra scoop of ice cream.  You may find that you that your life can change just like that... snap.

=)

Tags: Life, Animals, Change